Quote:
Originally Posted by BossChief
So they shouldn't figure the age of the current roster into the equation?
I've always respected your takes, keg and I'm taking your point of view into consideration because of such, but at the end of the day they seem like they have little to no interest in most of the guys that were here before they got here and their respective ages into the big picture of how they are going to win a title and that's a little hard to swallow after trading for a quarterback that's 30 years old and has a window that's not huge himself.
When you trade for a 30 year old quarterback, don't you pretty much acknowledge that you are in win now mode at that point?
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Couple of thoughts:
There are a lot of ways of looking at the players they've let go. Maybe they just don't see them as pieces that fit what they want to do, long term. Which is not at all unusual when franchises rebuild. That's just the reality of it. Front offices tend to want 'their' guys, and let's face it, whether these players have made pro bowls are not, was there really anybody who's been allowed to walk who was an irreplaceable
superstar? I can't think of a single player that's gone that signed somewhere else for a contract that I would have been satisfied with had they remained here (and that includes Carr). We're talking big dollars for players who are pretty good, but, really, nothing all that spectacular.
30 years old is
not old for a quarterback. Guys have been playing the position at a high level into their mid- to late-30s for a long time. Alex Smith has plenty of limitations, but his age isn't one of them. So I wouldn't talk about him like he's a year or two away from retirement. It's not at all inconceivable that he's still starting here in, say, 2020. As frightening a concept as that is.
And of course, don't mistake any of this as support of or satisfaction with the front office. I'm talking in purely philosophical terms. I don't like a lot of the moves they've made, including both Alex Smith and Eric Fisher, but I also don't have a particular problem with the way they've handled any of the vets. I mean, I like(d) Branden Albert, but I'd never have paid him what the Dolphins did. Especially not with the injuries he's struggled with the last two years
and with Stephenson playing well, as well as, like him or not, Fisher being here.
You also have to consider possible future contracts for players who'll be coming up for new deals in the next year or two. Who's more important long term, say, Albert (or even, say, Byrd) or Justin Houston? Sometimes choices have to be made, and there are likely way more facets to all of this than we ever realize....