Is the FO cheap?

[Sgt. Largent]

Mahomes is the highest paid QB in the league by a lot. They signed the #1 O-Lineman in Free Agency. The QB making a lot holds no water if you pay attention to the rest of the league. The difference is other teams choose to emphasize and invest in O-Line. The Seahawks clearly do not value O-Line the same way other teams do. .

They also cut their two starting tackles to free up space to sign Thuney. Is that an upgrade? Lateral move? Who knows.

To spend big you have to have a LOT of cap space, or cut a bunch of players.

Jags just passed the 1 BILLION dollar mark in the past 10 years on how much they've spent on free agency since 2011. The Jags.

If that's not a cautionary tale, I don't know what is.

 

[John63]

Not sure how many times it's been posted but ill do it again. The teams that spend big in FA, are also the teams that are picking high in the next draft. Spending on high priced free agent never seems to work out. Seattle, Green Bay, before this year New England would always sit out the first phase of FA and have had sustained success.

Also - when paying your QB ungodly amounts of money, it's hard to compete for the big time FA's on day 1. Salary cap is there and is the great equalizer.

Mahomes is the highest paid QB in the league by a lot. They signed the #1 O-Lineman in Free Agency. The QB making a lot holds no water if you pay attention to the rest of the league. The difference is other teams choose to emphasize and invest in O-Line. The Seahawks clearly do not value O-Line the same way other teams do.

New England are huge spenders in Free Agency this year, and Green Bay were big spenders in Free Agency in 2019 as well.

Your examples are terrible.

The Seahawks have spent only a single 1st rd pick on O-Line in the last 8 drafts. (Most of Wilson's career.) And rank 32nd in O-Line spending since 2014.


Furthermore, the actual argument is:

1) Pay 3 journeyman O-Lineman $10M.

-OR-

2) Pay 1 stud O-Lineman $10M.

You're paying the same, just how are you choosing to spend it. The Seahawks continue to choose option 1. It is what it is.

And as you alluded to we have had an oline problem since PC has been here at least as pass blocking. Way before they paid Wilson and yet here we're still sucking. IN PCs career in the NFL he has always had bad pass blocking olines and QBs amongst the tops in sacks.

 

[AgentDib]

Ideally your team will not have extra money to spend in FA because your own players will be good enough to warrant that money instead. The reason that teams like the Jags have extra money is because their picks are not working out, they have nothing worth spending their money on internally, and so they are forced to overpay expensive free agents. That applies to the 2021 Patriots too who lost many of their key players over the last two seasons.

Mahomes is the highest paid QB in the league by a lot. They signed the #1 O-Lineman in Free Agency. The QB making a lot holds no water if you pay attention to the rest of the league.

You should know that the cap hits for the Mahomes contract look like this:
2020 - $5.3m
2021 - $7.4m
2022 - $35.8m
2023 - $46.8m
....
2027 - $60.0m

If you pay attention you will see that his extremely low cap hits make a huge difference in the Chief's ability to sign that #1 OL in free agency. But there's no free lunch to be had and they will be paying for that in a big way down the road.

In a few years lots of Chiefs fans will complain about how the FO is holding the team back, they haven't won a Super Bowl in ages, and there aren't enough pieces around Mahomes for him to succeed.

 

[Chapow]

Mahomes is the highest paid QB in the league by a lot. They signed the #1 O-Lineman in Free Agency.

The Chiefs lost both of their starting Tackles and their starting Center, so they went out and signed a Guard (literally the only position on the OLine they don't need) for $80 million.

I mean, good for them for getting the #1 OL in free agency, but I'm really not sure how wise this was. They need starting Tackles and they need a starting Center, and they just gave an OL a huge contract while not addressing any of those needs.

 

[Fade]

Mahomes is the highest paid QB in the league by a lot. They signed the #1 O-Lineman in Free Agency. The QB making a lot holds no water if you pay attention to the rest of the league.

You should know that the cap hits for the Mahomes contract look like this:
2020 - $5.3m
2021 - $7.4m
2022 - $35.8m
2023 - $46.8m
....
2027 - $60.0m

If you pay attention you will see that his extremely low cap hits make a huge difference in the Chief's ability to sign that #1 OL in free agency. But there's no free lunch to be had and they will be paying for that in a big way down the road.

In a few years lots of Chiefs fans will complain about how the FO is holding the team back, they haven't won a Super Bowl in ages, and there aren't enough pieces around Mahomes for him to succeed.

I'm well aware and was referring to $45M APY.

You do realize Wilson had low cap hits the first couple of years of his 2nd contract as well, and the Seahawks chose to not spend any money on O-Line ranking 32nd in 2015 and 2016? Again, it boils down to emphasis.

Andy Reed will always have dominant offenses. He is fantastic on that side of the ball. The Chiefs will suffer on defense down the road if they suffer at all. That is where the cuts will be made. Andy Reed understands the value of protecting a Franchise Quarterback, the Seahawks don't.

 

[AgentDib]

It's also worth pointing in regards to the Packers that Rodgers restructured in 2019 so his cap hits looked like this:
2020 - $21.6
2021 - $37.2
2022 - $39.9

That decrease in 2020 helped the Packers fill out their roster last season and have that decent OL, but whether they can keep things together this season is still very much up in the air.

 

[AgentDib]

I'm well aware and was referring to $45M APY.

Do you think APY is the best way to talk about whether teams can afford players in a given year? Or is the cap hit in that year perhaps more relevant?

 

[Fade]

Mahomes is the highest paid QB in the league by a lot. They signed the #1 O-Lineman in Free Agency.

The Chiefs lost both of their starting Tackles and their starting Center, so they went out and signed a Guard (literally the only position on the OLine they don't need) for $80 million.

I mean, good for them for getting the #1 OL in free agency, but I'm really not sure how wise this was. They need starting Tackles and they need a starting Center, and they just gave an OL a huge contract while not addressing any of those needs.

The opposite of the the Seahawks choosing to focus on quality over quantity. This is a great O-Line draft upcoming so it is safe to assume KC will be spending picks there if they can't get the guys they want in Free Agency. The Seahawks JAG approach isn't working that's for sure.

I prefer KC's philosophy. I trust Andy Reed based on his track record. He is one of the best developmental coaches on offense in recent NFL history.

Also, too. KC cut them because they were not worth the money anymore. Those guys will not be signing mega deals.

 

[Jville]

Not sure how many times it's been posted but ill do it again. The teams that spend big in FA, are also the teams that are picking high in the next draft. Spending on high priced free agent never seems to work out. Seattle, Green Bay, before this year New England would always sit out the first phase of FA and have had sustained success.

Also - when paying your QB ungodly amounts of money, it's hard to compete for the big time FA's on day 1. Salary cap is there and is the great equalizer.

Mahomes is the highest paid QB in the league by a lot. They signed the #1 O-Lineman in Free Agency. The QB making a lot holds no water if you pay attention to the rest of the league. The difference is other teams choose to emphasize and invest in O-Line. The Seahawks clearly do not value O-Line the same way other teams do.

New England are huge spenders in Free Agency this year, and Green Bay were big spenders in Free Agency in 2019 as well.

Your examples are terrible.

The Seahawks have spent only a single 1st rd pick on O-Line in the last 8 drafts. (Most of Wilson's career.) And rank 32nd in O-Line spending since 2014.


Furthermore, the actual argument is:

1) Pay 3 journeyman O-Lineman $10M.

-OR-

2) Pay 1 stud O-Lineman $10M.

You're paying the same, just how are you choosing to spend it. The Seahawks continue to choose option 1. It is what it is.

For many years, many have witnessed and recognized the good success defenses have had in matching up their best defensive linemen against an offense's weakest linemen. So, there is that object lesson to consider.

There may even be an old adage still floating about along the lines of a unit being only as good as it's weakest link.