Twitter: Hitchens to KC Chiefs

[Alexander]

So we are down to Sean Lee, Jaylon Smith, Kyle Wilbur, and Damien Wilson? Yikes.

If the Jaylon Smith pick was better and Nzeocha panned it, we might have looked better.

 

[Stash]

But yet we hold onto bums like Witten and Dez for way too much money.

If those two are "bums", Hitchens is a nothing, never was.

On the best day of his career, he'll never be within the same universe as either one of them.

Not paying him that crazy amount of money is a cause for joy, not criticism.

 

[Alexander]

Great for him, great that it's not the Cowboys overpaying him. The team gets credit for not making this move.

I bet if they had their ducks in a row and were prepared, they would have paid him if they could have.

They made that clear leading up to free agency, they wanted him back.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

If those two are "bums", Hitchens is a nothing, never was.

On the best day of his career, he'll never be within the same universe as either one of them.

Not paying him that crazy amount of money is a cause for joy, not criticism.

Stash laying the smackdown of reality.

 

[Ken]

Except they are reportedly not playing Smith in the middle.

I will believe it when i see it. Right now, there is no better option.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

I bet if they had their ducks in a row and were prepared, they would have paid him if they could have.

They made that clear leading up to free agency, they wanted him back.

Of course they probably preferred him back.

He knows the system and he performed OK to good on most days.

They simply weren't going to pay him a goofy amount to keep him... Which I applaud.

 

[Stash]

I bet if they had their ducks in a row and were prepared, they would have paid him if they could have.

They made that clear leading up to free agency, they wanted him back.

At the right price.

$9 million is far away from the right price.

Sometimes, they deserve credit for not making stupid moves.

 

[John813]

my question is how do u build a championship roster when your main avenue is to draft and develop players then when they get to their second contract you let most of them walk you don't do free agency or make trades so how do u build a team that can compete?

We can't keep every good player with a salary cap.

We made some bad deals(re-signings) in hindsight which suck, but we are retaining our best passrusher and unless we blow it with Irving we'll have him back next year. Then we'll sign Martin to a huge deal at some point.

I don't like the bargain bin FA approach but they really haven't let anyone go that was key for them outside of Leary who wanted to leave. Hitchens was a 2 down LB that was key depth for our oft injured LBs. However, when Lee and Smith are healthy he's a backup for a good amount of the game. 9mil on the bench when you are in the nickel formation more and more often as the years go by is not a smart signing.

 

[Rayman70]

Now we are in dire need of starting quality linebackers,as well as depth guys. I wouldn't be shocked if we get Derrick Johnson and a linebacker in the draft. Looks like our needs are shifting to Receiver,Linebacker, oline Tight end..YES TIGHT END. If we lose Witten to retirement(very real) ..there will be another void to fill. We have tons of questions this offseason. Looks like rebuild mode honestly.

 

[Wezsh0T]

Wow!...9 million for Hitchens. Good for him. No way Cowboys could have matched that.

 

[Rayman70]

It will be the front office of the year if we can fill all these needs this offseason and compete at a high level. I must admit,its starting to look pretty bleak.

 

[atlantacowboy]

Good for Hitch. He plays hard and can't blame him for wanting to benefit from this crazy market.

 

[RustyBourneHorse]

Wow! Was not expecting a $9M AAV
Good comp pick for us

Yup, that should be another good comp pick for us. And yeah, 9 mil is steep for him, and congrats to him on the deal.

 

[Alexander]

At the right price.

$9 million is far away from the right price.

Sometimes, they deserve credit for not making stupid moves.

I would give them credit if they could reasonably afford to play the free agent game and showed restraint.

There are teams out there doing it right now that have infinitely more cap space (Jets, 49ers, Colts, Buccaneers) that are being fiscally responsible.

Sorry, I am not giving them credit for doing something they couldn't do even if they wanted to.

 

[glimmerman]

9 million was gonna be to much for us.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

It will be the front office of the year if we can fill all these needs this offseason and compete at a high level. I must admit,its starting to look pretty bleak.

Pretty bleak on March 13th at 10:23AM?

You folks are stunning.

You act like the team went 2-14 last season.

 

[MichaelWinicki]

I would give them credit if they could reasonably afford to play the free agent game and showed restraint.

There are teams out there doing it right now that have infinitely more cap space (Jets, 49ers, Colts, Buccaneers) that are being fiscally responsible.

Sorry, I am not giving them credit for doing something they couldn't do even if they wanted to.

And what about KC? Are they being fiscally responsible?

 

[Idgit]

I thought market for Hitch was $6-7MM. $9MM is quite a premium. Sucks to lose him because a thin LB group just got worse.

 

[Rayman70]

Hitch gets a bad rap sometimes as not being flashy or good honestly. It couldn't be further from the truth. The guy was a model of consistency while in Dallas...from day one he worked his arse off and made a difference. He was a solid pick for us that went under the radar.If we gonna criticize the powers that be for missing on players...lets also give them kudos for getting them right. Too bad we couldn't keep him,he will be missed this year. Not sure we can find a player better or even his equal.

 

[INCowboysFan]

$9M for 300 career combined tackles (5 tackles per game), 3.5 career sacks, 2 career FF, 8 career PD and 1 career INT???

As a first year player coming off a career threatening injury, Jaylon Smith avg 5 tackles per game, had a sack and 2 FF (as many as Hitches in his career) and 2 PD. And we all saw Jaylon struggle (badly at times) this past season. Yet he still outperformed Anthony Hitchens.