Why did we resign Wilber and Hanna?

[Proximo]

One year we don't retain enough vets. The next year we retain two too many. One day we can't find anyone after the first round. The next day we should be replacing established role players with guys on Day 3.

Like it or not, Hanna would be the #2 TE on this team if he weren't injured, and Wilber has always been in contention for the starting SLB spot and is reliable depth.

Now, this is what I call common sense.

 

[Kaiser]

I'm not sure what it matters when they both signed cheap deals. Criticizing for these moves is nitpicking at its finest.

And who are the better options that people are posting about? Wilber was fine as the Sam last year. Hitchens was going to compete with him but also play Mike and Gachkar is basically a Mike that will likely get replaced by Nzeocha.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

Because those "cheap deals" are more expensive than what you can find in a first contract player and there's this thing called a salary cap and any educated fan should care how their team spends their money.

Some people can handle the self scouting and discuss it.

So signing Wilber and Hanna prevented us from getting who exactly? Other special teams players?

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

It's because people generally have a poor grasp of how a veteran role player can sometimes be more valuable than a college draft pick or a street free agent. In this case, they're underestimating Hanna's blocking and Wilber's STs and ability to play assignment-sound football at multiple positions on defense. They overvalue upside and undervalue experience.

Wilber's a relatively inexpensive 1 year rental. But Hanna's deal is more interesting. Basically, when Escobar went down with the achilles they elected to lock him up as the TE2 for the rest of Witten's career. He's got a decent cap hit next year and in 2018. But he's a pretty good player for us in that role, too.

Thank you. I agree 100%. You don't want to have too much turnover on your team and Wilber and Hanna to their credit may be limited but they have gotten better each year they've been here. They aren't stars but they don't need to be and their deals are solid deals. I'm usually for replacing expensive veterans with cheap hungry players but this isn't one of those cases since these guys are still young and cheap.

 

[TheMarathonContinues]

And who are the better options that people are posting about? Wilber was fine as the Sam last year. Hitchens was going to compete with him but also play Mike and Gachkar is basically a Mike that will likely get replaced by Nzeocha.

I agree. But it's easy for people to complain about stuff like this without offering up any solutions. Wilber and Hanna did not stop us from signing ANYONE.

 

[Idgit]

Thank you. I agree 100%. You don't want to have too much turnover on your team and Wilber and Hanna to their credit may be limited but they have gotten better each year they've been here. They aren't stars but they don't need to be and their deals are solid deals. I'm usually for replacing expensive veterans with cheap hungry players but this isn't one of those cases since these guys are still young and cheap.

You have a couple of positions on every team that you staff with youngish inexpensive veterans. If you're lucky, a guy like Wilson or Nzeocha come along and outplay the veteran and take his snaps for next year, but $1.5-1.75M for your starting SAM/core ST player for years 5-6 of his deal is not exactly breaking the bank.