No Ziggy lies on the salary cap in 2001. He made it appear that the Rams could only sign 1 of the 3 (Hakim, Fletcher, Little) Fans find out later by watching that this was not accurate and all 3 could have been signed.
Than in 2005, the Rams needed secondary help and he did the same thing. Hence in the 2006 and 2007, there was a ton of free agent money. I believe they had 2 times more salary cap room than 1/2 the teams in the NFL, because Ziggy withheld.
On your point though, I find it so funny that many folks want to say that 2001 draft was a bust and these same people have no problem with Robinson playing poorly year after year and he was the #2 pick in the draft.
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en.wikipedia.org]
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bleacherreport.com]
Some want to say Pickett was a bust but he started and played at a high level for years. Never played in a pro bowl but was an above average starter, made big plays in the playoffs for the Packers.
Lewis too was a long term starter in the league.
AND Archuletta was a pro bowl player before a back injury ended his career.
Archuletta and Picket were both high paid players on their 2nd contracts.
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en.wikipedia.org] He was also selected as an alternate to the pro bowl.
I do agree Martz did not do well with personnel, but the support wasn't the greatest and he did acquire some key players to fix the defense and get to the playoffs 3 more times after the 2000 defense fell apart with players dropping off because of age and injury. They were #1 in NFC in 2001 on defense.
