Yes, the rare specimen is worth reaching for you and I agree on that. And I'm betting that you and I agree that they are also exactly that; "rare". Julio Jones is a man amongst boys when it comes to the WR position but there are guys that can crank out 800 yard seasons available in every draft. So was Jones worth what it took to go get him? Mmmm, Maybe. but you can make the argument that you could have gotten an 'A' WR at half the cost of that 'A+' WR.

I think I'm finally realizing that what Vic was saying was that you could get "a guy" to do 75% of what Jones can do at about 50% of the cost. So isn't it smarter to do that?

In the NFL you have to be better than the rest, so no it's not smarter to do that.  Let the Cleveland Browns do the bargain hunting. We're striving for the best.

Just to jump on this train, I think of it like the storyline from Ocean's 11. When the situation is right, you hit and you hit hard. But you must be strategic when you do it. 

Atlanta, to my knowledge isn't that big of a 'wheeler-dealer' in terms of the draft. As far as I know, they really only moved up in that one season and have pretty much let the board play itself out. To me, that's how it's done in terms of drafting. When that top-of-the-line talent is available, go get it. But don't make a habit of it because everyone loves a sucker. You can win yourself a lot of hands and go home with a decent amount of money when you just play the odds. It's when you start reaching and trying to make a cold table get hot again that you get into trouble and find yourself in a loading dock taped to a chair and a man named "Mr. Tickles" wants to introduce your toes to his favorite hammer.

Go get your top flight talent. Just make sure you are getting your money's worth.

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I'm trying to make myself more informed and less opinionated.

Stop saying whatever stupid thing you're talking about and pay attention to all the interesting things I have to say!

My main takeaway is that the swing tackle position needs work. Josh Wells is essentially useless on both sides and there has to be someone either on our roster or someone else's who is an upgrade over him.

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My main takeaway is that the swing tackle position needs work. Josh Wells is essentially useless on both sides and there has to be someone either on our roster or someone else's who is an upgrade over him.

Finding a decent tackle is very hard. It's likely if he had to play in the regular season the strategy would call for a lot of help coming his way. Hopefully Cam stays healthy, but it wouldn't surprise me for Richardson to be Parnell's backup this season and possibly even Cam's at some point.

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My main takeaway is that the swing tackle position needs work. Josh Wells is essentially useless on both sides and there has to be someone either on our roster or someone else's who is an upgrade over him.

Finding a decent tackle is very hard. It's likely if he had to play in the regular season the strategy would call for a lot of help coming his way. Hopefully Cam stays healthy, but it wouldn't surprise me for Richardson to be Parnell's backup this season and possibly even Cam's at some point.

Agreed. Richardson did not allow a sack in 2017 and he was a very solid run blocker as well. Give him some time to adjust to the NFL and I believe he could be an excellent swing tackle before settling in at RT, once Parnell is gone.

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In the NFL you have to be better than the rest, so no it's not smarter to do that.  Let the Cleveland Browns do the bargain hunting. We're striving for the best.

Sure, but it's hard to be the best when you're overpaying mediocre talent and can't afford to keep other great talents. It's not about refusing to have great players and only having good players, the point is not paying good players like they're great players, and if you can get similar performance for less money you should jettison the higher paid guy and keep the lower paid guy.

Sure, if similar means something like 95 percent... but if you have a top player, you don't jettison him for a guy who is only 75 percent as good.  Also, we weren't talking about just "good" players. That's a different story. We were talking about Julio as in an elite player in this league. 

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In the NFL you have to be better than the rest, so no it's not smarter to do that.  Let the Cleveland Browns do the bargain hunting. We're striving for the best.

The Jags WR corps IS a bargain hunted unit. They have very little money and zero long term commitment tied to the position. Think about what they will likely get from Westbrook, Cole and Chark in relation to the money being paid to those players.

Yeah, they are bargain shopping at the WR spot, but more out of necessity than choice. ARob is still a year away from being back on par so they felt they could get more bang for the buck. But you never saw Caldwell get a bargain player to replace Julio just like you won't see him look for a bargain player to replace Ramsey. You pay your top guys because you need those guys to win. 

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'02