re: Balance The Saints Cap

Yeah the biggest thing with it is trying to guesstimate a guy's value.

Not sure how the RT market is, but Strief could honestly go for as little as vet minimum(if the market is crowded; I'd still be surprised by this though), or as much as $6 mil a year(again I'd be surprised if it was this much though). I think $2.5 mil - $4.5 mil per is a good range for him.

I can see us going the cutting route also, but I think we'll likely see a mix of that and restructuring given past history. And we've already done some cutting(though I can see at least one and as many as four more guys getting cut).

I think another thing to keep in mind is we'll likely save at least $2 mil if/when Sproles extends.

I definitely see we value guys differently though. If it was my choice I'm not cutting Thomas period. I'd like him to extend or at least take a pay cut, but IMO he is worth the $3 mil.

I could also see a scenario where we let Strief walk regardless since Harris and Jones are so cheap and Harris at least has experience. Just depends on how much we trust him.

Personally I trust him more than I trusted Brown, who then fooled me into trusting him in preseason before becoming what I thought he was.

I think we'll likely have to look to the draft/Lelito for C unless DLP/someone else comes in for dirt cheap.

CB is clearly the biggest hole, but if we can structure a deal like Lewis($2.25 mil cap hit year 1) and he's at least on Greer's level(but young) I'll be happy with whoever.

Another thing is it's also like dominoes. Doing one thing is going to set off a chain reaction. Doing something different instead changes the chain completely.