Eric Steinbach could have started immediately at Guard, instead of wasting a year on Pucillo. Hindsight is always 20/20. Still, several of us at the stadium draft party were rooting for Steinbach, prior to the Willis selection.
I'm just not into paying someone big $$ to watch him rehab 1-2 years to start his career. Especially a critical #1 pick. Nothing personal against Willis.
The cap age dictates prudent moves to strengthen your club ASAP. You can only keep a good core together for a short time. The window of opportunity is much shorter than 10-15 years ago, when the cap didn't play into this and rosters had little yearly movement. Now the yearly roster turnover is extraordinary.
Your paying this guy like he's one of your 8-12 core players...and he's still not 100 % recovered from his college injury.
The issue of whether I expected him to be 100 % this year is moot. I hope we can use him correctly this season. Short yardage/goal line situations seem to be the ticket. If Henry goes down, I would hope the Coaching staff would explore the possibility of giving Williams some carries, instead of settling with Willis carrying 20 times for 60 yards. He isn't scaring anyone in the open field.
Williams, on the other hand, could provide that big play threat. The Defense would have to respect that..
Flame away...