11-11-2021, 01:55 AM
(11-11-2021, 01:18 AM)fredtoast Wrote: No they did not "splurge". They signed a bunch of mid to low level free agents. Marvin was able to coach them up and get some wins.
Taylor, on the other hand, has been handed some of the highest paid players in the league.
The fact that Marvin got winning teams out of mid level free agents does not mean that he would not have gotten a lot more out of the top level players Zac is getting.
The salary cap was $75 million in 2003.
It's $182 million now.
We gave Thornton a 6 year, $22.5 million contract ($3.75 million average)
We gave Hardy a 4 year, $14 million contract ($3.5 million average)
We gave Tory a 4 year, $14.4 million contract ($3.6 million average)
By today's standards, that would be like signing 3 guys for $8.5 to $9 million each.
We also signed:
Reggie Kelly for 4 years, $6.6 million ($4.0 million average today)
Duane Clemons for 2 years, $2.18 million ($2.8 million average today)
And that was just year one. Not even looking at the guys we signed and traded for in 2004, which included Deltha (5 years, $8.5 million), Kim Herring (5 years, $11.3 million), and several other players that I don't feel like looking up because I'm getting bored.
It was a similar splurge, and unprecedented at the time.
The training, nutrition, medicine, fitness, playbooks and rules evolve. The athlete does not.
