My larger perspective on some of these low-level signings

Solar7

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I know this is being discussed in multiple threads, but I'm actually cool with the approach we're taking right now in these short deals with lower-level players.

Why? It's clearly aiming at purging what Keim had done to this franchise in his later years, where each year, the roster was barely filled out because more and more of our draft picks were either useless or never given the opportunity to grow.

While these current players aren't ideal, they're not going to prevent us from drafting most any position, and most of our rookies should be able to compete for a role. Or, if the cheaper vet shows something more, we can offer them an extension in-season. For a team that should have some guaranteed job security at the top, this is a decent start. I see it that we can begin to build the team for a longer term approach.

We'll see!
 

Krangodnzr

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I know this is being discussed in multiple threads, but I'm actually cool with the approach we're taking right now in these short deals with lower-level players.

Why? It's clearly aiming at purging what Keim had done to this franchise in his later years, where each year, the roster was barely filled out because more and more of our draft picks were either useless or never given the opportunity to grow.

While these current players aren't ideal, they're not going to prevent us from drafting most any position, and most of our rookies should be able to compete for a role. Or, if the cheaper vet shows something more, we can offer them an extension in-season. For a team that should have some guaranteed job security at the top, this is a decent start. I see it that we can begin to build the team for a longer term approach.

We'll see!
My only issue is the Cardinals could have sprinkled a few young guys with big upside.
 

kerouac9

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We had a bunch of one-year deals last year. It’s how we ended up in the situation where we’ve signed like 20 guys and only have like 64 dudes rostered.

“Guys don’t worry that this pizza has no cheese or sauce. We’re gonna get this crust perfected over the next few weeks and then we’ll figure out the rest.”
 
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Solar7

Solar7

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We had a bunch of one-year deals last year. It’s how we ended up in the situation where we’ve signed like 20 guys and only have like 64 dudes rostered.

“Guys don’t worry that this pizza has no cheese or sauce. We’re gonna get this crust perfected over the next few weeks and then we’ll figure out the rest.”
Keim was regularly trying to "reload" and save his job, Kliff's job, and "compete" every year though. We were stuck with constant Keim Time deals, older veterans with no chance to grow, guys who were broken but maybe patching a leak. He constantly deferred contracts into later years.

The issue is, those guys were older, and cost a lot more. They broke down over the season. Their experience took away from younger guys who might have developed. And signing them for another year was just praying they hadn't fallen off yet.

Right now, we're hopefully signing a few guys that aren't about to retire and leave us with dead cap. I guess I predicate this with Gannon and Ossenfort having some job security.

I always felt like Keim was just grifting Bidwill for another couple million bucks every year, knowing it was about to run out. It's what I would do at that pay rate. Keim probably doesn't need to work ever again.
 

BritCard

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My only issue is the Cardinals could have sprinkled a few young guys with big upside.

I just don't think those guys really exist. Kyzir White is our best signing and I think he's an decent player and we only got him because of the Gannon connection.

Hard to sell those guys on joining the Cards this year with an obvious tear down taking place. It's not even a rebuild. That will come next year. This is a full on cap tear down and clean slate.

With that in mind I think the signings we have made make sense. Lots of vets with decent experience. Most 26 and 27. I think Watkins is the oldest at 29.

I expect to be a young, aggressive team next year that trys to set the foundation for the year after. I don't think we win a lot of games but I don't think we get spanked either. Long way to go yet so I may well change that assessment.
 

Stout

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Solid post, Solar. I mostly don't mind the approach because it's harmless to the cap long-term. My problem is I don't see any long-term plan other than the draft, and that doesn't work in the NFL. Use the draft as the backbone of your strategy, but you also must, must, must supplement with FA, and not just with nothing burger deals or one-year deals. First you don't let your young drafted talent leave, creating more holes. We did. Second, like Krang said, you have to sprinkle in a few long-term FA deals to bolster your young core. Our current "plan" will keep us from competing until 2025, or even beyond, unless we take a different approach next offseason, IMO.
 

BritCard

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Solid post, Solar. I mostly don't mind the approach because it's harmless to the cap long-term. My problem is I don't see any long-term plan other than the draft, and that doesn't work in the NFL. Use the draft as the backbone of your strategy, but you also must, must, must supplement with FA, and not just with nothing burger deals or one-year deals. First you don't let your young drafted talent leave, creating more holes. We did. Second, like Krang said, you have to sprinkle in a few long-term FA deals to bolster your young core. Our current "plan" will keep us from competing until 2025, or even beyond, unless we take a different approach next offseason, IMO.

I agree. I just don't think you can attract those players when you are going through an obvious tear down and/or you have a QB with a major injury.

I mentioned it before but the Browns last year had a similar offseason with their QB uncertainty. Lots of short term deals for middling guys. The only major addition they made was Cooper by trade.

The Bengals the year before also a lot of short term deals for middling guys. Their only long term deal was Trey Hendrickson and at that time that was considered a big gamble for a 1 year starter. And those were ascending teams with QB uncertainty.

You add in the obvious tear down that's going on and I just don't see how you attract those good long term additions.

I'm looking at other teams that had GM changes recently (often with a HC change) and they look pretty similar. The Lions in 2021 signed 21 external players and 20 of them were 1 year deals.

They were guys like Charles Harris who failed at Miami, spent a year with the Falcons and had 3 sacks and signed for $1.75m. He had a 7 sack season. And Alex Anzalone, a rotational linebacker from the Saints. Their only longer deal was 2 years for Jamaal Williams.

We've seen similar with Poles and the Bears. Caserio and the Texans. Carthon is doing something similar at the Titans. Shoen did similar last year with the Giants with 16 one year deal for external guys, 2 for Tyrod Taylor and their only longer deal was Glowinski for 3 years.

The only outlier is Mensah at the Vikings but he already had the makings of a decent roster.

I think we are just seeing something pretty normal for a new GM with poor roster conditions. With the added complexity of Kyler's injury.
 

Snakester

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So far I’m not impressed. Not one of our coaches has ever done the job they were hired to do. That worries me because we have essentially a bunch of rookies coaching. I know we all are praying these guys will be a great coaching staff and motivate the players but I have never even heard of this situation ever happening before in the NFL with an entire coaching staff this inexperienced.

I think it will take at least half the season before the players will be able to play the offense and defense that they will be taught. Great coaching and a good QB can get a team to compete even if the rest of the team isn’t good but our QB and coaching staff have yet to prove themselves. If they both flop this could be the first time the team is winless in my lifetime.

If this coaching staff can motivate Kyler Murray and make a man out of him then we might actually have some games worth watching. That by far would be the most impressive thing this staff could accomplish this year.
 

lobo

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I know this is being discussed in multiple threads, but I'm actually cool with the approach we're taking right now in these short deals with lower-level players.

Why? It's clearly aiming at purging what Keim had done to this franchise in his later years, where each year, the roster was barely filled out because more and more of our draft picks were either useless or never given the opportunity to grow.

While these current players aren't ideal, they're not going to prevent us from drafting most any position, and most of our rookies should be able to compete for a role. Or, if the cheaper vet shows something more, we can offer them an extension in-season. For a team that should have some guaranteed job security at the top, this is a decent start. I see it that we can begin to build the team for a longer term approach.

We'll see!
You nailed it. Your hundred or so words should start a tree of some sane commentary. Yeah, those of you hung up on stupid are boring and quite frankly unreadable, however carry on ya' got your opinion!
 

lobo

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I agree. I just don't think you can attract those players when you are going through an obvious tear down and/or you have a QB with a major injury.

I mentioned it before but the Browns last year had a similar offseason with their QB uncertainty. Lots of short term deals for middling guys. The only major addition they made was Cooper by trade.

The Bengals the year before also a lot of short term deals for middling guys. Their only long term deal was Trey Hendrickson and at that time that was considered a big gamble for a 1 year starter. And those were ascending teams with QB uncertainty.

You add in the obvious tear down that's going on and I just don't see how you attract those good long term additions.

I'm looking at other teams that had GM changes recently (often with a HC change) and they look pretty similar. The Lions in 2021 signed 21 external players and 20 of them were 1 year deals.

They were guys like Charles Harris who failed at Miami, spent a year with the Falcons and had 3 sacks and signed for $1.75m. He had a 7 sack season. And Alex Anzalone, a rotational linebacker from the Saints. Their only longer deal was 2 years for Jamaal Williams.

We've seen similar with Poles and the Bears. Caserio and the Texans. Carthon is doing something similar at the Titans. Shoen did similar last year with the Giants with 16 one year deal for external guys, 2 for Tyrod Taylor and their only longer deal was Glowinski for 3 years.

The only outlier is Mensah at the Vikings but he already had the makings of a decent roster.

I think we are just seeing something pretty normal for a new GM with poor roster conditions. With the added complexity of Kyler's injury.
Well said. Kinda' tough to have a roster of 53 pro bowlers, eh? Better chance than not the guys making the decisions on these guys has seen more of them than many of us has seen
 

Ouchie-Z-Clown

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Solid post, Solar. I mostly don't mind the approach because it's harmless to the cap long-term. My problem is I don't see any long-term plan other than the draft, and that doesn't work in the NFL. Use the draft as the backbone of your strategy, but you also must, must, must supplement with FA, and not just with nothing burger deals or one-year deals. First you don't let your young drafted talent leave, creating more holes. We did. Second, like Krang said, you have to sprinkle in a few long-term FA deals to bolster your young core. Our current "plan" will keep us from competing until 2025, or even beyond, unless we take a different approach next offseason, IMO.
This is my issue. I get the year down and it was necessary. But you also have to rebuild (not reload). Ideally you begin that rebuild in the same year as the year down. If the draft is your only rebuild action you’re not really starting the rebuild because realistically only 2-3 players will develop into anything. And even if you hit a homerun in the draft you get 4-5 and they likely won’t blossom for 2-3 years. So ignoring free agents is just taking a pass on a season (sounds similar to last offseason) for your rebuild.
 

phillycard

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So far I’m not impressed. Not one of our coaches has ever done the job they were hired to do. That worries me because we have essentially a bunch of rookies coaching. I know we all are praying these guys will be a great coaching staff and motivate the players but I have never even heard of this situation ever happening before in the NFL with an entire coaching staff this inexperienced.

I think it will take at least half the season before the players will be able to play the offense and defense that they will be taught. Great coaching and a good QB can get a team to compete even if the rest of the team isn’t good but our QB and coaching staff have yet to prove themselves. If they both flop this could be the first time the team is winless in my lifetime.

If this coaching staff can motivate Kyler Murray and make a man out of him then we might actually have some games worth watching. That by far would be the most impressive thing this staff could accomplish this year.
Learning on the job in pro sports=disaster. I'm right with you.
 

RON_IN_OC

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we will see where this goes --but

its possible that players 23-53 collectively on the roster are better than 2022 -- but it sure feels like (especially on defense) players 1-22 are worse
I like this take. It's highly possible that the JAGd they are bringing in are better than the JAGs they are letting walk.
 

dreamcastrocks

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We had a bunch of one-year deals last year. It’s how we ended up in the situation where we’ve signed like 20 guys and only have like 64 dudes rostered.

“Guys don’t worry that this pizza has no cheese or sauce. We’re gonna get this crust perfected over the next few weeks and then we’ll figure out the rest.”
The most important part of the pizza is the sauce, not the crust.
 

ASUCHRIS

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Honestly, I'd rather this than tired old retreads fired from elsewhere.
I was hoping for neither extreme. Considering the circumstances, I'm fine with Gannon. But get an experienced guy to run your offense, someone you can trust to be the only one needed to run everything. Bring in bright young position coaches all day, but with a neophyte like Gannon at HC, I would have much preferred to see a long time OC and a guy like Zimmer to run the D.

I believe the FO paid some lip service to this, but it never ended up happening.
 

Syracusecards

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Any chance they are doing this so they can restructure Kyler’s contract to take a massive hit this year and then have more cap room in the following years?
 

Cbus cardsfan

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What are you going to be saying when Gannon/Monti go a combined 4-34 the next two years? Will they see a 3rd year? The days of 5 year plans in the NFL are gone. Look no further than Kliff/Keim who went from playoffs to unemployed in 1 year.
 

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