Demi wrote:
Which should be a concern after the recent drafts...we lost certain positions, and spend our picks/offseason replacing them. How are we ever going to get ahead enough to compete when we are busy filling holes year by year instead of finding ways to address the upcoming needs ahead of time? Look at the Packers with their QB position, Indy, and heck even the Patriots now drafting a couple guys the last two years to try and be ready when Brady finally moves on for whatever reason.
Exactly, that's what I'm getting at in terms of roster management. They need to have a plan for the whole roster. It needs to be logical and it needs to involve good depth because backups become starters every week in the NFL.
Each decision comes with consequences. It may be worth taking a chance on a player like Harvin in the draft but it hurts the team when they spend a few years developing what they hope will be a key player for them and then have to trade and replace him. If you keep giving a relatively unproductive, problematic player like Jerome Simpson one-year contracts, he takes up a roster spot that could be occupied by a player without those troubles, perhaps a young receiver who would be a valuable contributor to the team right now instead of a free agent who kept blowing opportunities with dumb off-field behavior.
I understand and approved of the trade up to draft Patterson and I still don't think it was a bad move. They drafted talent and potential over developed skill and bet on their ability to develop it. It was looking great at the end of last season. It doesn't look as good right now. In a month, it may look like a great idea again.
However, I understand the criticism of their decision too. They could have used the picks they traded on other players. They could have drafted a more skilled receiver like Keenan Allen and that might have made more sense as an aid to the young QB they were trying to develop at the time (Ponder) or to the young QB they ended up drafting when Ponder didn't work out.
I'm not saying the choice they made with Patterson was good or bad (the jury is still out on that) but I do think that choice of raw talent over more developed skill comes with consequences and it serves as an example of the choices a GM needs to consider when trying to assemble a good team. They have to consider how all the parts will fit together in the present and as they develop.
Tough job... !
