Exactly. Even successful franchise Pittsburgh For instance When what, 20 years or so between Bradshaw and Roethlisberger? San Fran is still trying to replace even young, Miami is still trying to replace Marino,Oakland hasn't had a good quarterback in over a Decade. Even Green Bay, who hit the jackpot between favre And Rogers, went 20 years between Starr and Favre. And it was 20 years of absolute dreck.
Thats the biggest problem. Our attempts were absolutely ridiculous. We got incredibly lucky with Romo. In our defense though, those three years where under Campo we were drafting near the top of the draft, Didn't really produced a whole lot of top end quarterbacks. Our timing wasn't great but our luck was with Romo.
You mean, like we did with Aikman?
I think it's the quality, or lack thereof, of QBs we watched get marched out there. That and the sheer number of QBs in that time span. Once we got to that 5 year mark most hope had been lost.
Witten isn't washed up but his age is a fact and few people are able to last longer in the NFL than what he already has. The odds of him going another 2 to 3 years are already astronomically high for his position. It is both inevitable and prudent to be grooming a replacement.
He has had a really long career but at the age of 33 he isn't really showing signs of slowing down. I know his overall numbers slipped a little last year but it was in large part because we were throwing the ball less which meant less targets for Witten. In terms of the success rate throwing to Witten, the average YPC and everything else, he basically is right on par with the rest of his career. Witten isn't a guy who really relies on speed so it wouldn't surprise me to see him go another 3 years in the NFL. Hell look how long Tony Gonzalez played.
Beasley also took some of Witten's touches away, too. Romo through to him quite a bit in 3rd down situations that normally would have gone to Witten in the past.
I suppose it's okay to use exceptional examples for discussion purposes but the numbers favor a judgement that is in keeping with the overall odds in general terms. They would tend toward grooming a replacement for safety sake.
Grammar Nazi...
I am ashamed of myself. That was terrible. I vow to never let it happen again, I promise.
That's why I pointed out that he has shown no signs of slowing down. I didn't just randomly throw out an exceptional example and say Witten could be like him. I pointed out that his numbers are still consistent with what he was doing even as a young TE in the NFL. I think most TE's have more of a gradual decline. Or they start to break down physically with injuries. Witten seems to be the exception at this point in his career to both of those things. He never gets hurt and his numbers are still steady. Plus his game is highly reliant on skill and less about speed and athletic ability. It bodes well for him having an exceptionally long career.
I agree with your point though. I think Cole Beasley is going to continue to get a ton of those types of passes this year as well. Romo has really developed a comfort level with him that you can see in the practices.
That's about right in my view as well.
Yeah he has 2 more years, but is that 2 years worth 7.5 and 8 million over those years, that is the real question.
Frederick and Collins both become FAs in 2018. So I don't think that we'd be worried about Witten by then. Hardy might be a issue but I'd rather cut ties with Carr than Witten.
Ware was counting way more then that against our cap at the end of his career. I think Witten will probably stay at that price. However I wouldn't be surprised to see Witten take a pay cut either. That guy is a Dallas Cowboy through and through.
Do you want to let both hit the market?
