Maybe playing time takes it to a 5.
We don’t have a 6 next year from ZDarius trade so that would make up for that essentially.
Kupp and a 5 or Tim Patrick ?
Yeah - I misspoke on that, we’re into next year of course.
But the same concept applies. You can value next year’s draft choices as not as valuable as this year’s draft choices, sure. But any GM will tell you that next year’s draft choices aren’t worthless, even if they are on day 3. Should they be a primary tool in roster building for the current year? Of course not. Should they be ignored? No. They’re assets and no GM in their right mind would call them worthless.
I think Kupp will get at least double the money Patrick will get. I’d guess about 9m for Kupp vs about 4m for Patrick. Kupp is an excellent blocker but I’m not sure how he will accept the lesser role in our offense. After the way he got kicked to the curb by the Rams he might have something to prove. I’d be ok with a 1 year deal.
I think if it was truly 4m per he’d be signed right now. But if we wait we may be able to get him for that. League year just started. Until the veteran WR dominoes start falling I imagine the remaining guys bide their time hoping for decent money to materialize.
You think Patrick will get more than 4m? If so he would cancel out Lopez and we could get a 5 or 6 for Zeitler.
It’s hard to say. There are more accomplished veteran WRs of course. He might be the best big body dirty work type. I think 2/10m is certainly possible. That’s about as far as I was willing to see the Lions go.
They’re worthless to him when he’s constructing this year’s team if he’s trying to win this season. As I’ve said before, if a GM holds off on signing a player he thinks can contribute because it will land a day 3 pick a year into the future, he’s an idiot.
Put it this way, would you rather have DJ Reed or a 4th in the 2026 draft? Would you rather have Lopez or a 6th in next year’s draft?
It’s not either or. You can still sign a different player. It becomes for instance Slay and and a 4th or Reed. Allen and a 6th or Lopez. It’s about shopping in a different market of player those that were released instead of UFAs. Giving Brad those extra picks to maneuver up in the draft or to flip at the deadline to get a player matters. Even selecting a player like Mahogany or Rodrigo in the 6th round is having those players dirt cheap for 4 years so we can keep our own guys that we want to extend.
2 Likes
Brad would rather have DJ Reed. No problem.
Brad would rather have Lopez. Again no problem.
Would you rather have Kenny Golladay or Kerby Joseph (the comp pick).
Brad would rather have the comp pick. No problem at all.
Each decision is unique. No GM thinks that comp picks are worthless, including Brad. They’re assets even though they’re future assets. I hear you about building a team THIS YEAR, but that doesn’t mean you ignore every future assett. Good franchises build their best team for the current year. The best franchises do that and also have an eye on the future and long term health.
1 Like
I’ve said many times that rebuilding GMs do play the comp pick game. Brad was day one of a rebuild when he made that decision. And he didn’t know he would get an All Pro safety out of it either, that’s for sure.
This is my point, you can’t do both with regard to comp picks. Either you’re signing the best players for your team to win now, or your saying “you know what, what I want more than the best possible roster for this year is an extra 5th round pick in a years time”. And that’s crazy if you’re trying to win. Brad just spent a 3rd on a one year rental for Davis, and a 5th on a half year rental for Smith. That shows the value of picks against immediate performance.
But if you think Slay is a worse player for your team then you’ve held off on being as competitive as you can be this season so that you get a 4th in a years time. That’s just crazy.
Except that you can do both. Franchises like the Steelers and Ravens have proven it. And we’ll get there too.
Exceptions exist, but its generally not the rebuilding franchises that get the picks.
Peace.
1 Like
Any update after the recent signings here? Will we get a 5th next year?
1 Like
I don’t think any of our recent signings are going to cross the threshold for a compensatory pick ($3M APY + snap counts). And I hate to get @Jman’s hopes up, but IF Iffy is healthy AND wins a starter’s role in Miami, I think we could get a 5th for Zeitler.
But Iffy has to be healthy and get a lot of snaps and starting. If he earns some of his incentives, that may be enough as well. OTC hasn’t updated any of their incentives for the year, so don’t know what the $1M that Iffy has is.
Cominsky and Bridgewater are the only other two that could qualify and I don’t think Bridgewater is playing and if he does, he won’t sign by the Compensatory deadline (end of May, I think).
1 Like
Seems very unlikely that IFFY comes thru for all. Even more unlikely that he stays healthy.
But…Deshon Elliot carved out some good seasons after he left us . Starting with Miami.
Is there still hope that Lopez doesn’t qualify? There’s been a couple bigger signings this past week that could push him down
1 Like
exactly what i was wondering.
1 Like
He’s on that fringe. Guys with 3.25 don’t qualify but he’s at 3.5 and is qualifying .
My guess is the only way Lopez doesn’t qualify is if he gets hurt in training camp.
Nick’s estimates includes players who are currently free agents. He has prior years APY in the estimate of players contracts. The ones that haven’t signed yet are more likely to sign for less than prior years APY. He also has the APY for the 2025 draft in his projections, so they won’t alter what he has now. But if a players signs for a different amount than last years APY or if a player retires, it will alter the projections slightly. So Iffy moving up is more likely than Lopez going down.
3 Likes
lil off topic but @Jman
When we doing the Den Wide Mock Draft?
1 Like
I was thinking of waiting until April to start it this year closer to the draft.
We blow through it usually in a week. So maybe 2nd week of April?
That gives us 2 - 2 1/2 weeks before the draft
2 Likes