The build

[rm1369]

Originally Posted by Chaka

Beating the teams in our division is nice, but what good is it if we get smoked in the playoffs by NE, KC or PIT? The underlying principle that I think is driving Ballard's decisionmaking is the idea that to be truly great you need a solid foundation of home-grown players.

Experience? Does that no longer have value?

The idea that you have to spend 2-3 years drafting before any free agents have value is complete and utter BS. Signing free agents affects two things with the draft:

1) it increases competition for roster and, most importantly, starting spots. Is competition a bad thing now too?

2) it lowers your draft position by making you win more games. But when I have said Ballard has knowingly sacrificed wins this year (soft tank?) by his moves or that his methods were making the rebuild longer I’m certain you are one that has told me that’s not the case.

So other than decreasing competition or decreasing wins (and therefore increasing draft position) why do you think free agents keep you from building through the draft?