Growl

Look at how it's done folks. Big FA signings, big trades. This is how you rise to the top. We want to follow Seattle's lead on the field but are too scared to imitate them off of it because we can't accept that it isn't 2002 anymore.

It seems likely we had our eye on someone whom we thought we nobody else wanted and got scared when other teams showed interest. Every year we see this team try to display how "clever" it is and then we watch our free agency plan fall apart when it backfires This team will never be a perennial championship contender until it realizes that it's approach to free agency is wrong. That's the sad, unfortunate truth of the matter.

Smart to jump on the "value" (or whatever code name were giving them this year) players early rather than waiting a week or two and trying to get them then because you think you're crafty. Do that and you're competing with other teams and have to lower your standards even further to get the players nobody is talking to. It's how you get a Cotchery when you wanted a Nicks, for example.

As I've already said, the "conversation" isn't about names, it's about philosophy, and I frankly don't care to go listing out every player I'm watching this free agency period. However, I, like most everyone who thinks the team would be better off adding talented players than not, am not clamorous for the glamorous. Nobody here on this board I've seen is screaming for a "splash" but players who we are confident can come in and be strong starters and not jerricho Cotchery or Jason Avant or Tiquan underwood or whomever.

I made a post a few pages back on posters who try to isolate certain players to reinforce the notion that acquiring talent is bad where I referred to them as "willfully ignorant" that you should see Not that trent Richardson was a free agent so it's an even further reach but whatever

The losing teams that pay for elite names are the teams that have the most cap which is the reason they are a losing team to begin with. You're not going to find good teams with much cap space.

You're right, I just defer to the executives with the wins.

Incarcerated Bob is a fraud. He reposts things he's seen on twitter elsewhere or posts common sense sentiments that can't really be disproven. Would a bunch of WR-needy teams really be looking at WRs? Wow Bob you're such an insider I have no doubt Cecil Shorts is a guy we've talked to. But not because Bob said so.

This fallback "impartial mediator" quip that springs up every time the Huddle groupthink is tested is no different than the "DIS AINT MADDEN" crowd. Nobody is talking about randall Cobb or whatever in this discussion. We are discussing philosophy on team building as a whole. It doesn't have to be 4 pm for that discussion to take place. There is no mandate. We can have this discussion now, we can have it tommorow, and a week from now, and in three months too and maybe even a few months after that.

And for the record, Im not so sure the return on Gore and Johnson is going to be all that much for them anyways. But the philosophy as a whole has certainly worked for them over the years, as it has for New England, Denver, San Francisco, Seattle, Philly.

Additionally, "big spending" on this board has consistently proven to be perceived as anything over 2 million a year so that argument really doesn't hold much weight anyways 5 MIL A YEAR!! WHAAT?! GIVE ME MY VALUE INSTEAD!

The Panthers are doing neither so I'm not sure what you're trying to say.

Anyone who thinks only losing teams are active players in FA is being willfully ignorant.

As I've said, and I mean this is a number of different capacities when I say this, it's about who you sign, not what you spend. Just because Tampa spends a lot of money on a CB who doesn't fit what they do doesn't mean that same player can't go help another team win the Super Bowl the following season and play great in a system that fits his skill set. There isn't some magical voodoo that players who get the title of "free agent" that makes them bust in certain places and boom in others. It's about who you sign. Not what you spend. There's no such thing as "overpaying" if a player brings you success, and just because crappy teams sign crappy players in desperation doesn't mean that well run teams aren't meanwhile adding good players who will help carry them back to the postseason.

Some teams are concerned with being in the Super Bowl for the next five years and some teams are concerned with getting to the Super Bowl within 5 years Just a philosophical difference I guess

Jerricho Cotchery doesn't exactly qualify as "addressing needs." At some point you have to be willing to accept that this year is this year and not 1998 and that good players make lots of money, and sometimes, you may even have to sign a player that another team wants (gasp) A good OT can get signed to a 6-7 million a year deal and people on this board will console themselves with "ha! At least we didn't overpay! Value baby!" as Byron bell spends 4 years flailing and drowning as journeymen DE blow by him, taunt him for being a lefty, stop at a drive-thru, play 4 games of solitaire on their Sony VAIO and then hit Cam's blindside and we all have to hear Dex yell about how terrible Cam is.

Indy has done a pretty excellent job "winning now" and is poised very well for the future with a young, talented core of players complimented by proven veterans.. Meanwhile, the Panthers have been in rebuild mode "prepping for the future" since 2009.

Sometimes I wonder if Gettleman's purported BPA draft philosophy is an elaborate smokescreen. In addition to the fact that he's used the draft to address needs both years now (and approaching a 3rd) he also doesn't seem to abide by that line of thinking in free agency. Perhaps he sees the rest of the league addressing needs via FA and thinks that since they're addressing those positions now, it makes it more likely that positions we need will slip to us (OT, WR, DB all positions that are frequently in high demand) come draft day because those teams already solved those areas and are free to make value base luxury picks. If he didn't seem so sincere when he said he believed in using FA to fix needs, then I'd be tempted to think that little theory was true.

This is massively overstated here on this board, as is evidenced by the teams who continually find success in both FA and in games each year despite being up against the purported cap. Here's a good article I've posted before from former Packers VP and cap manager Andrew Brandt, on the "salary cap myth." It's an article I've considered putting in its own thread. Essentially, he discusses how the cap is so easy to manipulate that it doesn't really matter when building a team. http://mmqb.si.com/2015/02/25/nfl-salary-cap-myth-los-angeles-stadium/

Agreed and it's interesting how FA has been such a big part of those team's success. The last two SB winners alone have been heavy in FA in their respective years, and now you see those teams not only reloading, but being the apple of many free agent's eye.

Britt's career numbers are akin to Brandon Lafell's (when he was able to stay on the field). If you're looking for a quality player, your focus can't be "trying to get the best value" or whatever. It has to be about getting the best possible player.

Jacksonville determined to put weapons around their young QB at any cost. Have to appreciate a team that is willing to do whatever it takes. Frankly I dont think Julius Thomas is an elite TE, but he's a decent player and will do well for them. Anybody heard anything on Jordan Cameron.

hey guys hit me up on snapchat, it's "abelincoln16" and see me perform all my daily presidential duties

A fake snapchat account? How would that even work?

Guess.