The NFL strove for parity and ended up with widespread mediocrity. The salary cap combined with some extreme salaries is forcing teams to play with obvious weak spots. I wonder too if there's a shortage of talent because guys are choosing to play other sports due to the concussion danger. I know there would only be a couple now but I think there's a real possibility of multi-sport athletes starting to go to sports that don't shorten their lives. There's a definite talent shortage. Look at the Cards. They've invested so much money in Palmer/Fitz, that they couldn't keep 2 valued safeties. This is not to say Fitz & Palmer aren't valuable and haven't earned those dollars, but does anyone think they can play up to those numbers? In the free agent market to be competitive teams have to offer extra years. Yes, NFL contracts aren't guaranteed, but cutting someone with remaing prorated bonuses can kill a team's cap. Also with a shortage of available solutions, there seems to be a natural tendency to try to squeeze out one more year. When I did my wins prediction for the year I mentioned I had an unusually large number of highly contenscious games. Several people thought I was silly for saying Tenn, Detroit and Texas would be tough games. Well the Cards lost to Detroit and Tenn/Texas look like tough games to me. This will be a year full of surprises. I'm just not certain the Cards can survive the year without an O-line. If that group doesn't rise up Palmer may not even come close to that contract as mere survival becomes an issue. As to this week I think Dallas has more talent but after the weekend, there aren't many sure things left.
