McGruff":meevlam7 said:
GLio14":meevlam7 said:
Honestly I think keeping Jeremy Lane is CRITICAL. I love Shead, and Burley is serviceable, but Lane is clearly superior. I'm not ready to hand the reigns to Simon either. Lane has been really good for us and he's important to the squad, while Shead or Simon can play the nickel.
Shead is okay at nickel. Simon has proven to be abyssmal there. The most likely scenario is Lane outside against 2 wide sets, and in 3 or more wide Lane shifts inside and Shead or Simon or Smith play outside.
That's the nice thing about Lane . . . he's a movable chess piece that can follow the matchups.
I have felt that Lane was the most important player to re-sign this offseason. I was hoping that because he started in relatively few games and suffered the injury, that he wouldn't be all that popular in FA, and that we would be able to retain him at an affordable salary. I'm kind of thinking that if he won't re-sign for under $5.5 million APY, the Hawks won't ultimately have the available cap space to keep him. I fear that other teams will offer him a lot more than the Hawks would be willing to pay him.
I like Burley for slot, and maybe Tye Smith (has 1 year in the system now), Shead, or Simon can step up for RCB. There is also the draft, but the chances are not good that they'd get a year-one starter in the draft. Maybe there is an inexpensive FA out there that they can let compete with the group they already have.
Another thing that is beginning to worry me, they have only until tomorrow at 1:00 PM to tender Burley, Bailey, Williams, Michael, Coleman and Moody, otherwise, I do believe they become UFA's. I don't think it's a good idea for them to lose both Burley and Lane.