I know where you’re coming from but I for one don’t expect them to blow it up in defense. Paylor said to “just know that they’re going to do everything they can to load this team and this defense up for a run in 2019”...

Getting rid of all of those guys doesn’t jive with that IMO. I think they’re going to try to rework some contracts while keeping them around. Maybe not Ford, we’ll see.
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Yeah, they're not getting rid of Ford or Houston, and they can't get rid of Berry.
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"If you're not a fit, we WILL acquit"!

I'm not opposed to keeping Houston or Ford if they fit with the scheme and will accept the money we offer. And as it stands, we DO NOT have to come begging hat in hand to pay either one of them. So if they want to stay, great. If they don't, great.

There's only ONE player on this team that gets to make fans and the GM chew their nails at contract time, and it AIN'T either of them. And I hope Spags tells Berry, "I can handle my OWN cheer leading and pep talks, thanks".
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well, loading up for a run in 2019 doesn't necessarily mean the older players that have been here for a long time are part of that.

Ford I highly doubt is back; I fully expect a tag and trade. There's no loading up at all other than the draft if you have to pay him $15m plus.

If you cut Houston, June 1 you get what, like $15m back? You can get a real good, say, RDE for that.

I

If you cut Sorensen June 1, you can get almost $4m back.

If Berry's injury is non-football, I'm not sure he's guaranteed, and if you cut him June 1, you get almost $9m back.

That's $28 million, give or take. You can extend Jones and Hill with that, plus make another move or two, if they're thrifty.

Leaving the estimated $36 million according to Spotrac (I've heard it's actually less, like $28 million or something, including incentives?)

How else are you going to load up except let most of these guys go?

you've got enough for two maybe 3 quality starting level guys depending on how you structure their deals, and maybe snag a June 1 casualty or two but probably nothing major if you extend Jones and Hill, which they should.

I'd say you MIGHT keep Houston on a restructure deal, turning some of his money into signing bonus if you want to keep him, and that might be smart. He is often injured, though.

But wouldn't you rather have, like maybe Brandon Graham and Landon Collins?

I'm not saying I'm positive; just that I have a feeling maybe Veach is going to try to cut out all the old contracts asap and move on.
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Or that if you aren't a good fit with the scheme that we're going to keep you around just because you have an arrowhead on your helmet.

Great thing about this setup is that Spags has more than enough juice to call it and set it up as he damn well pleases, and I sincerely doubt you'll see Clark Hunt or Andy Reid trying second guess him or cut him off at the knees.
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Yeah. I mean, again, I'm not pounding the table, I'm just saying, I kind of have a feeling that maybe if the older vets don't fit or Spags isn't crazy about their fit, that Veach might really like to get them off the books.

They're not his guys, after all, either. And those salaries kind of handicap the grocery shopping. It'd be different if Berry and Houston were usually healthy and Ford could manage to not get blocked by a WR on a running play.
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Let's hope next year we better define what "clock management" means for Andy. Lord knows the Pats TOP suggests they've figured it out.

God I wish we had a BB on our team! It sucks to admit, but the man is the GOAT of coaching... Hands down, from cheating, to twisting the rules, to cutting slack players, to apparently knowing/understanding both offense and defense, to knowing just how to attack another team's weaknesses, to getting the most out of retread/last chance players, he's the GOAT.
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I’m not holding out hope that Berry’s heel is going to be ruled a non football injury. Why would it be?
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And, we need to keep in mind that the quality of FA's knocking on the door just went up several notches as well. We have options. WAY more than most here might think.

He definitely made the most of his first SB win, can't argue that. He parlayed that shit HARD.
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Why would it be a football injury? It's got nothing to do with football activity. It's not an ACL, or a torn achilles, or something like that. It's literally an abnormal bone growth.

Again, I'm not claiming anything definitively, just raising the question and looking for an answer.
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I don't know what will happen of Berry but Ford and Houston will be playing for this team next year.

They are going all in next year.

I expect Veach to be aggressive on the FA market.

I would even like him to trade a high pick in 2020 to get a good player or to get another high pick in the upcoming draft, just like the Saints and Rams did in the last offseason, two teams who were themselves going all in coming into this season.

Veach needs to get it into his head that this team will field a top 10 D next year. Literally. No excuses.
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I don't think Dee Ford is a three down player on a top 10, 4-3 defense. He's a one trick pony that's easily neutralized.

I'm totally down to keep Houston if he restructures.

If you keep Ford and Houston doesn't restructure, and you can't do anything with Berry but keep him, you've got like $28 Million dollars to play with and that's counting the need to extend Hill and Jones.

I don't think there'll be much activity in that case.
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I’m sure it’ll be really easier for Berry and his reps to claim that the deformity is a result of playing football.
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Maybe. I don't know. I've seen no discussion of that outside this board, just lots of pundits saying he might be cut.
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Berry's issue is caused by playing football. He could live day to day with it for the rest of his life, but the flare ups are from playing the sport, thus it's the sport that is causing it. If he gets surgery to try and correct it, it is because of PLAYING football. (keyword: playing). So I'd imagine they could easily argue: an injury that happens from playing football at the highest level on planet Earth.

If he's just hanging out doing a 9 to 5 crap office job he would never feel it.
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