Quote
GreatRamNTheSky
Quote
zn
Quote
GreatRamNTheSky
Perhaps if he meant a championship but he doesn't. He's played 3 years for the Rams and done terrific but he has not prevented the Rams from losing.
I say trading him for a bunch of picks might be better for the team in the long run then keeping him.
Grits
Well I am one of those who think their chances of winning are better with Donald than with 2 or 3 other, different players you could get in a trade. Especially since odds are with most teams with most draft picks that you won't hit on all of them.
Rams didn't win with Merlin Olsen for 6 years after drafting him either.
The Steelers didn't win for 3 years with Joe Greene.
And so on.
Merlin Olsen's teams didn't operate under a salary cap either.
Pay Donald and nobody else? Really?
Grits
Yes but the fact that they did not win with Olsen for 6 years addresses one issue you raise, which is that they don't win with Donald. Yes but like Olsen Donald would contribute heavily to a team that was capable of winning. You don't cut stars by blaming the record on them.
As to the cap. It would not be "pay Donald and nobody else." It would be pay Donald and 7-8 others. As a rule teams end up giving around 50% (or a bit more) of their cap to 8-10 players. You can pay Donald and still do that.
The question then becomes, which helps you win...when there is a winning team? 2 players for 10 M or Donald? I say Donald, since he is one of the rarest player types there is in all of football going back decades--an elite DT. (For instance, there are more elite qbs in NFL history than elite DTs.) Why an elite DT? :Because no offense can afford to ignore a player that disruptive who starts out that close to the ball. They have to devote resources to neutralizing him, which means devoting fewer resources to other defenders. And that's not even what makes a DT elite. An elite DT means 2 things: (1) you have to neutralize him every play because he is the closest defender to the ball, to the qb, to the hand-off point in the backfield, etc and that can't be ignored, and (2) he MAKES PLAYS ANYWAY IN SPITE OF THE EXTRA ATTENTION.
I say you win more with that because it makes the rest of the defense better pretty much automatically. So I would rather have one A+ DT for 20 M than 2 10 M A- players who would not have as much of an impact.
PLUS again the Rams could devote 40 M of their cap to both Donald and Goff (assuming Goff develops) and still have enough to add 6-7 more players to their top few who take up 50% or more of the cap.
So IMO it's actually not really a problem.
...
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/08/2017 04:40AM by zn.
