I wanted to throw another thought out here on the Cowboys and their QB situation...
I keep hearing that there is potential that Tua may/may not enter the draft. If the Cowboys can verify his medical - similarly to what they did with Jaylon - and he checks out as a 1-2 year recovery? I totally draft that guy in an early position and redshirt him. Again, that is what they did with Jaylon, who was a guy slated for a top 5 pick before his injury. I think because of the insane prices that QB's are able to command, the evolution of the NFL GM has GOT to be about maintaining an effective, yet inexpensive QB. If you can do that ONE thing, you have a 25% advantage on the rest of the league. If you strike out on someone and have to suck one year to get to the top and get another one, do it. It is like the NFL actual can do "the process" more effectively because they don't have a draft lottery. You can literally tank a year, trade all your expiring contracts for draft picks, take all the accelerated signing bonus hits early, lose all games on purpose, and be guaranteed a shot to draft the player you want. I mean, MIA/Oakland have literally done that in the last few years. AND... it has the added bonus of cleaning up your salary cap - which has carryover affect for YEARS to come. It is amazing how few teams do this.
But the ability to have cost control on a position for 5-6 seasons that would otherwise cost 4-10x as much? No question that is the best way to spend the last couple of roster spots. So you don't have an extra special teams player? Who cares. Kick the ball out of the end zone or punt out of bounds if you have to. You can totally negate the need for special teams outside of a K/P. The whole special teams unit costs less for 5 years than one season of post rookie scale contract pay. (outside of starting lineman who block for kicks).
We are talking about other players who are (or are close to being) the absolute best at their position in the game and they make 10, 15, or in rare positions 20M. And you want to spend 40 on a guy who isn't even getting all this talent to a top 2 seed? No way. If you thought he was that guy, then the coaching staff would be out on their butts 2 season ago. Paying avg QB's elite money is death.
I keep hearing that there is potential that Tua may/may not enter the draft. If the Cowboys can verify his medical - similarly to what they did with Jaylon - and he checks out as a 1-2 year recovery? I totally draft that guy in an early position and redshirt him. Again, that is what they did with Jaylon, who was a guy slated for a top 5 pick before his injury. I think because of the insane prices that QB's are able to command, the evolution of the NFL GM has GOT to be about maintaining an effective, yet inexpensive QB. If you can do that ONE thing, you have a 25% advantage on the rest of the league. If you strike out on someone and have to suck one year to get to the top and get another one, do it. It is like the NFL actual can do "the process" more effectively because they don't have a draft lottery. You can literally tank a year, trade all your expiring contracts for draft picks, take all the accelerated signing bonus hits early, lose all games on purpose, and be guaranteed a shot to draft the player you want. I mean, MIA/Oakland have literally done that in the last few years. AND... it has the added bonus of cleaning up your salary cap - which has carryover affect for YEARS to come. It is amazing how few teams do this.
But the ability to have cost control on a position for 5-6 seasons that would otherwise cost 4-10x as much? No question that is the best way to spend the last couple of roster spots. So you don't have an extra special teams player? Who cares. Kick the ball out of the end zone or punt out of bounds if you have to. You can totally negate the need for special teams outside of a K/P. The whole special teams unit costs less for 5 years than one season of post rookie scale contract pay. (outside of starting lineman who block for kicks).
We are talking about other players who are (or are close to being) the absolute best at their position in the game and they make 10, 15, or in rare positions 20M. And you want to spend 40 on a guy who isn't even getting all this talent to a top 2 seed? No way. If you thought he was that guy, then the coaching staff would be out on their butts 2 season ago. Paying avg QB's elite money is death.