Compensatory Picks

[*Nately120*]

(09-03-2017, 09:55 AM)SHRacerX Wrote: Despite the pure awesomeness of this response, I have to disagree on this premise:  Who would you have kept, for what money, and what future FA we would not be able to sign because we kept an aging Whitworth and a WAY overvalued Zeitler.  

I would much rather go with who we have and be able to sign Burfict and Eifert.  They are more important to the team at this stage.  

Huge Rep on the post, though, for creativity. 

I hear ya, but it's not about naming specific players we should target/get/keep so much as realizing there is a certain "That'll do" mindset that pervades this entire organization's business plan.  We've been hearing that retaining Burfict and Eifert is the reason we can't keep/sign player X for years.  I don't claim to know the entire ins and outs of the NFL cap, but I see the Steelers and Patriots signing guys despite having more high profile players than we do.

Hell, the Patriots immediately traded their 3rd string QB for a WR after the Edelman injury while we lose our #1 WR and start talking about how awesome it's going to be to see how good Dalton can be when he spreads the ball around to lesser talent.  That's my rub on the fact that we let Zeitler and Whitworth walk.  We spent the entire off-season going into 2016 talking about how losing Hue/Eifert/Jones/Sanu was going to open the door for Zampese/Kroft/Core/multiple WRs who didn't make the team to shine and blah blah blah.

As I said before, I hope everything is fine but I doubt we'll all be thinking about how much money we saved on the o-line if Dalton is on his back seeing stars all year.  Wow, Dalton got destroyed on that play but hey, you can't overpay old probowl o-linemen.

Like I said, I get the optimism but it's clear that we've been condition to make the most of a franchise that won't/can't operate like the others. I liken it to my pals who are Pirates fans when they say stuff like "Well, I wish we could keep (starting pitcher) because he's great, but the Pirates can't pay (normal rate for a starting pitcher) like other teams."  They get it.  They realize their team just operates in a manner that isn't up to league standards so they are chuffed when they make the playoffs and lose a team that does.