A month after the super bowl he forced Warner to go to our rival before offering him what he was worth and then a year later sat on 30 million dollars after purging and losing a huge chunk of the playoff roster. Whatever the super bowl did, it didn't wet his whitle to do what good owners do financially speaking.
Do we really know who was in charge of the check book at that time. Wasn't Sr. still very much involved? Maybe it was advice from Graves on what the market would command for Warner?
I'm not all in on Michael being willing to spend whatever it takes but I'm not folding my hand at this point either.
IIRC many teams save a ton of money leading up to the lockout. When the new CBA was signed the Cards were very active in FA. Unfortunately the money spent was given to the wrong players but a ton of cash was used.
So no, Michael will not spend money like Snyder and Jones but I don't see him being overly frugal like Sr.