Hawkscanner":1yrflxy5 said:I was listening to Brock and Salk's conversation on this heading in to work this morning. I tend to agree with Brock's take -- on paper, this appears to be a solid signing. He equated him (in this defense) to a Tony McDaniel ... or Alan Branch in terms of what he'll give you. He's a veteran who knows what he can do ... and what he can't. He's not flashy -- just solid across the board. A space eater DT. Given the price ... that's not a bad thing whatsoever. We need a guy like this.
Personally, I also agree that I think that this pretty much definitely signals that Ndamukong Suh isn't coming to Seattle. I'd say that given the current reports and rumors that he's likely to sign elsewhere. And frankly, I honestly don't know if that's such a bad thing. I've followed the NFL most of my life ... and I'd say more times than not, these high priced FA signings fall short of expectations. Be honest in considering Sheldon Richardson for a second. Now, we all know what he CAN do. We've seen the highlights and the dominant force that he CAN be ... BUT, was he truly dominant (a game changing) kind of player last year? He most certainly flashed that dominance at times ... but I don't know that I can honestly say he was Cortez Kennedy circa 1992. That's not who I saw. Same argument can potentially be made in Suh's case. You're talking about a guy who's 31 years old. He's good (don't get me wrong) -- I just don't know if he's been a great player the last couple of years. Is he honestly worth the $12+ Million he's going to command? On paper maybe -- there's a chance he can be that dominant force ... BUT history says that more times than not, older veterans who are signed to big deals like this fail to fully live up to the contract.
In the end (stepping back and taking a look at the bigger picture), I think I agree with the direction that I see Schneider and the Hawks currently taking. When this team was at its most dominant ... it was built primarily with talent through the draft. You supplement with guys that you buy low on ... but for the most part, build this thing back up through the draft, UDFA diamonds in the rough, and young talent. That's how we built that Super Bowl team and that's the direction I see us getting back to once again.
Good for Schneider and the Hawks for bucking the trend and going this route. On paper, I like the Tom Johnson signing. You need a lunch pail kind of veteran like this both to take his share of reps ... and also to be an example to younger players. I'm excited for the upcoming draft and to see exactly what this roster looks like heading into Minicamp.
This is true, but then again we don't know what Suh's new contract is at this point. If it is short of $10M per year then I will still say we could have used him as our 3tech. If it is $10M or higher I get your point. But this guy isn't a penetrating DT at all and we have seen this story for far too many seasons.
We shall see......