Ravens 1st in newest power ranking; Pitt 8th, Cincy 12th

[BmorePat87]

(10-19-2015, 01:00 PM)Whatever Wrote: You can trade big contracts off to get cap relief, but you also have to get something on return to replace them.  Ozzie dumped Boldin for a 7th, and he had back to back 1000 yard seasons for the 9'ers.  You're highly unlikely to get that kind of player in the 7th, so you just make the team worse.  Same with Ngata.  It probably wasn't feasible to keep McPhee, but when you throw in the loss of Ngata and Suggs, you have a thin front 7 that gasses and blows 4th quarter leads.

Every team loses players in fa but Ozzie is missing way too much in the draft to replace that talent, and is handcuffed by a massive QB contract in fa.

The thing with Boldin is that they had to use the money to sign multiple guys on defense. They knew he wouldn't take a pay cut after being so crucial in that playoff run. But they had to fill multiple holes. At least they got a 7th. Better than nothing.  Winning a Super Bowl means above average guys are going to get offers from elsewhere. Bye, Ellerbe and Kruger (and Art Jones a year later). 

They were fortunate, though, that the whole Dumervil thing went down. They ended up using cap space from cutting Boldin to sign him. They also assumed Pitta would be able to step up and be the next Todd Heap... but then that whole knee thing occurred it it looks like he will never play football again. Tough break.