Smoke Signals: ‘Somebody’s got to pay’ edition

[Paintrain]

I don't know if the changes I'm advocating represent a 'drastic' or 'shocking' change but I don't think we can go into next season with a roster as it's currently assembled. We need to shed some age and salary, Washington, Kendall, Taylor, Daniels, Thrash, Griffin, maybe Springs, need to be elsewhere. Jansen would cost more to cut so keep him but as a backup to Heyer or a free agent RT we bring in.

This is an excellent free agent crop so I'd like to see us be very aggressive but smart aggressive, not just big game hunting. We can upgrade and get younger at some key spots with about 4 key moves (Dunta Robinson, Karlos Dansby, Jason Brown, Darren Sproles) without breaking the bank for one or two players.

I'm for trading Rogers for a 2nd if we can get it and also seeing if Betts has any value (but I doubt he does) on the trade market. It's obvious we need to upgrade the lines in the draft but we CANNOT afford to ignore special teams yet again and hope to get by with Suisham and a rent-a-punter every year. I'm good with Plack if he gains more consistency but if Oakland somehow lets Shane Lechler hit the open market, they've got to go all out to get him.

I have the feeling that Kelly has Marques Colston potential with a full offseason, if he can stay healthy and I hope that Thomas matures mentally with his physical ability because he's got T.O. ability written all over him but I think he's more like Michael Westbrook in the work ethic department.

We're not "close" like we sometimes get fooled into believing (the Pittsburgh, NYG and Baltimore games showed us that clearly!) but a good offseason can lay the foundation for a nice few years.