How long or what will have to happen...........

Letting Reese go would be dumb. We couldn't grab any other FA's last year, because there was this problem called "Not having the cash to do so." Reese is valuable for his drafting ability and prooved it with this years draft. Henry isn't a bust, he's shown some positive things here lately and has two more games to show some more of it - be patient. the dead money will be gone by next off-season and it won't matter so much this year, because we'll have enough cash from cutting people and restructuring to grab some difference-making FA's. Bottom line: for us to get back where we were, Reese and Fisher need to stay put, period.

 

I think these next couple of years will be a good test to see wether Reese is worth his salt. He did what he needed to do to keep our team together in the recent past so that they could make a run at the superbowl. You can't predict injuries. I don't really like excuses but facts are facts. Had we manged to stay away from half of our injuries last season I think it would have been a totally different senerio.

 

Reese is on the hot seat big time IMO if this team doesn't improve dramatically over the next couple of years. The next draft and FA signings are critical. In some ways Reese can be forgiven for trying to make a run at all costs when the window of opportunity was open. On the other hand there were some decisions that didn't go well and the draft a couple of years ago is not looking very well. We will draft early again and should get impact type players in the first two rounds. If we can somehow resign KVB, choose the right draft picks in greatest needs areas and sign a few FAs to fill in the gaps we could be back in playoff race.
Decisions are coming up on what to do with McNair and other vets like Hopkins, Olsen, Hartwig, Sirmon, T. Williams and Kassel. Whatever decisions are made Reese will be crucified or praised based on those outcomes. Reese needs to rid himself of any bias based on loyalty to these players and play business man or he could scew up this team for years to come.

 

I pretty much agree with all Sox said. I don't think what was done in the past was wrong, there were some strikes, but I wouldn't be calling for his head. But it's like he has to prove himself all over again now. The most recent drafts, this one, free agency, what to do with the guys we've got....he's up to bat and he's not gonna get walked.

 

My only criticism of Reese is he takes too many chances on value picks and players that are injury prone or have an injury history.

I have been particularly unimpressed with the injury history of our 2003 draft class. Brown, Calico, and Woolfolk have to have one of the highest missed game totals of a team's top 3 picks during their tenure thus far.

 

That's exactly what Lawyer Milloy said when the Pats released him right at the start of the season a couple of years ago, that the Pats always kept their core players!

(Was not a popular decision in New England, at the time. )

I understand your point, however, so....serious answer:

1. I do think the decisions the Colts are making today (dating back to last year or two, with the new BIG contracts to Harrison and Manning) will force their hand elsewhere. Especially if they also lock up Freeney, and exercise the option due on Corey Simon. It may take a couple more years, but the effects may start to catch up to them as soon as this offseason when they will have to pay to compete for the services of Edgerrin James and Reggie Wayne, who will be unrestricted free agents (prior to any tags being applied).

They are, IMO, right about where the Titans were in around '00 or maybe '02with their cap.

2. The Eagles are ruthless in cutting their veterans. They don't like to pay guys once they get close to/hit 30. So "keeping the core together" on that team is kind of relative. Over the last few years they've let guys like Duce Staley, Hugh Douglas, Jeremiah Trotter, Troy Vincent, Bobby Taylor, and Corey Simon walk rather than give them another contract extension/new deal. (Douglas and Trotter came back for encores, but the Eagles felt their absences while they were gone, IMO.)

What the Eagles do well is getting young players signed to new deals sooner, and making use of years when they have a ton of room to front-load deals so the cap hit in future years isn't as big. To be able to do that, though, you have to get to a year where you have a ton of room to play with first.

3. The Patriots are a really interesting team, and kind of the exception to the rule in how they were able to fit in "cast-off" pieces from other teams at reasonable prices. They got a little lucky in that Tom Brady -- who was making about $380K when he won his first Super Bowl as a sixth-round pick in his rookie contract -- did not have to be paid like an elite QB right away, from the start of their run. That's....very unusual, to have a guy like Brady play at the level he did in such a key (financially) position as a "bargain basement" draft pick.

There are some seeds of discontent right now with guys like Richard Seymour squawking about whether they're going to get paid, but the interesting thing with the Pats will be if they can really recapture the peak on defense once guys like Bruschi (32 years old), McGinest (34), Mike Vrabel (30), and Rodney Harrison (33, coming off possible career-ending injury now) start to walk away for good. You can try to replace those guys, but it isn't always as easy as you think to recapture the magic. They missed Bruschi earlier this year, and they still miss Harrison.

Question: if the Pats were in the AFC West or AFC South this year, do you think they would be headed for the playoffs, at 9-5? Or did they get a little lucky this year that neither the Jets nor Bills challenged like expected while they were going through their slump? (Not taking anything away from them and I hope they go down to Indy and beat the Colts in the playoffs...just saying, sometimes you get a little boost from the misfortune of teams around you, too.)

4. The thing with the Titans and the teams before them that have "strung things along" is, once you start, you are pretty much locked in until you decide to blow it up. Moves made 2-3 years ago to maximize the chances of winning then, limit the moves you can make subsequent to that. But once that cycle is broken -- and it has for the Titans now -- you can start to use some of the tricks teams like the Eagles and Patriots use to reload their rosters or keep their cap costs in line over time.

The Ravens are an example of a team that did the painful cap purge (after trying to load up for a second Super Bowl run when they knew time was running out on their cap), but IMO they just kind of repeated the same thing of loading the roster with expensive older veterans...with much worse results this time.

The Titans need to find a happy medium between that and how the Eagles operate (more cut-throat about getting rid of older key players even when they still have some good football left). But closer to the Eagles than they were the last go-round from '99-'04. Whether Reese and Fisher get a chance to see that next cycle through depends on whether they can convince Adams that they have this team on the right track moving from this year through next season.