No - typically in the 50-60% range; nearer 70-80% when guys were hurt.

He was our clear LB2 last year.
[Reply]

Ogbah and Lawson would make sense at DE

At some point Justin Simmons would just make sense in terms of adding that kind of talent back there.

Other than that or a Bahktiari I don't see much worth it. With being able to roll money over, it always makes sense to just....well do that.

I'd wonder if there's a player for player trade out there somewhere for them to add a Rb?
[Reply]

If Simmons hasn't signed yet, there's something obvious on the tape, the medicals aren't checking out or he's asking WAY more than he's worth.

If someone gave him 1/$12 million right now (probably disguised as a 2 year deal) I'm betting he'd take it. Sun's getting awfully low in the sky for him to not have a team yet.

If I'm a betting man, it's a little of A and a little of B. He's starting to age a little and probably played like a top 40 S instead of a top 5 safety last season. And he's wanting to be paid like, say, a top 10 safety.

And that disconnect isn't likely to clear up any time soon.

Guy's made $60 million in his career. If he doesn't want to play, he doesn't have to. And if you don't come offering him $10+ million, he's probably just gonna stay home.

I'm not terribly interested in that.
[Reply]

There you go.
Never a bad idea to have a few mil should some disaster befall one of our more important guys. May need to send away a pick and have the room under cap to house them.
[Reply]

There's been no smoke on that really anywhere. I'd guess he's hit the wall or wants alot of cash.

At some point, you get to a number, you just add him if he's still a good player thought right?

I mean like, 4 million a year?
[Reply]

I want to say it was 27 maybe and somewhere I saw he had a high run blitz rate but I really don't remember that I guess. He was a few trick pony that they didn't trust to read a play.
[Reply]

Let's go with "not a cerebral player" in a very complex defensive scheme.
[Reply]

Kind of breaks my heart. I was fully chubbed when we drafted Willie. Absolute freak specimen. You could argue he was more successful than the freak LB's that the Cardinals reached on in back to back drafts though.
[Reply]

Maybe Virch plans to get new contracts done this year with Creed, Trey and Bolton and utilize the funds there
[Reply]

Denver's d was terrible before Simmons came back into the lineup.

Dude is still good.

I would prefer to use money elsewhere but if they signed him I wouldn't be mad.
[Reply]

Nope.

I mean he played 52% of the snaps in the SB when we were featuring Chenal (along with a healthy Bolton and Tranquil) to neutralize Kittle.

He was always a 50% of the snaps player - just check the game logs. And when the LB corps was dinged up, he was invariably north of 70% and even surpassed 90% on occasion.

He was a very very important part of the defense. He's not irreplaceable - but we'll have to make sacrifices elsewhere to do so (or lean heavier into sub packages which can open us up to misdirection).

I'd caution against downplaying his contributions here. He was awfully good for us.
[Reply]

I imagine they want more time for guys like Cam Jones.
[Reply]

Well they'll get it. Tranquil won't stay healthy all season. Bolton may not. Chenal is so physical he probably won't.

There are going to be injuries to the LB Corps.

And hey - young LBs are a blast, man. They're fun to watch develop. Young and powerful and they fly around the field. UDFA and late round picks are great stories to root for.

It might well be a lot of fun to watch some of these guys develop.

But it was a lot of fun watching Willie Gay blow up guys the size of Buicks and run like a deer. Again - I'm not saying we can't live without him. I just don't think it's fair to understate how important he was the last 2 seasons.

With that on his resume, we should've come up with $3 million to keep him around, IMO. And with the VSB, it wouldn't have cost us as much on the cap as we paid him. He'd have been something like a $2.25 million cap hit for us. I just feel like a team sitting on $16 million in space probably should've come up with that instead of throwing good money after bad with Nnadi.
[Reply]

It's not as common as other positions, but it IS possible to start a rookie at tackle and for him to not totally get his shit pushed in. Yeah, he might have some bad games, especially against elite pass rushers, but he'll figure it out.

I know we're trying to threepeat and should be maximizing every resource possible to make that happen, but I just don't see Donovan Smith with his bad back being one of those resources that can help us.
[Reply]

The one I'd really like to have back is Khalen Saunders and his 3 year 12 mill deal with the Saints. That guy turned into a really nice player for us in the 22 season.
[Reply]