K-9-----everyone on the board knows that the sky is blue, the grass is green, and the sun is yellow orange. Everyone also knows that the FO created more cap space by releasing Bradley Kolb, Toler, Wilson, and Rhodes, than they did by simply releasing Bradley, Kolb, and Toler. Only you would hijack a thread like this and argue that when viewed from the dark side of the moon, the sky is black, and when things dry up, the grass is brown, and the when viewed from inside a black hole, the sun is black.
I get that your man love for all things Whiz. I also get that even Whiz was preparing to cut Wilson this season, (Wilson even talked of his fear of this prior to last season, saying that he feared it would be his last here). What you choose to ignore is that this FO created more cap space by doing what they did, than they could have by keeping the two safeties. Thus, they now have cap room to exploit, should one of the high priced players in free agency suddenly comes into a price range we can afford. That money is there and is waiting for use. It doesn't have to be 'cleared' by more releases. The FO can either use it now, to sign more FA's, have some wiggle room to work a trade should they wish, set on it until after June 1st, or keep it to help resign a a current contract that they might wish to do prior to the end of this upcoming season, so that they can avoid having to cut so many players after next year to create space again.
The fact is, this Staff, FO, and Scouting Department, worked together to devise a plan, they selected certain players to cut, and they selected certain players to try to bring in, ALL based upon the fact that these were players who just completed their first contrac. All were self starting gym rats, all were fundamentally sound in their techniques, AND in each case that player was known personally by one or more members of the administrative group, so there was no question as to what they were getting. There was no chance to this process, other than the chance of injury during the season. The ONLY exception to this was Bell, who is older, and who possesses the skill set most nearly matching Wilson's. They scored 7 of the 9 players they sought, and even had a plan 'B' which they executed when Maulaluga signed elsewhere.
The rest of us on this board can, (and do), recognize the amount of teamwork, and effort, and study, and planning, that this new administrative group had to undergo in order to accomplish this. We have used a couple of similar posts to show our appreciation of this, acknowledging that this has not EVER happened with ANY previous FO, Staff, or Scouting Department affiliated with the Cardinals. We also acknowledge that Ownership most certainly has not acted in any fashion resembling this in the past either. We ARE grateful for that.
Most of us here get that you do not agree that this is the way you would have done things, or that you feel that THIS new group should have done this. I will not even pretend that I feel sorry because of that. What I will say is simply-----this is what happened, and is what IS. If you can't agree that this group of administrators of this Franchise should be lauded for their efforts, and their success in executing their plan to prepare for this upcoming draft, then say so and go about your business. Don't make it your business to hijack others threads, simply for the pleasure of doing so. That is irksome to many of us, and has no purpose other than to anger other posters.
This is not about how many dollars could have been saved, or how it could have been saved, it IS about pointing out how this new management group performed, and how
new and refreshing that is for many of us long time followers of the Cardinals. Most Cardinals fans have been waiting it seems forever to have a FO and Staff that works together to develop this kind of attention to detail, and this kind of fiscal agility in order to make this team better. We are simply happy that we have finally begun to see those kinds of results.
