03-12-2017, 11:40 PM
(03-12-2017, 09:38 PM)oncemoreuntothejimbreech Wrote: Fred, do you remember 2008? The team cut Willie Anderson in favor of Stacy Andrews. The year prior, they didn't re-sign Eric Steinbach.
Yeah, I remember that Willie was a washed up cripple who never played another snap after that season, and Stacey Andrews played well enough to get a 6 year $40 million (in '09 dollars) contract in free agency. Which do you think they should have kept?
And in '07 they could not afford to re-sign Steinbach (who was the second highest paid guard in the league) because they had re-signed or extended the other four startering O-linemen including contracts that made Levi Jones (6 year $40 million '06) and Willie Anderson (5 year $32million '05) the highest paid OT duo in the league. Bobbie Williams was given a 3 year extension in '06 and Rich Braham got a 2 year extension in '05.
That great O-line was not destroyed by cheapnessor bad decisions. It crumbled due to injuries. In just two years Braham, Jones, and Anderson were all either gone or crippled due to injuries. If all of those guys had not gotten injured we would have plugged Whit in for Steinbach and not missed a beat.
