colin

im personally looking for the donte whitner of the draft.

if they are extending him, benford, and groot, and especially if they bring in a heavy hitter on DL, they need to get cheaper all over the spot w rookies for depth and some starters. CB, S, DT, as well as maybe an OG/C (edwards will be an upgrade target, torrence will be expensive to extend in 2 years) WR, and maybe RB, and back up qb. aside from just not having an outside wr, our weakest spots are clearly secondary followed by DL. we need to add at least one difference maker there. as far as this specific contract -- 2024 bernard was OK, 2023 bernard was an actual monster, filled up the stat sheet as well as any bills LB i've seen. if he's more like 23 and less like 24 it's a good signing, if he gets hurt too much it's another albatross. time will tell.

as mentioned in another thread, w shakir's contract and paying cook what he wants we'd be at sub 10% now (and less in 2 years) for our two best skill players. a long threat wr is somewhat necessary for us to get over the next hump, but it can be one of like 30 guys who can do it decently. there arent' many guys who can fill our pass rush and up front physical needs.

if we can't get garrett he will do.

if the contract was ok i'd replace von with him

my thoughts exactly. he's a potentially killer weapon, but not a consistent or every route kind of guy, and def not at that price.

he's a really good player, top 15 or so DE in the NFL. 20-25 as a % of cap this season an the next 4 is decent, prolly goes down to under 7% in 2027. we still need play maker additions to our team, cb, de, wr, and just like quality nfl players at those three positions as well as S, and DT. getting weaker at DE is just the wrong direction, and there will be plenty of cap to go around.

i personally think johnson was just snake bit, and having flutie behind him contributed to that (showing that flutie was an underhanded operator, and that johnson was simply no leader of men). that said, i agree, i think if that kick got covered, that team was ready to just walk to the chip, and would have had as good a chance as any vs the rams. pat williams and marcellus wylie, two multiple time all pro players, were back ups on that d line.

I always thought it would peak out at like 12 per year for cook, but that's picking nits. 2/3 years in a similar contract for cook gets us to like 7% of cap on our two best skill players of 2024 when we lead the nfl in scoring. I'll take that.

I used to think both were good but johson was slightly better in that he gave us a better chance to win a chip. now i think both kinda sucked, and johnson was slightly better in that he gave us a better chance to lose a heart breaker we shoulda won vs losing a game in desperation where it felt like we had a better chance to win than we ever really did. back then the special teams were trash, the oline was awful at pass blocking, the skill talent was actually good, and the was simply disgusting dominant.

stomach churning disrespectful no account vulgar display of offensive savagery. stomach churning disrespectful no account vulgar display of offensive savagery.

when i'm frantically using the internet with one hand, it tends to mean a different thing than for you my handicapable friend.

I need a giddy excited emote for posts. frankly, we could use a few more. and im glad a man w a wooden hand like yourself can post such swift news. damn the alligator.

the more i read the thread, the more convinced i am that 1) aside from an actual difference maker on D, our depth there is putrid. we can't have a single injury to a position group and have a non replacement level guy on the field, and we have that at every group and at safety without any injuries. 2) we really need to get our coverage better. pass rush and run d need improvement, but our ability to cover anything besides deep passes is putrid. pass rush helps with that, but being able to play man or zone quickly and with any impact is more important 3) one single knock out guy on our O is an absolute cheat code. cook looks like a top 4 back on our O, ty johnson looks like a top 3 3rd down back, and rookie ray davis looks like a monster. the oline and allen made that happen. if we had one single guy on the outside it would ruin defensive plans against us. allen is able to create and extend better than anyone i've ever seen, a monster deep is just nightmare fuel. if the price isn't too dear, dk metcalf puts us over the top on o, and we would have a few ways to get the d to where it's good enough to keep teams behind us on the scoreboard.

i see shakir on o as i do (did) milano on D. the combination of their ability, value to the team, and positional value. Milano was at a slightly lower value position, is a better player at that position, but has lower value to the team (hurt too much, this is before he signed his contract). if shakir stays healthy, it's a quality and good value signing.

debo for a 5th and he's getting under 22 a year makes me think dk won't get the money or seattle the picks discussed here. i'd trade a 3rd or whatever for dk and pay him 20-25.

some of the profiles i've read on him say he isn't a great natural athlete and lacks bend (which might be the case) but with a 40 inch plus vert and a 10 foot plus broad, along w his 40 time, he's pretty comfortably among the most athletic guys over 6'6" around.

agree totally. that seems really rich for DK (the price that gb will evidently pay). i think a deal would look similar to what we got for diggs or thereabouts. for that, and making assumptions about the cap/contracts, we could potentially swing him and garrett. the addition of those two on this team would create shocking results. mcd could run his d how he likes, mixing coverages and daring people to run, and the O would be the same change up many weapon nightmare it is now, but with an instant KO overhand right thrown into the soup.

You know what, I'm going to go against the grain here. I'm looking for MORE excuses. I want to hear about how hard coaches and players work, even in defeat. I want to read about how hard it is to win in the NFL. I'd like to hear details about Kincaid's knee (or whatever) and how much he had to work, just to get out of bed in the morning, let alone play an NFL football game! Beane, tell me about the tricky cap situation! LFG! Ex Post justifications for everyone!

schobel for sure. he got hurt late in his career, his feet i think. if he played on an actually talented team, and especially if he were around today because of how d's play now, he'd have had some really gnarly stats

if we do a joe marino and look at all of it as % of cap, groot getting 22-24 apy is a full cut below what the above mentioned guys got when they were market setting (in % terms). an extension can also allow for cap relief now to take the hit later, but given the rate of growth in the cap, that means the cap % just goes down, so it will average from like 8 down to 6 and change %. i was disgusted with groot in the afc chip game, but he's been our best defender otherwise, and has some (but not enough) elite traits. groot, oliver, a warm body, and garrett is a championship level dline, i say we get that together this offseason.

Lots of players get much more. groot will get like 8-9% of cap, 12+ for garrett, allen will re up for like 20% apy. the model that seems to make the best sense (aside from find a very good quarterback) is to get real game changing talent, particularly at impact positions, and to fill in as much as possible young and cheap w guys on rookie contracts, and use value/middle class free agency to fill in the rest. our real problem as a team (rosterwise) is two fold: one -- not enough game changers. we are good enough at qb and OL (as a group, not as much about individual super stars, but for me brown and dawkins are a top 3 or 4 tackle duo) and maybe at rb (i think it's more about qb and ol than rb talent, but cook is a legit top 5-10 rb IMO) to basically contend every year, but we don't have real big time impact guys in enough positions. a great wideout or TE might have caught an additional pass or broken a tackle leading to points to put us over vs kc, for example. two -- we are a heavily middle class team, but without the generally expected benefit of depth, specifically at the positions we tend to get injured at. our secondary and LBs get injured so much (only two starters on D didn't miss time in the season for injury), and what we end up putting in behind them is just cheeks. the fact that we have hamlin, douglas, and bernard and rapp (i like him, but he's a middle of the pack starting nfl off ball LB) as starters and the guys behind them are just so awful at times really shows how the roster has not been managed at a championship level (imo, draft picks have fallen short lately, but the real issue is the free agency and the contracts, hurting us in free agency). our DTs suck as a group, but it almost doesn't matter who we dress because they are at least comparable. our OL is our second best unit (next to allen obv) but they are deep too, and we could upgrade at LG or roll with what we have and be top 5-10 either way, we are 3 deep at RB, and our top 2 TEs are basically interchangeable, in that if one goes down, the other will roughly replace them. its silly that we have so much depth where we basically don't need it (OL, and we don't play to our strengths with multiple backs or pass catching TEs on the field) but a below replacement guy on d goes down and we all of a sudden fold like a tent.

i could see bernard getting a second contract if it's fairly cheap, 2.5-4% of cap area. I think dorian might improve again this season and become the replacement for either bernard or milano, so we could roll w williams and bernard if milano walks, or if milano gets healthy and back to how great he was in 22, have williams and milano and let bernard walk when his contract is up. they will also drop a round 2-5 pick on lbs every year or two and figure one of them will emerge. last year safety and CB was by far our worst position no the team, and that's saying a lot given our LB injuries and what our WR room looks like. cb is premium, but safety can be solved for cheap or with lower picks (i was high on bishop, he's been cheeks, he really needs to turn it around), and i think that's how it will be addressed along w LB going forward.

we have to get younger and cheaper in as many spots as possible (while not compromising quality too much) and get some game changers. i don't think this guy fits that bill if we can nab crosby/parsons/garrett. he'd be the 3rd or 4th best lineman (hoping that oliver can ball out again). he'd be a great addition if healthy, but if he stops us from getting a vet cb, or garrett, it is not a fit.

joe marino always goes on about % of cap. this is just shy of 5.5%, if the cap is going to pop as much in the next two years as it has in the last two years, that's going to be closer to 4%. we can do this, extend groot, trade for garrett, and even bring in a vet cb/wr this offseason based on the above. we have to get cheaper elsewhere, which means rookies come in and play well. von, knox, milano will all have contract reductions or be let go in the next two years. allen can be extended to shift his cap forward when cap inflation makes the % much smaller. i think shakir would get about that in FA, and you can argue his skill set isn't worth that, but you don't put a uniform on skill sets, you put a uniform on players, and his chemistry w allen, his level of work and focus, and his understanding of the offense on this team are all really really high value. this being kinda cheap for his production vs cook being eye watering at the same contract shows a great example of relative value in the nfl. you play with 3 and change wrs on average, and 1 and change rbs on average. upgrading an individual wr gives you more opportunity for comparative advantage on offense, the d has to pick their poison and potentially change coverage. you generally defend an RB more or less the same way, and the OL has such a huge impact on the run game that we have high levels of production per snap on all of our RBs. i think the nfl has gone a little too far w over valuing wrs (especially the top guys) and undervaluing rbs (again, especially the top guys, henry and barkley were obvious cheat code level players who were obtained for not much % of cap) but the direction is right. by the 3rd year of this contract (4 years time from now), after the guarantee is more or less absorbed (im guessing, assuming no restructures) shakir will be like 3 and change % of cap. he was our best wr in 2023 even with diggs having a huge start to his season, that's a pretty good value proposition.