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Rams43
You are preaching to the choir when you describe AD as a phenomenal player, Sun.
We all know that he is.
But the question for the Rams is “How much can we afford to pay AD and still be able to afford Gurley, Goff, Cooks, Peters, and Joyner down the road?
And those are just our elite type players coming up quickly. There are other valuable contributors without whom we may not win as easily, or as often.
For me, the team trumps any player. And I believe that Goff is our only “must have”.
I just love AD and his play and sure hope that we can extend him. But I love those other players, too, and feel that we need them for future SB contention.
I think the question the Rams will have to answer is, "Is it better to keep AD and lose a couple of good players or retain more good players and lose AD?"
If the Rams pay AD, I don't think they can keep all of those players you name. Joyner, specifically, is in danger of being lost IMO.
Above you referred to controlling salaries. In this day of free agency, there's no sure way to do that except by letting players go.
Personally, my philosophy on team building is to pay the elite players even if it costs a couple of good players.
I know you say that Goff is the only "must have." I wonder about that.
I've been contemplating AD's impact on the D. There's the article the other day highlighting AD's impact. Also a quick glance at the numbers reveals that, when AD was missing the first few weeks of the season last year, the D gave up a lot of points the first 4 weeks of the season.
They were ranked somewhere around #28 in points allowed after week 4. Once AD came in and got acclimated, that number steadily moved down every week until they ended the season ranked #12.
28th to 12th. AD is the straw that stirs the drink.
It may be blasphemous but I wonder if his impact is approximately close to the impact of a good QB (not an elite one).
