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I'm on board with calling Senat a beast. It's not wrong in the slightest. For a third round rookie run stopping DT, he was one of the best in the league. He literally rag dolled All Pro caliber centers. Multiple times. In multiple games. Saying that doesn't mean he doesn't have room for improvement. Both can exist equally. If he doesn't improve, what he did as a rookie isn't going to cut it in terms of longevity. That also doesn't mean we can't add a stud DT to round out the group.

That's my point. I don't care either way. I like the guy. If they didn't extend him, I wouldn't have minded. We did. I still don't mind. But saying we can cut him makes very little sense when the gain is literally rounding at this point in terms of the cap. Either way, Rico will be on the roster and cost over $4MM against the cap this season. Why not focus on finding a way to maximize that cost vs the alternative? There isn't a single player we can add that can give what Rico does for the $750k we'd gain to cut him. Now, 2020 is a different story we'll discuss when we get there.

If you cut Rico, it's $750K in cap savings. Period. I don't bother with the whole post-June 1 cap savings thing. Yes, they can cut Schraeder and save a few millions and point to declining play all the way back in 2017. They can cut Alford and save a TON of money and point to declining play in 2018. You cut Rico and point to....injury? Yea ok. For $750k. That is stupid and won't go over well no matter how you spin it. Yes, people get cut. But propping Rico up as a Chief and seeing how he was still very much apart of the team and is a primary reason Kazee had such a good reason just to cut him for not even vet minimum in cap savings would be a slap in the face to a lot of guys. That's the point.

One thing you can't put a price on is locker room response. Imagine the players response if Rico is cut this offseason. Talk about losing any kind of positive morale. Now, if Kazee goes for 10 picks and balls straight out next year and Rico is a little slow to bounce back, you've got a much better case. But you don't want to start just cutting guys because of money. It's one thing for a 5x SB champ HC to do it. Hard to do it with an empty trophy case and little else to show but cap savings. $750k at that.

No. Why does somebody have to be let go? Alford is most likely being cut. At that point, we need to replace his CB spot with someone to develop. Realistically, Poole is a fine 4th corner who can step in when needed.

That's pretty much it. Rico, Kazee, and Neal make a very good and versatile 3 safety group. Seeing where offenses are going, I think you'll see that trend come on big time. Having hammer in Neal, a ballhawk in Kazee, and a versatile steady DB in Rico, we're in a good spot. If Oliver can develop further into an above average CB and Trufant can bounce back, that's a very good secondary. Get a pass rush.

Rico and Kazee are different guys and win different ways. Rico's ability to keep that middle closed consistently and the cerebral aspect of his game is valuable. Kazee's ballhawking and speed is valuable. If you could put both guys together, you have a potential All Pro FS. You saw once Rico went down, how quickly the rest of the back end struggled. Yea he doesn't take risks, which leads to little reward. It stabilizes the defense, but also puts a cap on how good they can be. Some of those picks Kazee made Rico is never even in the picture to make. But some of those deep shots are also prevented solely by Rico being in position to defend it. This is why I see them having a rotating FS based on match ups. Teams know Kazee will take the ball away so put him where they are more prone to go. Teams like the Panthers, who are deep shot taking teams paired with a power run game fit more for Kazee being back deep to capitalize on the inaccurate QB and let Rico play more in the nickel spot and aid in run support. Versus a team like the Saints, Rico's knowledge and route recognition helps deep while Kazee roaming the middle makes Brees hold the ball more. If you look, the Saints are dependent upon Kamara and Thomas within 10-15 yards of the LOS, allowing Kazee more ballhawking opportunities there. Both are good to have. Kazee has more upside. But we don't have to do the reverse and act as if Rico has no use.

Oh I agree he's still a talent and agree there is a way Vic can be on the roster. I've been in the camp that Vic needs to be the 5-7th best front seven play, which is fringe starter quality based on his limitations. But I don't think that's anywhere near double digit comp at this point. He's basically Jason Babin, there is a place for him on a roster but not as a core guy. I'd rather pay Campbell $9-11MM than Vic.

Of course you don't have to agree. Hughes had back to back 10 sack seasons in his first five seasons. Outside of 2016, Vic has 4-5 sacks. Yep, consistently average. If that's worth $9-11MM, just keep Brooks Reed and give him pass rushing snaps. Sheard can actually play all three downs without being a liability and brings consistent pressure. Again, it's not all about sacks. Vic struggles vs any kind of good OT and is terrible in run defense making him a one dimensional pass rusher. Brandon Graham makes $6.5MM and is twice the player Vic is and he's only had zero double digit sack seasons.

Agreed. He didn't really dominate in the passing game which is what should have happened. People point to injuries, etc. but when you point to competition, people just ignore it. I can't. Go look at Khalil Mack at Buffalo. He straight dominated and the moment he played Ohio St and dominated, everyone was sold. Still too many questions out there with Oliver. I think he'll be largely disruptive, but I don't know if he's a pass rushing terror up the middle.

That would be absolutely foolish. Guys in that range include Cameron Jordan, Ryan Kerrigan, Michael Bennett, Jabaal Sheard, and Jerry Hughes. Vic is not any of those guys. I'd rather pay Brandon Graham in the $9-11MM range than Vic if that's the kind of money you want to spend on that position.

This this this. Make all three earn their keep. Cutting Fusco and Schraeder isn't really going to net much cap space, so cutting them just makes fairly large holes. If those guys were your gameday back ups, you're in very good shape.

Comes down to match ups. Poole is a solid, physical nickel CB, but when it's time to play vs air teams, he's miscast and can be picked on. Poole is great vs the Panthers but a potential liability vs the Saints. I'm not concerned about Poole getting playing time. Rico can give you what he does plus some in the times he's inactive, if that even happens. I think it will be easy to get Kazee on the field. He can play deep middle, as we've seen, and he can play nickel. Same with Rico. Just go back to the Bucs and Vikings games last year when we saw Rico playing down at nickel. He can do it and is still good at it. But he's also a much better base FS than Kazee, making right reads and alignment corrections to prevent big plays when there are only 1-2 WRs on the field.

That's a bad way of looking at FAs and Fusco. We could have added Andrew Norwell and been in the same position.

Yep. Then you wonder why he struggles but then looks moderately good albeit inconsistent on the left side. I think it was more "Wes is good but we can't cut Andy because we aren't sure how good Wes is". But that's partly why I could see Wes sticking at LG. He wasn't terrible and is a natural left side OL player. Literally spent his entire first year out of position.