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the worst Lb group in the league gets even worse. He’s terrible. Washed out 4 years ago.
I wouldn't even waste the time. There's a reason he got cut, if I had to guess. He's lost a step and not worth it on the field.
Also, considering how far we still are under the cap, I'm still not quite sure why a front-loaded contract to Schobert might not have made sense. It could have been structured so as to make him more tradeable after a year or two if we were truly reluctant to make a long-term commitment.
It remains to be seen how things end up, but I think the decision we made was understandable. Some may disagree but the logic is clearly there, and it may not be as bad as the doomsayers make it out to be. In terms of long-term cap space management, someone is worth a certain amount or they're not. And if you don't feel someone is worth it, you don't pay them just because you're lacking talent or depth at that position. Especially for a position that isn't as important as every other position on defense. Especially if the person in question isn't some otherworldly, generational talent. PFF had Joe as... trash last year, and I don't think advanced stats are favorable for him either. Honestly, his box stats look meh outside of that Pittsburgh game last year. If you can get that kind of production from a guy making just 2-3 million per year, you're better off.
Our LB position is gonna be a weakness this year and we have to accept that. Every team has weak position groups and I'm just happy it's that one rather than something else. I'm sure if some all-pro non-overrated LB was available we'd look into it and see if it fits, but we can't just settle and pay big bucks if we're trying to build something that sustains.
I agree on the long-term view as well. The LB corpse is going to be weak this year, and I don't think Joe is the difference between a Superbowl run or not. With COVID having that extra cap space carry over to the next few years could be huge if the cap does go down. We also have to be in the position that if Baker bounces back, and Chub follows up with another monster year that we have the space to keep both of them.
This is key. Some may look at the 10'ish million per year we'd have to pay Schobert as not a big deal, but it actually is. Our cap space experts have breakdowns on not only player value, but positional value as well.
Let's say Chubb dominates for 1600 ground yards, 400 receiving yards, 15 TDs total, and is the pillar of our offense for a deep playoff run. He may request 16 million per year, and while his player value may actually be that amount (so a fair request on his part), his positional value (from the front office's perspective) may only be 12 million per year max. Well... not paying Schobert 10 per year gives us more flexibility to compromise with Chubb and pay him 15 million per year if he's willing to come down. While it exceeds our positional value, we feel more willing to stretch a little here and there if the player value is extremely high.
There's an infinite amount of scenarios if you look at our entire roster. The needs on O-line and D-line can drastically change year to year, demands might be made, and we want to limit the amount of times where we have no choice but to let a player go despite wanting/needing to keep him because of the salary cap.
Any updates on Delpit? Heard he’s out of practice today and might have gotten injured in the beginning of practice?