(03-20-2021, 02:07 PM)TheDuke007 Wrote: You are clearly someone who was a long time reader of Vic Ketchman.
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Let me walk you through an example since so many people seem confused about this concept.
In 2017, the Jaguars drafted Leonard Fournette and the Chiefs drafted Patrick Mahomes. Fournette was a bust and is no longer on the team. Patrick Mahomes is arguably the best player in the NFL. Because Fournette is no longer on the team, he costs us nothing. Patrick Mahomes has a contract that averages $45 million per year over the length of it. Because the Jaguars don't have that contract, they have more money under the salary cap. Would I prefer Mahomes? Absolutely. Any sane person would. However, someone has yet to invent a time machine. We can't go back in time and draft Mahomes. We can't trade Fournette for Mahomes. We have to deal with the situation as it exists today. The situation today is that we'll be saving $45 million compared to the Chiefs. That's money we can spend on free agents. With some of that money, they signed Shaquill Griffin for $13 million per year. Did signing Griffin cause us to not draft Mahomes? No! Would not signing Griffin somehow magically let us acquire Mahomes? No! Did signing Griffin mean that we can't draft Trevor Lawrence and we must intentionally take busts in the draft going forward? No! What would have been the effect of not signing Griffin? It would have left our roster with an inferior player at the cornerback position. Griffin won't solve all of our problems, but it's a step in the right direction to improve the roster. If we have the cap available (and we do), I want to take more steps to improve the roster. The goal is to get the best roster that you can.
You completely missed the point of build through the draft in your example.
Vic's point was that you build a roster with the picks you make - you get them cheap for a while, and if they are a hit, you can spend money on players you have already invested time and coaching into, and if you do not draft well, you will end up overpaying either with additional picks to fix the error or overpaying in FA for the marquee players. This isn't just about first rounders - it's finding guys in the entire draft that keep the roster full enough to avoid desperation.
Take a look at Seattle. Pay close attention to KC. They are now paying a king's ransom to their QB, and that leaves them with little wiggle room financially for other players. They must be savvy either in the players that they target in FA (value is key, where you pay less for players who perform at or above players who cost more) or those that they draft. KC just released Fisher and Schwartz, and unless they've got jars on the shelf (another Vic-ism), desperation is going to force their hand. If they draft a guy who isn't ready to start right away, or simply busts, they now have to either spend a fortune to convince a FA tackle to sign with them (and probably cut a few guys to make room for him) or trade away future picks to rent someone else's OT that they were content to walk away from. They are going to have to resort on building (and maintaining) through the draft, otherwise, they will fracture their roster trying to patch all the holes that financial constraints create.
