Quote:Yes.

 

But to do that, you have to have success in the draft.

 

If you have too many misses in the draft, then FA becomes a poor, expensive substitute that results in failure.

 

Or alternatively, if you stay away from free agency after repeated draft misses, you get what we've gotten here.

 

FA can help as a supplement to the draft, but cannot be used as a substitute.

 

I think we have to look at this FA as a substitute. We always talk about the draft as a foundation, but quite honestly, I don't know that Luke and Cyp have proven to be "foundation" players. Most of our "foundation" players are from Dave's year 2 class. Its rare that guys like Suh and McCourty hit the market. Even Cobb or Maclin.

 

Think of it this way...Cobb was drafted in 2011. So was Julius Thomas. That was our Blaine Gabbert draft. Had Gene's picks worked out, this is when we would be resigning those guys. With all the cap space we have, and our 2013 class not completely living up to their billing (yet?), we might as well treat guys like Cobb and Thomas as if we were the ones who drafted them in 2011 and are now extending them as part of our team.

 

Its the older guys that we have to treat as supplements, since they likely won't be here as long as the younger guys. But in the case of Suh, he's just too dominant to pass up on if we have the opportunity to bring him in. Even McCourty with his scheme fit.

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