If we win SB it will not be because of AR, CM3, Peppers, etc.; it will be because of Bak, Linsley, Dix, Elliot, Lacy, D.Jones, Daniels, Randall, etc. Every team has its stars; it’s the quantity and quality of 1st contract studs that determines who’s good and who is not.
Just look at Seattle, with a bushel basket full of guys drafted by Schneider using TT’s work product; they were great. In 2 offseasons, they’ve fallen to mediocre because over the last 3 years Schneider drafting w/o knowledge of TT’s draftboard has much fewer 1st contract studs. And his big time trades and big time FA acquisitions, that got the fanbase all a flutter, caused this team to prematurely return to mediocrity.
Reminds me of a ditty I learned as a kid:
A peanut sat on a track
His heart was all a flutter
A train came speeding down the track
Toot! Toot! Peanut butter
Joe Thomas is a great player and man; but if Thomas is acquired for Bak and a #1 [not sure that he could-because some GMs are clueless] we lose one 1st contract stud and a high potent second 1st cont. stud, weakening the team for 2-4 years.
Now, if the football Gods guaranteed SB victory by acquiring Thomas; then weakening the team for 2-4 is an acceptable loss. But how many more points would we have scored in Denver if JT was at LT? The best way to win a SB is to be good every year, make it the final table of 12, and hope things click like in 2010 or last year for 2.95 games.
This is NE’s recipe, just like ours, Ted Thompson has been more successful at building a complete roster; the difference has been they’ve had Brady and we have Aaron Rodgers in playoffs.