kearly":bm9csz2f said:
Before I say anything about this, I know and appreciate that Schneider is not a fly-by-the-seat-of-his-pants GM. Every expenditure he makes fits into a 3 year financial plan.
That said, we just turned Kam Chancellor from a Richard Sherman type asset to a Zach Miller type asset from a money perspective. Obviously, Kam was going to get paid at least that much so I'm not complaining about an overpay at all, I just think that we might have been better served saving that money for other players we need to keep and take advantage of the fact that strong safety might be the easiest position for Pete Carroll to fill through the draft.
I think it might be worth re-examining how the team views the draft at this stage.
Obviously, the first three years were about collecting talent everywhere. Anyone that could start. But now in 2013, this roster is young but beginning to mature.
You're absolutely right about not being able to pay everyone. So realistically, if we're going to pay these guys -- then the alpha contracts we have are going to have to be relieved. This would mean Rice, Miller, Bryant, Clemons off the top.
I'm not necessarily talking about this year. But as we move to Sherman/Thomas etc next year, one or two of those deals are going to have to come off the books early. To do that, I'd think that Seattle might be viewing those positions as 'positions of need'. Not in the traditional sense of we don't have the spot filled. But in the sense that we *WON'T* have the spot filled.
I've heard it said multiple times, that we have too many picks and not enough roster spots. But I think this signing could be a portent to just the opposite. We need to get the successors to our high value contracts. We could well be drafting for expected 2014 need this week.
And I'd start thinking about what this draft has a lot of. Run stuffing D Linemen, TEs and WRs. It could be we reload at the 1 and 5, as well as take one or maybe two larger #1 WR prospects -- of which there are a few with day 3 grades.
It also makes sense relative to who we've signed. We signed bridge vets to short term deals at positions of need. Most of us have lamented the lack of pass rushing DTs in this draft and it's not inconceivable that Seattle feels the same way. Why force a lesser prospect for today's need, when you can draft a greater prospect for tomorrow's?
Maybe we're not looking at a Joker TE -- since there seems to be a shortage of good prospects for that. Maybe we're looking at a traditional inline guy to compete/succeed Miller.
It does appear, that this draft is ripe with guys that could replace high value contracts for the next year. It also appears that Seattle's plan is to roll off big contracts as others are getting added. In order to do that, Seattle is going to have to draft ahead of expected need.