Sgt. Largent":37o7f2qq said:
onanygivensunday":37o7f2qq said:
One word... re-structure.
Why would Red agree to restructure? Dude had another great year and is one of the main reasons our run defense is so stout.
Restructuring is about having leverage over a player due to a down year, which doesn't apply to Red.
How come everyone i read about is always "one of the main reasons our defense is so stout." I know I left out "run" but that's a qualifier. You can always put something in their to make it work for each starter. Basically, everyone on the defense is somehow the MAIN REASON why the defense is so good. The point of "main" is that it is relegated to a handful --out of 11 starters, it can only be 2-3 players. And it especially cannot be a player who only plays 40% of the snaps.
Red Bryant is not a main reason for anything on this defense. Mebane for instance is much more important, even if you clarify and only look at run defense. Avril/Bennett were both more important than Red Bryant. That's 3 players just on the defensive line. Clem vs Red? Toss up.
This was a historic defense, so it has great players at every position. In my opinion, Red Bryant was one of the least important players on this defense. Wagner/WRight/Smith/Irvin --the four LBs were all more important. They tended to play more snaps than Red. All members of the LOB were more important, that's 4 players. And as said prior, Bennett/Avril/Mebane and perhaps Clem were more important on the line. Heck, I would put Mcdanial/Mcdonald in the same category as Red.
A team cannot allow sentiment to get in the way of good footballing decisions. REd is a "leader" on this team, but is he more so a leader than Robinson who was cut last year? One thing is for sure, Red is not very important to this defense, at least when compared to all the other players who get paid a fraction of his price. Red needs to understand that he got paid, now it's time for others on this team to get paid. Is it fair for Sherman to get paid $600k so Red can get his $9mil?