Okay... so I'll ask you again: Whom would you get? Would you give up our first- and second-round picks for Elvis Dumervil? Who do you see out there as a premier pass rusher in a 3-4 defense that you'd like the Cards to sign?
And the same thing with LT. The Cards drafted a tackle two years ago in Brandon Keith that they're developing. From what I saw in training camp last season, I still think that Herman Johnson at his weight could play OT, as well. But you want to go with the quick fix, so who is out there who could play OLT and be a superior option to what we have now?
I don't see your logic on this point. There is another thread on this board that asks for which 3 FA's you would bring in. Nearly all of you posted your choices there. None of you were concerned with bucks then.
The point is, We need to address a back-up QB to Leinart. David Carr, and Chad Pennington are both FA's that can be had with less money than we were paying Warner. According to a lot of your posts already done on these two you agree that either could get the backup job done for us. So that could be one position adressed in Free Agency whiile keeping us under last years, cap.
We are about to lose Dansby. We can get Larry Foote, (another player that most of you like, and feel that can help us), as his replacement. We can surely get him for Dansby money last year, and maybe even a little less. That would be a big start on the Defense.
We need a solid nose tackle, and Ryan Pickett is available in FA. He will surely cost us more than we were paying Robinson, but he would provide a much more solid base to build our D-line around than Robinson would, Give him Robinson money and add some of the savings from Kurt's salary, and we can sign him and still be at or under last years cap.
Those are three solid, (and needed) signings, and they are reasonably priced, and they can be done IF they are targeted, and really worked at. They will not come to us however, if we just sit and twiddle our thumbs in free agency though.
None of those would cost us draft picks, and look what that might lead to in the draft: One scenario I like is to go with McCourty, CB, 6-1, 198, at the 26 pick. This guy WILL make a very solid Cornerback by the end of his first year with us. Meanwhile, he will earn his money by being a special teams freak. He is an excellent return man, AND he will solidify our coverage teams because he plays the run very well. He has great speed, and decent size and he will hit you. He can be doing this while he learns the intracacies of playing CB in the Bigs. That would give us fantastic depth by playoff time with DRC, Toler and McCourty. They would be young, fearsome, and nasty for years to come. Good move on our part, (for now, AND for the future). It will also free up Breaston on return teams.
Since we have Brown back, and have brought in the OLB (rush backer) from the CFL, we can still ad a piece to that position in the draft about the third round. (Koa Misi, OLB, Utah). While not a flashy pick, he is as solid a prospect as one can find for a rush-backer on that board, and that is what draft picks are, (prospects). He would also make a great special teamer his rookie year.
We might be able to get an ILB like Daryl Washington in the second round to step in behind Foote or Hayes. He would be another special teamer who will earn his paycheck the first year while he is learning his position.
If we made these three FA signings, and drafted these three prospects, we could let McFadden go, Freeing up another 5 mil in cap money to use for someone like Joey Porter. Even if we had to add some to that, we would not be stretch our budget much to bring him in here, and would have addressed all our defensive needs except FS.
We would still have 4 draft picks remaining to do that, plus look to OT and TE and QB trainee.
As I said, this is doable, and feasible. It takes care of most of our team needs with Free Agency, and leaves the draft for Quality depth. That has been a great formula for a lot of teams for a lot of years. It will only happen if we are VERY active in the FA market however. These FA's will not come running to us saying "sign me please".
If we were to be able to do something like this, it just might convince Rolle that he is better off staying here, and help to get him resigned to a long term deal.
There are other scenarios that are possible too, that may work just as well as this one, but none of them will happen if we don't try very hard to make it happen. In life, you only accomplish the very best if you dare to fail. If you don't even try, because you think it is too hard, then you lose before you start. That is the difference between winners and also rans.
A GM should be a sort of salesman for his franchise. He should be out there working to convince any worthwhile FA that this is a destination he will regret giving an authentic look at, before deciding to go elsewhere. We have sooooo much to offer, with our HC, Stadium, weather, living quality, and recent success. A good GM would be out there touting this points to players, AND showing them that we will pay fair market value.
