03-09-2014, 07:54 AM
Quote:You keep saying 'the man is a free agent' like it mean something. It means he didn't reach a deal with the Ravens, unless you have an interview with his agent where he says they were determined to hit FA, it means nothing but that, he didn't reach a deal with the Ravens.
If we sign him after trading him, I will build a shrine to Dave Caldwell in my kitchen.
Its not just based on the number of free agents you sign, its based on the value of the contracts. If we kept Monroe til the end, then he signed for the biggest OL deal in history and we only sign a couple of mid tier guys, that will be considered a big net loss and we would have a 3rd rounder in 2015, unless you're from the Gene Smith school of 'a pick today is worth more than a pick tomorrow', that's a worse deal.
You neatly and conveniently ignored the point about him being better than what we currently have, that we dont know the value of the contract he will sign or how he or the players we have to replace him will perform once we have signed it. You're right, people can't admit they are wrong, they can't even admit that we don't know yet, they have to get in a wang measuring contest and claim everything is black and white. Welcome to the internet.
If the following things happen, it will be a good deal, as it stands I don't like it.
Monroe signs somewhere for a stupid money deal that he isn't worth.
We make a big splash in FA negating any comp picks we would have got.
Joeckel matches Monroe's level of play
None of those things have happened yet.
So if he signs an appropriately valued deal with another team, how does that change the analysis?
Either way, the Ravens would have given up 4th and 5th round picks for a guy who only played 11 games for them. He didn't make them a playoff team while he was there. He wasn't all Pro or Pro Bowl with the Ravens.
He didn't make us a playoff team while he was here. He wasn't All Pro or even Pro Bowl while he was here. We have 4th and 5th round picks for a guy not here. Had we let him leave as a free agent, we'd only get a compensatory pick for him-not the two that this trade netted for us, and it probably would not have been a 3rd round pick-which is the highest compensatory pick the league offers, considering he was never All Pro or Pro Bowl caliber. The highest it likely would have been is a compensatory pick at the bottom of the 4th round (and that may not have come until next year). If this is true, to me, a compensatory pick at the bottom of the 4th round pick (in a best case scenario) that you can't trade is less than a mid 4th round pick you can trade, plus a mid 5th round pick you can trade.
What it comes back to is whether we got enough in trade compensation for him.
Well, we had him on the team and were willing to trade him away.
The team that offered the picks for him was not impressed enough with him to franchise him to ensure he stayed. They were not impressed enough with him to re-sign him before he reached free agency.
We don't know of any other trade offers for Monroe.
Now it's my understanding the Jaguars were not actively shopping him. If this is true, it is possible a bidding war may have ensued and we could have gotten more in trade in return for Monroe. But that is speculation.
Considering the fact we had a viable replacement already on the roster in Joeckel, the fact a talent starved team like the Jaguars saw him as expendable, the fact the team likely would not have received more from the league in terms of compensatory picks if they simply let him walk as a free agent, the fact the team that traded for him didn't think enough about him to offer more than they did to the Jaguars, nor did they think enough of him to franchise him or re-sign him to this point, I don't see how a reasonable person can conclude Caldwell's trade of Monroe was "bad."