Griffin's impact on the off-season FA/draft

[30gut]

Originally Posted by Paintrain

30Gut, I guess we see our talent at WR differently. I don't see upside or improvement coming from Gaffney (although he could replicate '11) or Moss (who I think we could replace his projected production with a younger, cheaper player).

I think you're misunderstanding my view.
I don't view Gaffney as having upside nor room for improvement but his level of production is useful.
And I think you greatly discredit/discount Moss's level of production.
If it was easy to replace Moss's production from 2010 then every team would simply plug in any receiver and just throw to them a whole bunch.
Moss's 2010 production is not easily replaceable and its not something to take for granted.

Will the WR need to upgraded in the future? Sure.
But right now we have Moss under contract we have a FA WR in Gaffney that is productive and knows the system and some young WR to develop.
They were part of a middle of the pack receiving corps that was held back by both poor QB play and shotty pass protection.
I would be willing to ride out the season with an upgraded RT, upgraded vertical passing game and playmaking that Griffin should provide and see how the Hankerson and the young WRs develop with Gaffney and a healthy Moss and Armstrong.

I don't see the reason to make it a priority before its turn when there are clearly underperforming units/positions that desperatley need an upgrade to aid the success of the Griffin.
And for me it starts with pass protection.
Imo there are only a set amount of effective FA moves that can be made from both a dollar and a continuity stand point to the point where a FA move in one area may preclude a FA move in another area.

Armstrong fell out of the rotation because he is route limited and can't beat press coverage effectively. He's a legit deep threat but he's got to get off the line first. At 29 this year, again, I think someone younger can replace his projected production.

Those 2 statements seem incongruent.
How can a WR that can't get off press coverage be a viable deep threat to the tune of 44 catches 800(ish) yards and 19.8 YPC?
Again, I think you're discounting Armstrong talent/production again 19.8 YPC isn't a fluke nor is it something to take for granted.

I'm all in on developing Hankerson, he may have #1 WR potential with a full season and offseason. Unfortunately he's recovering from hip surgery and will miss most of the offseason program. I don't think we should push him down the depth chart but develop him at the right pace. I've got really high hopes and expectations for him.

We agree.
But every FA receiver we bring in delays the develop that much more because the incoming FA receivers will need reps to learn the offense.

Agreed on Garcon to this point about being a secondary option. It's a projection to bump him into the next level of WR, but at his age, with his experience it's a measured risk. He put up good numbers with crappy QB last season so he's not reliant on Manning to produce which is encouraging.

Tana has been the No.1 option on a team completely devoid of talent at WR and at QB yet has consistently produced at equal or higher level then Garcon.(excluding this past injured marred season)

I read a few times late last season they aren't looking at Helu as a feature back and aren't sold on Hightower as a feature as well. They may go into '12 with those three, but I wouldn't be shocked by an addition of another RB to be 'the guy'. Not a big buck Forte/Rice type but an upgrade from what we have.

I don't put a lot of stock in anything I read from or about this regime.
I believe what I see and when Helu was given enough carries the offense was effective and Helu was easily in the 100 yard range.
Evan Royster ran well too.
Shanny/Turner will go with the hot hand at RB until one distinguishes themselves from the pack.

I'm not trying to push Fletcher out of town but many reports say he's looking to get around $7-$9 mil a year but that's above what we're willing to pay.

Again, I don't put a lot of stock in the reports (our beat reporters aren't very well connected considering that every meaningful report comes from an outside source).
London is a smart dude that knows how the game works, the DMV area is great it sells itself unless we insult him with the contract he'll be back.