How many are tired of ......

[Whatever]

(08-25-2020, 04:00 PM)Au165 Wrote: No, it really wouldn't. We drafted Robbey Anderson in the 6th and after getting hurt again we cut him and no one blinked an eye...because it was a 6th. To the context of my comment earlier, the reason Ross gets so much crap is because the asset of a top 10 pick being used with little to no tangible return. Players who were taken with assets of less value, later picks, recieve little to flack when they don't pan out.

The money only hurts if it actually took away from others receiving it, which there is no evidence AJ has. Consider for a second that we have not spent more than $8 Million under the cap any year in which AJ has been hurt, and that includes the salaries of all the replacement players we pay for IR guys. Cap space does not equal money that will be spent merely the ceiling for those who want to spend it. Since they weren't up against the cap it is safe to assume if they really wanted to they could have added more help at other positions, but they never seemed inclined to do so.

I believe it's a misconception that an injured AJ deprived us of some other sort of big-time FA. Until this season they had no interest in spending anything close to his salary, or even half his salary, on a player in FA, and even this year I think they wouldn't have spent the money used on a tag on more outside FA's since they had already stepped outside and spent so much as is.

TJ was a 7th round pick and there was plenty of doom and gloom when he left.  You can't tell me that if AJ had the exact same career to this point and was a Day 3 pick that people wouldn't react the same.  Nobody cares about when you were drafted once you're on your second contract unless you're Hobspin trying to spin a fluff piece.

We did this same thing chasing Eifert, except the money was nowhere near as high.  When he finally stayed healthy last year, he was nowhere near the same player.  These injuries add up over time and diminish the player.  You need to get out before the guy hits the wall, not keep a death grip on him.

Come on.  The Bengals have spent up to the rollover every year during the previous CBA.  There is absolutely no logical reason to think they wouldn't have done the same without AJ's contract on the books.  They may not have gone out and signed some marquee FA, but it wouldn't take much to give the team more than AJ has the past couple of years. Seriously, you're against giving an in his prime Joe Mixon $10-12 mil a year, but you're good giving a past his prime AJ who hasn't played in a year and a half $18 mil?