05-28-2020, 01:29 PM
(05-28-2020, 12:58 PM)fredtoast Wrote: That was my position also.
But the free agent market for WRs was dry as a bone this year. There was nothing. And you can't always count on players becoming available through trades. How could we have known Hopkins would be up for trade when e tagged Green?
So the tag works. We don't have to commit to a long term deal until we see if he can play and Green gets a huge payday.
I don't think that's really fair to say.
You will probably will disagree with this statement, but I'm not so sure Emmanuel Sanders is all that much worse than AJ at this point. In fact, just because he's been healthier you could argue that he's a safer investment.
He's only a year older than AJ, and has had a somehwat comparable career. At times he's been an elite player. He's missed a few games, but nowhere near what AJ has of late.
He managed to put up 869 yards last year, which isn't too shabby considering the circumstances. He spent the fist half of the year paired with Joe Flacco in Denver, who was among the league's worst starting QB's (He had 6 TD's through 8 games). He then got shipped mid-season and had to learn a new offense, which happened to be for a team that was 2nd only to the Ravens in rush attempts.
If you look at the year prior he had 868 yards in only 12 games, and that was with Case Keenum at the helm.
I'm not saying Sanders is a stud, or that I wouldn't take a healthy AJ Green over him. But I am saying he's far from "nothing". He also signed for 2 year 16 mil (Up to 19 with incentives).
Aj Green @ 18 mil vs. Sanders @ 8 mil. I'm not so sure Sanders isn't clearly the better use of money. You could have brought in Austin Hooper with the savings, then proceeded to cut or trade Uzomah, netting another 3.5 mil in savings.
Just spitballing, but consider this...
AJ Green + Uzomah vs. Emannuel Sanders + Austin Hooper +3.5 mil
Also, Robby Anderson isn't nothing either. He's only 27 year old and has done decently considering his situation there. He just signed for 2 years 20 mil.
To each their own, everyone is entitled to their opinion on AJ and whether or not they wanted him back. But I really don't think it's fair to say there were no other options to bring in veterans to replace him. People act like we had no other options other than to simply roll with Ross, Boyd, and Higgins. This simply isn't true. And people never consider that the cap savings could have been invested elsewher either.
Personally, I think a core of Sanders, Boyd, Higgins, Ross, and Tate sounds more than adequate. When you start considered the other players that could be added with the cap savings, it becomes all that more enticing. (Ex: Austin Hooper or Joe Schobert)
