The Market over and under prices players. When the Market over prices them it is wise to be very cautious especially in a high risk situation.
A big Dotson contract carries more risk than that of a more established guard. The price we paid for Dotson was very inexpensive and why was that? It was because he would have been a bench warmer on Pitt. To Pitt who knew the player well wouldn't even have had him as a starter and now after 3/4 of a season as a starter we are talking about paying him on a level as the highest paid guards in the league. He also has not positional versatility. Now I agree he has been great and maybe the light bulb finally clicked on for him this year but with a limited level of success I think there is big risk in giving him a contract on par with the top guards in the league. Let's hope that his market is not at the level and that we can sign him for a reasonable amount.
Over paying for a player should be something that you only do when you are going for all the marbles and are convinced that that player is vitally important. While I agree Dotson is vitally important I am not convinced we are ready to go all in and a sacrifice the future on a RG by over paying. It is not whether we can afford it or not but what the implication and impact will be for years to come. We just got out of cap hell by eating a ton of dead money and we seem to be all in on doing whatever it takes to resign someone who has preformed at the top of their game for 3/4 of a season. That is high risk.
Bad contracts kill you with the cap and the Rams have made plenty of mistakes in this area. We just picked up a super guard in the last draft using a 2nd round pick which is cost controlled for 4 years. We just picked up Dotson for cheap and it did not hurt our cap and if he has a market that is really high the draft compensation for losing him will equal what we paid for him. I think you need to look at all the options available before investing in a huge contract. You are going to need to spend big $$$ to sign Jones after next season and he will probably be much harder to replace and is key to the defense.
My hope is that we sign Dotson to a good contract if possible. If the market goes nuts over him and the price skyrockets I say pass and look for other options.
