A different way of looking at team building?

It feels like most of us here, including me often, are working with a vision of team building where every starter is a name player. While that would be great - reality of the salary cap system says that no team can really afford to do that, unless they have no superstars getting big contracts.

Perhaps the way we should be looking at team building is more like this:

In our offensive and defensive systems, where do we need exceptional or very good players and what positions can we live average players or even with JAGs?

Last year's offensive line was excellent. But it did not have 5 name players. It had Whit and Saffold who both played great, Sullivan and Hav who were solid but unspectacular and Jamon Brown who was closer to being JAG.

I would say looking at the team we have right now, that Wade has identified that we needed good to excellent CBs and we got that.

ILB on the other hand, in the Wade system, maybe we can do with average players or even JAGs. We have a superstar DT, I think most everyone thinks that with the loss of Quinn we definitely need a pass rusher, who I think is likely to be #23 in the draft. Between AD and #23, then maybe we live with them as our best pass rushers and get average rush from the rest of our lineman. Brockers is solid to very good, so that is that.

Also, it is not unreasonable for receivers and TEs to need a year or more to develop. In fact, Kupp being so good last year was the exception for rookie receivers. We are playing with house money already having a great WR we picked up in the 3rd last year, and a solid Safety we picked up in the 4th (5th)?

I guess I am just suggesting that if we accept that every NFL team, even the great ones, are going to have a certain number of average players, and even a few JAGs, we can stop hyperventilating every time a FA we would have liked to add is signed to another team.

Not my most lucid post ever, but for what its worth.