I think one of the biggest mistakes we just made was letting too many players walk in FA. There should be normal Churn Rate on every team but this year us allowing a half dozen+ veterans walking without a clear cut strategy is perplexing. Then watching them go to other teams and get selected to the Probowl or recording double digit sacks and leading their respective teams into the playoffs furthers the argument that their talent was being misused.
There may be certain exceptions to that (like if we’re majorly revamping Defensive schemes).
Cutting all these players either displays poor negotiating, letting our pride get the best of us, an admission of our failure to draft talent at a reasonable level, failure to restructure contracts within the normal cap limits, A false assumption of our ability to replace said player talent level lost or a combination thereof.
I think it would be a big mistake to clean house like some posters in here demand. We can’t have 2 years in a row of that mindset or we can expect to take 2 steps back to rebuild.
We need to focus on our greatest need not start from scratch IMO.
While Jeff Janis might be controversial and be the scapegoat for some frustration, it’s irrelevant, his impact as a #6 Wideout is not necessarily game changing one way or another. This mindset is similar to taking a hard golf swing and taking our eye off the ball which more often leads to topping the ball while trying to crush it down the fairway. A steady, controlled swing and focused concentration will more often lead to better long term results.
The biggest players we need to be concerned with are those who’s salary Cap vs production has the greatest spread. Conversely, Guys like Fackrell will become a product of the competition in their environment so they take care of themselves.
My concern is over $20,000,000 in Cap savings.
CM3 on Defense and
Jordy Nelson on Offense.
While many of us still have an emotional attachment to them, both players are in their twilight years and are arguably on the decline. Neither have earned their contract or even close to it as of late. In the business world it’s “what have you done lately” and this is clearly a business decision.
Let’s get an OLB or WR 1-2 in the 2018 draft. I’m confident that Aaron Rodgers can take a top 40 pick at WR and single handily turn him into a 1,000 yard Receiver (think Brandon Cooks). I’d like us to pick the best available of those 2 with our 1st pick and second picks while using a combination of comp picks as leverage to move earlier into either round if needed.
We then need to use some of that savings to acquire a couple FA veterans that will allow time for the rookies to gain momentum and prevent a dropoff in production when injury occurs (and it will) and the remainder towards resigning returning players.
