Quote:
Originally Posted by Buehler445
Eh I don't know if I'd call 9 guys and a kicker that was horrible the one year we are talking about but went on to be decent a job well done. You are still buying the impact player crap. It takes a team to win. You can have 2 great corners and 2 great safeties but if your nickel guy can't cover my grandma, you haven't got shit. I'd call 9 guys and a kicker coupled with a truckload of rat shit a shitterrible offseason.
And Herm definitely could have found some cheap FA. Look at Spencer Ware. His cap hit is $360,000. Chris Conley's cap hit is $712,434. Link So whatever preconceived notion that you have that FA have to be expensive is incorrect. Again, the important thing is getting guys that outplay their salary.
Herm didn't not get FAs because they were too expensive. He didn't get FAs because he was bad at talent evaluation, which again, you have admitted was his ONLY redeeming quality.
Herm was horrible. |
I don't have a preconceived notion that all free agency is expensive. But you can't rule out that if the Chiefs spent on long-term free agents, they could have easily added to those 17 - 25 contributors. It also allows you to buy lots of small contributors. Fasano, Schwartz, Vickerson, Branch, etc.... these guys were cheap, but they're not that cheap for a team trying to clean their cap up.
I don't think Herm was great at talent evaluation. Much credit goes to Kuharich and the scouts. But (LJ aside) he generally put the right guys over the field, insisted on a youth movement (right thing to do), and yes the decision to blow up the roster was absolutely correct and it was extremely ballsy.
My point all along is and always has been: there are a lot worse coaches than Herm, but I never wanted his 9-7 ceiling. But he made bold moves during the rebuild most coaches wouldn't, and they put the team in a good situation in 2009. You may not agree with the talent that was on there. But it was smart to show massive restrain in free agency vs. band-aiding. It was smart to clean the roster up from lots of bad contracts. It was smart to get your young guys out there early to sink or swim. Any reasonable GM should have taken that 2009 roster and immediately turned them into at least an 8-8 team. I truly believe that.