kidhawk
Well-known member
A) Rice won't be here under the same contract. Whether the team keeps him at a lower price tag or whether he even would take a lower contract is completely up in the air. I don't think it affects us much overall because even if we keep him at a lower price, he could still get cut if he's out performed by a younger guy.
B) Tate/Baldwin:
Two points with these guys....they aren't interchangeable, they don't play the same WR position. I don't know why people think they do. Baldwin doesn't replace Tate on the field at any point in time. With that said, this team was supposedly offered draft pick(s) for Baldwin in the pre season and turned them down. That says a lot. He was also our most clutch third down receiver. I don't expect him to go anywhere unless he really wants to (which I don't believe)
C) I can pretty much guarantee you the cap price for the Receivers will be higher this year. Even if you cut Rice and Keep Harvin it's going up significantly. Even replacing all the other vets with Rookies can't make up that difference. Unless you want to cut everyone except Harvin, expect to pay 18-20 million for receivers.
D) The draft:
I can agree fully that tall receivers are better in our system, but it's not truly going to save us all the money you think it will. It will save us some money yes, but is WR truly our weakest position? As this season went that is an arguable position, but Harvin is the difference maker. He'll be ready to go at 100% to start next season. He's the game changer at the position we need. We can draft more depth. I think we should definitely draft a receiver, because we may be rid of Rice and we can't be sure we are keeping both Tate and Baldwin due to their Free Agency Status. We don't have great depth there, so drafting a WR is definitely a good idea. At the very least they could earn a spot over Lockette (although he has improved lately).
E)
Random idea:
I don't see us needing to move up, but I can easily see us making trades for future draft picks. We still have quite a young team now, so stockpiling picks in the future would likely be a better bet than to use them to move up at this point.
F)
One thing people forget when they say "just get rid of rice" is that there is a lot of trust that the team and the players are taking care of each other right now. Look at how well we treated MRob when we cut him and how well Leon said he was treated when we cut him. I say this so people understand that we don't just "be rid of" players who have given 100% to this team in their time here.
Again, Tate and Baldwin are as different as two WR can be in the positions they play so it's not wise to lump them together. Baldwin is more expendable than Tate as his role is also Harvin's role. Although he can play the slot when Harvin is in the backfield or running end arounds etc. With Harvin's injury issues so far, keeping Baldwin around is a smart idea. If you let Tate go, and Rice go, you are really putting a lot of faith in rookies or getting free agents. I'm not sure getting rid of everyone is the best thing you can do. A quarterback receiver working together over time makes them better. Putting in too many new guys will make it that much more difficult to get growth in the passing game. This is another reason the team may hold onto Rice at least up until his bonus is due. We'll need to have some decisions made in this department before then. I just don't know when his bonus is due. This part will play a key role
I have to make this point strongly...WR isn't our weakest position when you add percy to the mix. We need to get more Oline talent from the draft. This is something that is more important to our offense than WR hands down.
Please withold as much homerism as you can as id love to get some real opinions on whatever sections you care to comment on other than all these (no offense) million i want db cause i said so conversations. Trying to think outside the box a bit. maybe im a fool for not locking up one of these guys, but keep in mind i think we could find a cheap serviceable vet while we develop our young guys.
In summation, we need to look a lot further than the WR position. We are going to be better in the position just by Harvin being healthy. We do need to look at upgrading our Offensive Line and we also need to take a good long look at the Defensive line as well. Assuming we re-sign Bennett to a decent deal, we are going to have $35+ million attached to the starters along the D-line. Look for some restructuring here to extend contracts of guys like Avril and Bryant and lower their cap value this year.
B) Tate/Baldwin:
Two points with these guys....they aren't interchangeable, they don't play the same WR position. I don't know why people think they do. Baldwin doesn't replace Tate on the field at any point in time. With that said, this team was supposedly offered draft pick(s) for Baldwin in the pre season and turned them down. That says a lot. He was also our most clutch third down receiver. I don't expect him to go anywhere unless he really wants to (which I don't believe)
C) I can pretty much guarantee you the cap price for the Receivers will be higher this year. Even if you cut Rice and Keep Harvin it's going up significantly. Even replacing all the other vets with Rookies can't make up that difference. Unless you want to cut everyone except Harvin, expect to pay 18-20 million for receivers.
D) The draft:
I can agree fully that tall receivers are better in our system, but it's not truly going to save us all the money you think it will. It will save us some money yes, but is WR truly our weakest position? As this season went that is an arguable position, but Harvin is the difference maker. He'll be ready to go at 100% to start next season. He's the game changer at the position we need. We can draft more depth. I think we should definitely draft a receiver, because we may be rid of Rice and we can't be sure we are keeping both Tate and Baldwin due to their Free Agency Status. We don't have great depth there, so drafting a WR is definitely a good idea. At the very least they could earn a spot over Lockette (although he has improved lately).
E)
Random idea:
I don't see us needing to move up, but I can easily see us making trades for future draft picks. We still have quite a young team now, so stockpiling picks in the future would likely be a better bet than to use them to move up at this point.
F)
One thing people forget when they say "just get rid of rice" is that there is a lot of trust that the team and the players are taking care of each other right now. Look at how well we treated MRob when we cut him and how well Leon said he was treated when we cut him. I say this so people understand that we don't just "be rid of" players who have given 100% to this team in their time here.
Again, Tate and Baldwin are as different as two WR can be in the positions they play so it's not wise to lump them together. Baldwin is more expendable than Tate as his role is also Harvin's role. Although he can play the slot when Harvin is in the backfield or running end arounds etc. With Harvin's injury issues so far, keeping Baldwin around is a smart idea. If you let Tate go, and Rice go, you are really putting a lot of faith in rookies or getting free agents. I'm not sure getting rid of everyone is the best thing you can do. A quarterback receiver working together over time makes them better. Putting in too many new guys will make it that much more difficult to get growth in the passing game. This is another reason the team may hold onto Rice at least up until his bonus is due. We'll need to have some decisions made in this department before then. I just don't know when his bonus is due. This part will play a key role
I have to make this point strongly...WR isn't our weakest position when you add percy to the mix. We need to get more Oline talent from the draft. This is something that is more important to our offense than WR hands down.
Please withold as much homerism as you can as id love to get some real opinions on whatever sections you care to comment on other than all these (no offense) million i want db cause i said so conversations. Trying to think outside the box a bit. maybe im a fool for not locking up one of these guys, but keep in mind i think we could find a cheap serviceable vet while we develop our young guys.
In summation, we need to look a lot further than the WR position. We are going to be better in the position just by Harvin being healthy. We do need to look at upgrading our Offensive Line and we also need to take a good long look at the Defensive line as well. Assuming we re-sign Bennett to a decent deal, we are going to have $35+ million attached to the starters along the D-line. Look for some restructuring here to extend contracts of guys like Avril and Bryant and lower their cap value this year.