Mistake re-signing Tyrone Crawford?

[Stash]

People act like the NFL is just overflowing with line talent.

Crawford had an above average year for a SDE in both his rush and run stopping. It was his first year at the position. Yet reading people here you would think that he never got pressure and was Nick Hayden against the run.

While other people like to think he's JJ Watt.



Oh, that's right, he's just paid like it.

 

[haleyrules]

Crawford has always been just slightly above average. Hard to understand the big contract. He is an asset and can contribute but is being well overpaid. The FO must see a lot more in him than most of us do.

 

[haleyrules]

I think you have some legitimate gripes about the guy, although I think you underrate his ability some. But that's fine, people can disagree.

What I think you misjudge is the market. Remember when Dallas gave Marco Rivera $4 million/year in 2005? That was the going rate for a mediocre guard 12 years ago. Defensive linemen are higher on the FA pecking order than guards in most cases. Seeing that, it's 12 years later and the cap has gone from $85.5 million in 2005 to between $166-$170 million in 2017. That's basically doubled. It's not a stretch for a decent, maybe even mediocre (not my term for him, but I can see the logic in the argument) DT with versatility to play DE to get $7 million-$8 million/year. Now, Crawford's avg annual is $9 million, so he should be a good DT. If he were great, he would be worth $12 million-$15 million. That's why my argument is he may be a smidge overpaid, but it's not a travesty. It's not even the worst contract on the team. I think Scandrick has been a bigger misfire (he was essentially our fourth best CB last year, when he was actually healthy). James Hanna and Alfred Morris (since they never use him) are worse contracts right now. Of course Tony's contract is easily the worst given his missed time and the fact he is no longer the starting QB.

Thats about it. Some of these deals will be fixed in the off season.

 

[Stash]

Crawford has always been just slightly above average. Hard to understand the big contract. He is an asset and can contribute but is being well overpaid. The FO must see a lot more in him than most of us do.

I think the FO thought they did. Remember when he got that big contract, it was to play 3T for this team. Out of necessity once again, he was asked to change positions and move inside. Marinelli and the front office liked what they saw and thought they had found their own Warren Sapp.

And this season, they drafted Maliek Collins and moved Crawford outside, again out of necessity. It's not all his fault, he's done whatever the team has asked and deserves credit for that. But he's a round peg in a square hole. Not athletic enough to be a 4-3 end, and not big enough to consistently line up inside.