Chalk me up as another person that is skeptical about the amount of improvement we made last year. Yes it is true that we improved our win total to 8, but I believe that had more to do with having a healthier team and a last place schedule. Our run at the end of the year included only one win against a winning team that had nothing to play for. I'm not sure how much closer we are to being competitive. We still looked hopeless against the better teams in the NFL last year, and if anything, we've lost ground in the off-season so far.
Back on topic, I believe that money did have something to do with Griffith signing in Oakland. He signed a very modest contract with Oakland and cited wanting to be in CA and working with ex-coaches. Therefore, in order to land him we had to not only match what Oakland had to offer, but to also outbid them, and that is TT’s downfall. He is unwilling to sweeten the deal past market value, even for players that would fit our team perfectly. He is so gunshy about free agency, that he’s more willing to stick with the status quo and continue down his 5 year plan of rebuilding rather than overpay a little even when we have more than enough cap room to do so. In the free agency/cap era, it is wise not to overspend on players at the detriment of your future cap. However, it is also foolish to not max out your cap by the end of the year. You can’t take cap room with you and I’d rather overpay a little on a few players than waste the money altogether.
Back on topic, I believe that money did have something to do with Griffith signing in Oakland. He signed a very modest contract with Oakland and cited wanting to be in CA and working with ex-coaches. Therefore, in order to land him we had to not only match what Oakland had to offer, but to also outbid them, and that is TT’s downfall. He is unwilling to sweeten the deal past market value, even for players that would fit our team perfectly. He is so gunshy about free agency, that he’s more willing to stick with the status quo and continue down his 5 year plan of rebuilding rather than overpay a little even when we have more than enough cap room to do so. In the free agency/cap era, it is wise not to overspend on players at the detriment of your future cap. However, it is also foolish to not max out your cap by the end of the year. You can’t take cap room with you and I’d rather overpay a little on a few players than waste the money altogether.