Quote:Citing the Monroe trade as a plus because Caldwell was lucky to find good players still available in the late rounds is disingenuous. The trade was still two low picks for a starting LT. He could have gotten that and more by trading the 2013 #1 pick and keeping Monroe instead of drafting Joeckel. Of course Monroe wasn't suited to the zone blocking scheme, but it's better to use what your players are good at rather than dumping good players and replacing them to fit a new scheme. This year the offensive coaching staff seems to get that. The defense is still in la la land.


 

It was a mistake to keep better players because it would have resulted in more wins? Really, that's your position?

It's not disingenuous. 

 

Monroe may have been a starting LT, but he wasn't very good.  He was a middle of the pack starter at LT at best.  He wasn't going to command much under any circumstances, and he wasn't likely to stay when his contract expired.  Salvaging a couple of mid to late round picks for him wasn't bad, especially when those picks helped get us two of the best players currently on the roster.  Is Robinson looking like a better WR than Monroe was a LT?  Is Telvin Smith at LB looking like a better player than Monroe.  I say yes to both, and both look like they will be long term key contributors to this team.  I don't see how you can dismiss the proceeds from the Monroe trade when they resulted in two quality players.

 

Nobody was offering much of anything in trade for the top 2013 picks.  There was no QB, and it was widely considered to be a weak at the top draft class.  Heck, even Oakland only got a 2nd round pick trading down from 3 to 11 or 12 that year.

 

As to your closing statement, no that is not my position.

 

My position is that the players released/traded/jettisoned were not catalysts or difference makers on their sides of the ball, were older (in the case of Smith) and largely having them around would not be conducive to rebuiding.

 

None of those guys being on the roster stopped the team from being 2-14.

 

They were NOT indispensable.

 

EVEN IF (note emphasis) you could argue keeping Smith, Monroe or anyone else around could have resulted in another win or two in 2013, in my estimation, the extra win or two would not have been worth it.  We saw the price for meaningless wins at the end of the 2011 season, giving up Andrew Luck to the Colts. 

 

I pose the same question to you I posed earlier:  Is having ANY one or group of those guys from that 2-14 team worth not having Blake Bortles on the roster right now?

 

Which one of those players, straight up, would you trade for Bortles right now and why?

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