[Flaxwless]

Originally Posted by pacificscrub

Wow. So you mean it's good to get guys that outperform their salary and undervalued guys? Thank you captain obvious.

I can't decide whether you oversimplify more or spend more time dealing in theory rather than reality. We're already a mediocre team, hence the 5th pick in the draft rather than a top 2 pick. Maybe if we'd blatantly tanked the last four games like some of our opponents did last year we'd be closer to that, but I digress. We've already begun reshaping an old and mediocre team into a young team with a lot of the "P" word.

As far as "blowing half our cap" on LT, with 12k to spend, that still leaves us with enough to purchase one or two mid-tier/undervalued players and sign our rookies and FAs. Plus it's not like there are a ton of those guys available each off season. While we all like pointing out each other's flaws and gaffs, all in all we've got a competent group of owners who won't let too many of those players fall through the cracks. In fact, that's what we were looking for in Julius Jones (you still suck Needles!). Just like you identified Jamal Lewis as that guy, we targeted JJ as our undervalued player. We won't know until the end of the season if either of our choices was accurate, but that's what makes this so fun. Likewise even if you win the bidding on a guy without overspending, his last owner is going to match the majority of the time anyway. That in itself is a major reason why overbidding on certain players is required if you want any hope of actually getting them on your roster.

From the flexibility standpoint, even if we'd won LT for 6k and Burt had a brainfart and didn't match, it's not like anyone would have the cap space to deal for him anyway. So lets say we don't go after him and instead chase Thomas Jones and a mid-tier wideout and AGAIN against all odds they aren't matched. I have to hope that one or both do well enough this year to entice a trade by a contender AND they have the available cap space to deal for them AND they are willing to part with someone I actually want. Flexibility is a great buzzword, but you're not dealing with reality. If there were guys I thought would fit your description and I needed the money to get them, then of course I wouldn't keep bidding on LT, but I just haven't seen a prospect beyond JJ that fits. On the other hand we only have one mid-tier prospective RFA for next season and a ton of cap space that in all likelihood won't be used this season. The way I see it, I'm using cap space that would otherwise go to waste to gain myself draft points in the 2009 draft.

Fair enough.

As for the Top 2 pick... the #2 pick isn't mine. I traded for it.