And even at 17 million that's not unreasonable generally for a top tier LT.
He hasn't been a top tier LT for over three years. Hell the guy has started a total of 33% of the games over that period of time. So yes, he is a perfect example of a guy you should move on from because you're wasting cap space. Especially when you presumably could get a starting guard for half the price who will start all 17 games. You're just throwing cap dollars in the trash and then claiming there is no pie left.
Now you are right. Doesn't have much to do with McGovern. I was ok letting him go at that price. We also have the cap to resign him if we wanted to. So yeah, they aren't really connected. Except I would rather get a legit LG at 8-10 mil than to keep a washed up vet around in Smith. And I love the guy but he isn't an elite LT anymore and he plays like a third of the games. That equals washed up in my opinion.
Two old vets who are washed up for different reasons, Zeke and Tyron are counting 33mil against your cap. They are almost a zero value add. And yet we are going to bitch that we have a franchise QB who costs like 23 mil against our cap next season. This is just an example of how a team fucks up the salary cap.
The good news is I think they will eventually reduce those numbers. But the simple answer is they should just move on and take them totally off the books going forward.
