J. Kapp 11 wrote: ↑Wed Mar 02, 2022 6:35 pm
We were over the cap last year until March, when some deals got reworked and some other guys were released. The team made the conscious decision to retool (allegedly) the defense, and they did that by cutting some guys, like Riley Reiff and Kyle Rudolph, and reworking some other deals.
Right so same issue this year. Last year we were able to make it work. I'm sure Kwesi and Bryzinski already have a plan. Listen the Saints were $70 million over the cap and were still able to put together a competitive roster.
And as far as Cousins impacting the team’s ability to sign players, surely you can’t be serious. Every contract on the team affects the ability to sign someone else. When your cap hit is $35 million, as Cousins’ was last year, it has a ton more impact than somebody making less. Teams have to make these decisions all the time. Having an expensive quarterback on your roster always affects your cap. The question is whether it’s worth the cost.
I mean sure, singing Joe Thuney at $16 mill per year could be a stretch but lets be honest, no guard in the NFL outside of maybe Quinton Nelson is worth $16 million per year and that's pushing it. They had Trey Hendrickson in their grasp and let him slip and I never saw one report that it had anything to do with cap space whatsoever. We just simply couldnt close the deal. Sure Cousins effects our cap yes, but we can still spend. It's not like we were always chasing after the high end free agents every year even prior to Cousins getting here. My whole point is, the "Cousins contract doesnt let us spend any money argument" is more of a myth than anything. We can still find plenty of ways to spend and are still capable of bringing in plenty of quality players. Like I said, we had a shot at Hendrickson last year. We just blew it and lost out to a bottom feeding team (at the time) with a boat load of cap space.
Other teams, such as Cincinnati and Arizona, contend without that extra burden. They were fortunate to draft talented young QBs who are still on rookie deals and low cap hits. Even the Rams made out with Matthew Stafford, whose cap hit was $20 million in 2021 and will be $23 million in 2022. I mean, that’s roughly half of Kirk’s 2022 cap hit, and he just won the Super Bowl!
Okay but you also just named two teams that had the luxury of having the first pick overall in recent drafts. And let's be honest, Cincinnati didnt ever really contend until this year. They've been a notorious dumpster fire for quite some time. Again, I'm not in favor of Cousins contract either. But using two teams that have had the #1 overall pick in the last few years doesnt say much. Especially when we've never even been close to landing the #1 pick. Closest that I can recall is 2012 when we picked 4th overall.
So yes, we signed some players last year in free agency. But who? Impact players? I would contend that not a single one fit that description. You had Patrick Peterson, who was a nice player but not an impactful one at this point in his career. Was he really worth $10 million? Dalvin Tomlinson at $7.5 million? Sheldon Richardson? Mackensie Alexander? Nick Vigil? Xavier Woods? Mason Cole? These are the guys you’re talking about.
Let’s get real. The Vikings didn’t sign any impact players because they couldn’t. Too many holes, not enough cap space.
I'd question that for a few reasons. One, Patrick Peterson's leadership and presence alone is worth $10 mill IMO. If you recall, teams rarely threw his way. They picked on Breeland all game instead. To me, that is 100% making an impact. Add in the leadership as well. But yes I think Peterson is very valuable and really hope they bring him back again next year.
Dalvin Tomlinson was the 17th ranked DT according to PFF and had a 74.9 overall grade. He was never a flashy play guy even when he was at the Giants or at Bama. But he's consistent at doing his job and pretty darn good at it.
Richardson at the money he was making? 100% worth it. Especially when he switched to DE. He's another must-keep IMO especially with us switching to a 3-4. Because he has the perfect 3-4 DE build and this was his natural position early in his career at the Jets.
Mac, again for the money, yeah worth it. Didnt have a great year but wasnt a liability either.
Vigil far exceeded expectations for his position. The WLB in Zimmer's defense plays about 20 snaps a game if they are lucky. Think Ben Gedeon. For the amount of plays Vigil made playing 20 snaps a game, you could say he was a stud in that specific role. Whether he's good in this scheme or not I have no idea.
Woods is another one that was probably worth the money compared to what we would've had to pay Anthony Harris. And he was just as good as Harris was in that role. Even dominated in a game or two. Dallas specifically.
Mason Cole showed coaches that Oli Udoh should've never been a starter in this league so take it for what it's worth. Actually Kevin O'Connell even mentioned Mason Cole in his recent presser so he clearly saw some sort of impact there.
....So in the end, I would simply say, just because a free agency signing doesnt rack up 17 sacks or 8 interceptions in one year doesnt mean he wasnt an impact player. You are acting like these guys we signed were all duds. I'm not going to sit here and say they were world-beaters but I can tell you many of them were definitely solid and reliable starters. The only free agency signing that got significant playing time that I could actually complain about is Breeland. And I'm glad he got cut and wasnt touched by another team. Because it goes to show how much of an idiot he was. I actually liked a lot of our free agency signings. Either way, I'd rather get guys on bargain deals at certain positions than to spend $60 million on someone just because "we have the money" and watch them lay a fat turd
