(04-23-2019, 05:05 PM)Bullseye Wrote: Serious questions:

1.  Is it better to draft average players who won't command second contracts as opposed to drafting great players who will?

2.    Should our coaches not develop players to make the otherwise average good players, and otherwise good players into great players to avoid second contracts?

3.  Would it be better to sign veteran free agents old enough to not command another contract from the team?

1. Never, because this implies your opponents are drafting great players that will command a second contract, whether or not they sign with the team that drafted them. Until that second contract comes due, you have to build a franchise (from your pool of average guys) to overcome more talented rosters

2. Again, never. Coaches jobs, especially positional coaches, is to develop a player. You cannot survive three years from now with the roster you have today. Guys get old. Guys get hurt. Developing young guys either makes the older guys expendable, either by overcoming the older guys' talent or the older guys' cost for the same expected performance. In the case of injury, the development softens the blow of having to rely on players further down the depth chart.

3. This may be my biggest pet peeve with our roster. In recent years, we have had tons of cap space to work with, and we have spent lots of money to bring free agents in. Almost never do those guys see the end of their contract, as the team opts to release a player rather than paying the rest of the contract out. That player signs with another team, and we get nothing in return to account for the loss of the player, and usually eat dead money when the amortized bonus accelerates to the current year. While comp picks cannot be the foundation on which you build a roster, those extra picks will help to bring in youth to an aging roster, prevent future overpayments to big-name free agents, and also make the team more attractive to potential FA. If you were looking to sign with a team, but that team always cut a guy in the final year or two of a multi-year deal, that might not give you the security you are looking for when changing teams. The end result is you are going to ask for more up front, or opt for a team that tends to keep guys on the team until the contract elapses, if the offers are similar. I'm less concerned about the AGE of the free agent, it's more a matter of the terms we are signing them to.

---