Originally posted by random49er:
Next time your internet is working, do this search:
You seem to be attempting snarky subtext (which is about all you do on here in a transparent attempt to distract from the fact you can't support your claims).
Let me help you out:
1. Nobody's cap figure is ever their "per year" figure. Contracts like that are always backloaded, and when they get to the big money, they are either restructured, or the player is cut. Additionally, much of it can be put into a signing bonus that is prorated, meaning that the amount of the signing bonus that counts against the cap is from what is equally divided up among all the years in a contract. Brock's early cap figures would likely be under $20 million.
2. Inflation. "60 million per year" will eventually be the league average for a QB, where a much larger salary cap means a given cap figure will take up a much lower percentage of a team's salary cap than it did in previous years.
3. Supporting cast doesn't have much effect on the outcome of football games. Football is determined by schemes, quarterbacks being able to run a good offensive scheme (which is what defines a "good" quarterback...no quarterback can succeed without a good scheme), and special teams (the only kind of "supporting cast" that significantly affects the outcome of games). Some positions can enhance things slightly, but it's not worth giving those guys big contracts, particularly because in this era, they're going to get injured regularly anyway. Not merely occasional injuries...constant injuries.
4. Here's the amount of influence the quality of players at different positions have on the outcome of games:
QB: By far the largest amount of influence. Only the Queefs can contend with mediocre quarterbacking, because they have the greatest offensive mind of this century, as well as the best defensive coordinator in football, plus the 2nd best kicker. Quarterbacks need players to be schemed open to have success. No quarterback is going to consistently throw guys open en route to an elite offense. Peyton Manning was basically his own offensive coordinator for many years, in case you were wondering. He schemed his own receivers open before the snap. He wasn't consistently throwing his own guys open in order to make that happen. Historically, quarterback has mostly been a mental position, but the game has been dumbed down to where the things that make a good quarterback these days are mostly about NOT overthinking things. The quarterback who just goes, "he open, I throw him the ball" is the guy who has the most success. That's why doofuses like Lamar Jackson are having success. Brock Purdy, while he scored in the 97th percentile in the cognition test, tends to understand this part of the modern game well enough. The concern with Brock now is accuracy. Were he to hit the throws this year that he hit last year, this team would be in the postseason. The irony is he has been carried THIS YEAR, not last year. Since the Cowboys game, Kyle has actually successfully been scheming guys open, and his accuracy has continued to suck. Last year, he was threading needles and hitting guys in perfect stride.
RB: None. Interchangeable. The number of backs who could do anything without the blocking being there is...Barry Sanders. There are hundreds of backs in any given era who can find the crease, break a tackle here and there, and succeed. You can get them as undrafted free agents or as street free agents. There's no significant difference in effectiveness between them. The only nuance here is some guys are better receivers than others. Being a good receiving back doesn't mean catching a dumpoff in the flat. Any back can do that. Derek Loville caught 87 balls in 1995. Being a good receiver as a running back is about being able to split out and run actual patterns, as well as being a threat in the open field after the catch. The stiff power guys tend not to have those attributes. Guerendo, despite being a converted receiver, is an example of a stiff back who doesn't really provide what I would define as elite receiving ability. Regardless, no back is going to stay healthy in this era. The 49ers go through 4 backs every year.
FB: Funny enough, this position is, in a way, underrated. It's far more important than any offensive line position when it comes to the run game, provided the team actually USES a fullback, yet people always talk about "offensive line" when discussing the success of a running game. Juicecheck, on the other hand, is not Moose Johnston. He's not a great lead blocker, and I don't care that he can sneak out and catch balls when he's not that good at the things old school fullbacks (meaning since the advent of the I formation...prior to that, in the pro set, split backfield formation, fullbacks were sometimes the featured ball carriers) did anyway.
WR: They only have a significant influence when it's some kind of freak such as Randy Moss. A quarterback can benefit a huge amount from Moss because you don't have to be that good to throw up a jump ball for him. Most of the time, receivers don't have nearly as much effect as people think. They can enhance things, but only slightly. When they're technician types who can actually run routes, the quarterback is still going to need to be able to get them the ball on reasonably difficult throws. When they're not, they have to be schemed open, and when you're schemed open, that means anybody can get open in that scheme. Run after the catch...most receivers will run after the catch when you scheme the open in certain areas of the field. I'm not saying everybody is pre-2024 Screenbo in running with the ball in their hands, but go back and watch Jimmy's 5 games in 2017. Watch how many RAC yards guys like Garrett Celek and Marquis Goodwin got. With soft pussies for tacklers these days, breaking tackles is not difficult.
TE: I'd actually place this ahead of receiver as far as how much they affect a game, provided they're a true tight end. George Kittle would qualify. Rob Gronkowski would qualify. Travis Kelce would not. Travis Kelce is a joke. The only thing he does that is remotely impressive is get off the jam. He should give his salary to Andy Reid. The reason tight ends affect the game more, when they're a true tight end, is they create mismatches, and they do the kind of receiving that not a lot of receivers want to do as far as high-pointing in traffic and using power after the catch against multiple guys. They are also more important than any offensive lineman as far as the success of the running game, and in Kyle's offense, they are frequently asked to protect as well.
Offensive line: Interior offensive linemen have no significant effect whatsoever, and offensive tackles don't have as much effect as people think. Look up Dan Marino's sack numbers. Look up Tom Brady's. Look up Peyton Manning's. Look up Drew Brees's. They almost never change, despite playing with tons of different linemen throughout their careers. The football is supposed to be out in 2-3 seconds. That's not enough time for defensive players to get to the quarterback on non-blitzes. Quarterbacks control the sacks, not the offensive line. When a quarterback is sacked, it is usually the quarterback's fault. Sometimes there are coverage sacks, and some coverage sacks are smart plays by the quarterback, but in general, the ball is supposed to be out of the quarterback's hand before any non-blitzing defensive player can get there (or a defensive lineman who is cleaning up because of a protection breakdown from a blitz). Center is the least important position on a line. It's the position of undrafted free agents and guys scouts would say are fringe players. They stick around because they know the scheme and are seen as leaders of the unit. Centers and guards are supposed to work together in 3 on 2 situations in protection. Back to the quarterback - not only do quarterbacks have the responsibility of getting the ball out, but they have the responsibility of sensing the rush and climbing the pocket. Even when you have mediocre offensive tackles, as long as the interior linemen communicate well and aren't complete jokes, the quarterback should be able to step up away from the edge rush and buy plenty of time to get the ball out. As for the running game...aside from the fact that with all these 3-4 receiver sets, basically every team can get decent yards per carry averages just by virtue of the light fronts...it's all scheme. Nobody ever figured out a way to really defend the OZS, and now it's everywhere. It's slightly less effective these days now that you can't cut the backside pursuit, but the thing that you don't need is your offensive linemen to get actual drive movement in the running game. Teams invest way too much in offensive line. Every fan base goes on and on about how they want to draft nothing but offensive line, until they have a perfect offensive line that never allows a pressure and dominates in the running game. No team has ever built that, because that's not how football works.
Defensive line: Defensive tackles who can rush the quarterback are far more valuable than edges. There are always dozens of good edge players, and the differences between them are usually not worth nearly as much as teams seem to think. They'll sign Nick Bosa to a huge contract, but is he really that much better than Brian Burns? To be fair, Bosa does play the run well, which is uncommon for modern defensive linemen. The rush doesn't affect games as much as people think, either. People always claim the rush makes the coverage better, but it's more the other way around. The coverage (which is entirely scheme...don't believe me, check out the Falcons' rankings when Deion Sanders was there...and that was when teams used far fewer 3-4 receiver sets than they do now) is what allows the rush to get there. This position has some effect, but it's not a good idea to sign a defensive lineman to a big contract (and he'll get injured anyway).
Linebacker: Little. Dre Greenlaw is unusual in that he actually plays the run, but in general, modern linebackers are just glorified safeties who are only as good as the coverage scheme they are in. Fred Warner is important in that he's a leader, but he's not a great tackler, and a lot of what he does in coverage is just knowing the scheme.
Corner: Little. As nice as it is if you can assign a top corner to a top receiver, with all the 3, 4, 5 receiver sets, you are never going to have enough good corners to cover everybody effectively, especially with all the modern hacks play callers use to scheme guys open.
Safety: Little. Modern safeties really only have one job, if their defensive coordinator isn't an idiot like Nick Sorensen trying to play man coverage with Ji'Ayir Brown, who sucks at it - stay in your zone. There are a lot of dumb defensive backs, though. The quote that defines defensive backs is, "I thought you had him."
Kicker: Second most important position after quarterback. Often leads the team in scoring. Even extra points aren't automatic these days. Plus, they end up in so many clutch situations.
Punter: They're slightly important for the field position game. The thing is, you don't really want to think about punter too much because it comes across as though you're planning to not succeed as much as you should on offense.
tl;dr: Supporting cast is mostly irrelevant. You are not going to win a Super Bowl by building around any QB who is not elite.
