Quote:My only issue with the way they handled the roster in Dave's first year was how they completely blew it up and really didn't add any pieces that first year.  There was no reason they had to let go of a guy like Darryl Smith, and I know there were others that still had gas left in the tank and weren't taking up a ton of cap room.  They completely stripped this team down to nothing and I feel like we're still fighting back from that. 

 

I still think we're missing that veteran presence on the team that can rally the troops when the time comes.

 

I get that, but what was Daryl Smith going to do on this roster? Yeah, he was a veteran and he was (is!) still pretty good but he's still an old school MIKE 'backer. I would have liked him on the team but it's not like they cut him. They just let him go to FA and didn't try to re-sign him I believe.

 

The Monroe situation was a 50 - 50 thing for me because I get that they wanted more draft picks for 2014 so why not use a guy whose replacement is already on the roster? Granted, losing him does strip down the veteran presence like you point out but is veteran presence worth Allen Robinson and / or Brandon Linder? I really don't know the answer to that but I get the mentality behind the move.

 

All in all, I get the feeling that Caldwell looked at the roster and knew that things were going to be bad so why not risk making them that much worse if it could get you some future pieces? I don't know if that's the right way to go about things or not because like I stated before I don't know if any Front Office was ever faced with this kind of situation.

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