Quote:
Originally Posted by aturnis
You don't remember going into the next season 3mil over, having to cut guys after June first to spread the cap hit, then make moves? You don't remember guys restructuring deals in order to help the team? Yes, Carl Petersen did retain guys, and he did lock them up before their current contract had expired. He did so to make the players short term cap number lower by back loading the contracts so that we could have more wiggle room with the cap now. I'm not saying he screwed us, but we were always right up against it, and it hindered us from making any real big splashes to get the one guy who might put us over the top, b/c our team was made up of FA's who we had to pay good money to get us close.
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Yes, we were always up against it. But we were never in a "fire sale" situation under Carl.
Whether he did so for short-term gain or not is really irrelevant. He retained his guys. (But as I already mentioned, HE never did it quickly and quietly - Pioli should get some credit for the way he handled Hali, Flowers, DJ, etc.)
As for "making a splash" did you forget Chester McGlockton? Shawn Barber was the very first player signed in free agency that year and even though his impact wasn't what many hoped, he was one of the biggest name LBs available. There's Derrick Alexander, Marcus Allen, Joe Montana, and more. Carl gets mis-characterized an awful lot.