I’m ok with Bolton coming back. He is very solid. But if he is our choice we really need to upgrade the athleticism and coverage skills of his counter part. Tranquill has lost a step and isn’t the answer there anymore

This contract is frickin amazing

Not sure why anyone wouldn't like this

Boltons worth every bit of it, I just don't know where we are getting the money? Credit card, layaway?

We're like seven years into Veach's tenure as GM.

In all that time, has he put us in cap hell?

If he's spending money, he's got a plan to stagger hits and manage the cap years out.

Worked well with Willie Gay...:hmmm:

This is great.
Proven leader

I have very few gripes. I still have no idea why we paid 20/year for a right tackle. That's the one that really stands out to me.

I'd absolutely love to have Gay back. He's a damn near ideal complement to Bolton. His strengths complement Bolton's weaknesses and Bolton's strengths complement Gay's weaknesses.

But maybe there's just something about his approach to preparation, etc... that soured the staff on him.

Just feels like we made a mistake there and one that should be fairly easily rectified. Even his energy was missed last season.

We should bring him back but I suspect if we do it'll be in the 2nd wave of FA. He didn't get his payday yet and he's going to hope the market comes together for him. He's not coming back cheap unless/until the market fails to form up for him again.

That seems likely, but it'll need to be proven first.

Well, they can go **** THEMSELVES!!!

Sherwood signed an almost identical deal to Bolton about 3 hours after Bolton signed.

So cross him off Denver's list as well.

And I think it establishes pretty loudly what Bolton's market was. If Sherwood is worth 3/$45, Bolton is as well. And Bolton's probably worth more.

I just think we're working pretty hard to ignore his value in the running game. He's an awfully critical component of our improvements there. And he's still only 25 years old -- there's every reason to believe that he can continue to improve in play recognition and iron out some wrinkles in coverage.

His ceiling isn't super high but his floor is obvious.

May end up being an even better bargain than it seems at first glance if the league goes all in on the heavy sets riding this RB resurgence wave

Of course it is. Our highest cap hits currently, after Mahomes and Chris Jones, are going to RT, RG, TE, C, an off-the-ball LB, another off-the-ball LB, and a DE with a career high 6 sacks. At this point, Kelce and Tranquil are underperforming relative to their contracts. Many would make the same claim of Jawaan. Trey Smith isn’t likely to outperform his.

Mahomes (when he’s playing well) and Reid are great deodorants but if we don’t draft well over this next year or two we could be in some real trouble.

In fairness, I think that's pretty much every team.

You're only ever 2-3 underwhelming drafts from being up shit's creek.

if Kingsley and Hicks establish themselves as solid starters, we're in okay shape. But if they don't, both the 2023 and 2024 classes would have to be seen as sub-par and at that point if 2025 also becomes something of a 1-player draft, you're in trouble.

But everything changes if Kingsley is a good option at OG (or OT) or Hicks steps in and gives us what Reid did. And maybe FAU becomes a solid player and/or Conner steps forward if asked to play FS rather than that odd nickel role.

The book isn't closed on those drafts yet and they could still pull themselves up to average to good. If they don't then yeah - we could be in trouble. Because again, 2-3 underwhelming drafts in a row will force ANY team to go heavier into FA than they want to and that's always going to be extremely expensive.

Good lord -- Robert Spillane got 3/$38 million.

Good lord - if you don't like Bolton in coverage, you've never seen Robert Spillane. He's AWFUL. Bolton is limited but mostly adequate.

Spillane is just ****ing lousy.

If Spillane is worth $13 millionish/season, Bolton's worth $18-20.

There is just sooooooo much money in the system right now. Any concept of 'worth' we have is just out the damn window. Especially when these bad teams have so much cap space and are willing to hurl it at anyone that will play for them and be NFL caliber.

It is. And I want to note that I dropped an “lol” in my original post hoping to soften my tone. As I mentioned, sometimes you’ve just gotta pay guys, positional value be damned, and figure the rest out as you go..

It’s just funny commentary on team building philosophy.

… and I won’t lie and say that I wouldn’t feel a lot more comfortable if our largest cap hits were going to LT, CB, etc. instead. After all, it is generally much easier to find a serviceable RG than a LT.

I’m also preemptively grieving this whole Trey Smith contract. I really hope I’m proven wrong but this is just not how I would have handled this thing.