Yeah, I hope they can hang onto Hawk. Up till this year, he seemed like not a very good fit for this defense, but then everything just clicked when Chillar got hurt and they stopped platooning him. Maybe he is a "rhythm" player who benefits from being on the field every snap.

You mentioned Pickett being overpaid. I looked it up, and he got $10 million this past season. I hadn't realized it was that much. The entire contract was four years and $28 million. I still think it's different from the Hawk deal because it was front loaded, but it does support your argument that $10 million would not be unprecedented for a player of Hawk's caliber--i.e., very good but not a star.

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The Pickett contract bothered me, cause he doesn't play on pass downs. $7 million a year average for a two down player, plus his food bill during working hours. 🙂 I guess it's the nature of the beast.

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Uncle Ted also ponied up a pile of dough to hang onto Chad Clifton, in spite of his age and injuries. You can't argue with the results. Clifton was a key cog, especially in the Super Bowl, where he and Bulaga neutralized Harrison and Woodley well enough to allow the passing game to click.

In a lot of ways, Ted is really not doing anything too different from other GMs. He just signs his own players, rather than players from other teams, which gives the illusion that he's just sitting there doing nothing.

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