Jefferson is back

[Pigskin]

Jefferson and Jeffcoat are both 32, a few years left in there careers. Lemon is 35 and still playing at a high level. My only problems with Jeffcoat is he has only played in 78 games in 6 years. Average 13 games a year. The man is a force when healthy. But, at 13 games a year what is he worth?

[Jesse]

Jefferson and Jeffcoat are both 32, a few years left in there careers. Lemon is 35 and still playing at a high level. My only problems with Jeffcoat is he has only played in 78 games in 6 years. Average 13 games a year. The man is a force when healthy. But, at 13 games a year what is he worth?

Exactly what we've been giving him, imo. He's a difference maker.

[GOLDMEMBER]

I am on the fence with Jeffcoat but as stated he is just not healthy consistent enough so I guess move on from.

Move on from Bighill, Miller, and Rose for sure.

[Throw Long Bannatyne]

I am on the fence with Jeffcoat but as stated he is just not healthy consistent enough so I guess move on from.

Move on from Bighill, Miller, and Rose for sure.

His pass rush tenacity would be extremely hard to replace, best pure pass rusher in the league IMO, he's worth retaining for as long as he can contribute.  It's past time they brought in a protege that can pick up the slack when he's not on the field.  If he retired tomorrow I would go hard after AC Leonard, warts and all.

[Blueforlife]

Great news and now sign Jeffcoat

[dd]

I am on the fence with Jeffcoat but as stated he is just not healthy consistent enough so I guess move on from.

Move on from Bighill, Miller, and Rose for sure.

I thought for sure with Jeffcoats injury history we would have went after the Lemonater, and with Biggy aging/getting hurt more often, Sankey, but those ships have sailed....man if only we pulled the trigger on those deals!!!

[TecnoGenius]

Yes great to see Willie return!

Chances Brown resigns hear is a pipe dream to me.

If the whisper was Zach would be helped to retire in 2025 then maybe they could have kept Brown with some future promises.  But with Zach signed thru 2025, it'll be a hard ask to tell Dru to wait and get underpaid here until 2026.  The only hope is other teams don't think he's the real deal for a full season as #1 (it would be a gamble by a GM).  He won't take a lateral move: why would he?  No, it'll have to be a promotion.

If Masoli wants to continue, and word is he does, then a GM could sign Dru as #1 for a half season until Masoli is back, and then Dru becomes a high-paid #2, ready to step in if Masoli sucks or blows out another <insert tendon here>.

[TecnoGenius]

Betts is from Montreal so that could factor into the equation. Given the same money he may choose living out east.

Is Betts fluent in French?  MTL has admitted outright they give priority to Francophone players, especially local QC guys.  If he's FA, why not make him some big offer?  MTL has monga SMS space with all their star rookies still on ELCs into 2024.

[TecnoGenius]

Willie comes from different circumstance, poor from a big family, he's hustled all his life and was probably first in line at Walters door with contract and pen in hand. One more year!

It helps when you don't have an agent to pay!  You'd think more players would do that... Willie can take a 10-20% pay cut over an agent-handled player and make the same amount of money!!  Probably makes KW happier too.

Willie's philosophy is one of my favorites: "no handouts".  Good for you, Willie.  Welcome back for another year of great things!

[TecnoGenius]

I'd pass on Jeffcoat, Bighill, Rose and Miller for sure.

Jeffcoat is still important because we have no one in the hopper and who in FA is more of an impact when on the field than JJ at roughly he same price?  JJ's only problem is the tub time... so why not structure the contract more in terms of pay-for-play?

Biggie isn't going anywhere.  He's still under contract, and likely will take further tiny cuts if asked.  The team felt he was critical enough to dress for the GC even though it was clear he wasn't anywhere close to 100%.  Never forget the brain/director aspect: don't just look at his speed or one physical facet.

Miller: who knows.  But if MOS is loyal to any one player the most, it's Miller.

Rose, unfortunately, likely goes and will be picked up by OTT.  But if we have some early DB injuries we may wish we kept him.

[TecnoGenius]

Jefferson and Jeffcoat are both 32, a few years left in there careers. Lemon is 35 and still playing at a high level. My only problems with Jeffcoat is he has only played in 78 games in 6 years. Average 13 games a year. The man is a force when healthy. But, at 13 games a year what is he worth?

Ya, but since he usually stints on the 6GIR (I think?), it really doesn't cost us much SMS for his tub time.  The main problem is we seem to sign him dreaming that he'll play 18 games + postseason, when it never happens.  And thus we don't hire a really good replacement or rotation guy... and then wonder why our DL is ineffective when JJ is out.

So the answer, if you hire JJ again, is you must hire a very good rotation DE too.  I would say they'd have to be at Kongbo level.  Probably even better.  But not at Betts level.  It has to be $120-$150, not $100 or $200.  Yes, that would mean we have to be spending more at the DL position.  But we tend to really under-man that position relative to other teams already, so it's easy to justify becoming more "normal".

I think many here would agree if we re-sign JJ and stick with a sub-$100k DE backup then KW is failing at fixing this puzzle piece...

[Jesse]

He won't take a lateral move: why would he?  No, it'll have to be a promotion.

You take a lateral move to be behind someone like Masoli or BLM or basically any other QB not named Zach or Chad who is constantly benched due to injury or play.

Even if he's a back-up, there's a lot more opportunity out there than there is here.

[BlueGold8597]

Bighill is a coach on the field and his absence was felt in the 4th quarter on Montreal's drives. He's worth having back even if he's not fully the player he used to be.

Jeffcoat is still important because we have no one in the hopper and who in FA is more of an impact when on the field than JJ at roughly he same price?  JJ's only problem is the tub time... so why not structure the contract more in terms of pay-for-play?

Biggie isn't going anywhere.  He's still under contract, and likely will take further tiny cuts if asked.  The team felt he was critical enough to dress for the GC even though it was clear he wasn't anywhere close to 100%.  Never forget the brain/director aspect: don't just look at his speed or one physical facet.

Miller: who knows.  But if MOS is loyal to any one player the most, it's Miller.

Rose, unfortunately, likely goes and will be picked up by OTT.  But if we have some early DB injuries we may wish we kept him.

[Sir Blue and Gold]

Bighill is a coach on the field and his absence was felt in the 4th quarter on Montreal's drives. He's worth having back even if he's not fully the player he used to be.

The truth is it depends how much of a drop off it is. First and foremost he needs to be able to make all the plays a MLB does. We struggled with mobile QBs. Your experience can only make up for so much lack of speed. We don't need a coach on the field. Richie Hall is a great coordinator. Our defense has a lot of experience even without him. We do need an athletic MLB that can still play sideline to sideline, blitz and drop cover running backs sometimes. Not sure Bighill can do it anymore, to be honest.

[theaardvark]

Bighill has a very modest cost against the $SMS.  His presence is felt and he is a leader.  He will have a place as long as he can play, and I feel he's the kind of guy who know when it is time to step aside.