Originally posted by 49AllTheTime:
Originally posted by blizzuntz:
Originally posted by NCommand:
Originally posted by blizzuntz:
Of course the FO could do something about it. They could have at least offered to match Tennessee and then let Walker decide between the 2 different situations.
But they didn't and their plan B sucked.
Walker and Davis would have been arguably the strongest and fastest TE combo 2013 and IMO enough to win the west.
I agree with all of this. The only issue is you can't offer up #1 $ at that time to a #2 TE. The market sets the contract tables and it made it even more challenging given the, state of our cap space at that time. The other aspect is he was a free agent and he could have stayed here if he really wanted...for less $, of course. And for all we know maybe he had family in TN, or had ties to the coaching staff, etc. We just never know other than the outcome of which he got #1 $ and #1 targets and probably made even more for reaching incentives... something he'd never make here because of VD.
In hindsight, we should have kicked Jamba Juice to the curb, paid Delanie, made him the #1 and centered the offense more around him like TN did...esp. after Kam stole VD's soul.
But nobody knew back then if DW would become what he's become...we were just hoping, like Vance now, or VD before him, that he'd become a more consistent pass catcher. I don't think anyone was really thinking of him as a #1 dominant TE... probably not even TN.
You can't knock giving Walker # 1 money (low end #1 money) back then and praise giving Vance #1 money last year (even though different salary cap situations) ..... IMO.
We rewarded the wrong guy IMO
Walker got better once he left
both TEs (DW/VM) sucked with the QBs we had.
We don't know still if we have the wrong guy
Vance was on the trade block and no one cared.
DW was a FA and got offered #1 TE money.
DW stats were comparable, but he was a matchup headache for other teams. Vance hasn't been that... yet