wab wrote:The Marshall Plan wrote:The right side of the OL is my biggest concern. Hopefully the draft fixes that, but if we can get a stud RT in FA I'd rather have that and draft Howard's replacement than the other way around.
They must see something in Coward to keep him on the 53. It would not surprise me in the least to see him take over for Massie next year.
I do agree that they need to get someone in the hopper to replace Long in the next couple of years. I just don't think he is ever really going to be healthy again.
Agreed about Coward although I hope that's not their plan. This offense with a dominant offensive line is unstoppable. I'd rather have elite RB money spent on the line.
Long is almost 30 and like you said has been repeatedly injured.
Looking at player salaries, James in Miami at RT is the highest paid at $9.3M for the cap hit. After that it's almost $8M and more in the $7M range.
If Howard is going to be $10M / year, based on franchise tag money, I'd rather get a highly rated RT at $8M, draft the replacement, and put the $2M someplace else. Massie is at $6M. We could upgrade that spot for an incremental $2M to our cap.
So then we trade Howard before his FA season: $10M "savings"
Second round pick to replace Howard: $2M(?)
Net Change: +$8M
Upgrade Massie: $6M cap savings by getting rid of him
Sign an elite level RT (I don't know if any will be available next offseason): $8M
Net Change: -$2M
Total Change: +$6M
We're ahead by $6M. Then we need to discuss Long. His hit is $8.8M and he gets injured. We can just use his cap slot to sign a replacement and most likely come out ahead.
The total savings then can pay Amos, extend Biscuit, etc. etc. and we've rebuilt the line and drafted Howard's replacement.
Works for me.
One thing I think about with the right side of the line is that we line Mack up there. What if the other team has a similar guy? I don't like that scenario at all. The right side of the line kinda scares the shit out of me.