If it's us who pays him, we're done. That means we'll have way too much money tied up in 4 players. Can't win super bowls that way.
You can overpay a player and get by with it. But you can’t overpay several and field a complete team. It’s even worse when the guy you overpay doesn’t perform. Tank now. (Dez historically).
Dak has the team over a bit of a barrel. Hopefully they will work out something in terms of fair for him but not cap crippling.
If you pay Dak anywhere near $35M, the team probably needs to move on from Byron OR Cooper (or both) to maintain cap integrity going forward. A tag and trade would be ideal.
Tank’s contract was ok in a vacuum, but it’s not in a vacuum. I would be open for business on pretty much every top end contract at all times. Zeke, Cooper, Byron, Tank, Martin, Frederick, Tyron, etc.
A team should always be looking to upgrade the roster and get something out of a player. That’s why the Patriots traded Chandler Jones, they wanted to preserve the integrity of their cap and get something for the player.
We have been pretty good at identifying OL talent (with the possible exception of Connor Williams). We should be taking advantage of that by drafting OL if we identify good young replacement talent and be flipping those high end contracts for high draft picks.