Those critical of Ted’s and Ron Wolf’s way of team building seem to have pretty much succumbed to the idea that signing the big time free agents for stupefying amounts is just dumb. Now they have adopted a “more reasonable” approach by arguing that Ted should sign more moderately priced FAs. But, the same factors that turn a superstar into an above average to bad player when switching teams, are the exact same factors that turn the middling FA from an above average player to just a guy, when he switches teams.

Z2C correctly harps on the idea that FA are players that the original team doesn’t want for the $$. Denver may have been willing to pay Malik Jackson 15M/per, but just couldn’t. But, ya know they had enough money to keep Treavathen for $6M/per and decided otherwise. San Diego had more than enough $$ to keep Lad Green and said forget it...WE DON’T WANT HIM [AT THAT PRICE].

We need a NT and OLBs and would love to have Hayward back [One can never have enough CBs] and we got the money to get Hayward, Raji, Perry and Neal back. Any team that signs these guys will be signing them for more than GB, who knows them best, thinks they are worth. Every team has the ability to sign their middling FAs, even if it takes restructuring. Any middling FA GB signs from another team will be a guy that that team didn’t want at that price and they know that guy best.

Even to sign a middling FA, Ted must over pay and then hope his game and personal life translates. It’s like starting an at-bat with 2 strikes. And the reality is that even if a middling FA like Lad Green or Owen Daniels fully adapt their personal life and game to GB [unlikely], they’re just not going to be that much better than Perillo, Backman and Henry, who already have a year or 2 in the system and have a settled personal life. We’re better off to use the $$ on a more sure thing like extending Baktieri, Sitton or Lang instead of paying and then praying for a pig in a poke.

A free agent of any level should only be signed when the stars align and the stars don’t align for anymore than 2-3 guys per year, then some don’t want to leave their team [see Tahir Whitehead]; some don’t want to come to GB; and some get offered stupid amounts of $$ to go elsewhere.

So you deny that any part of New England's success is due to those middle-tier free agents he seems to find willing to go to balmy New England more often than Ted gets them to go to GB?.

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While your points are sometimes true, it is not always the case. When we parted ways with Cullen Jenkins it wasn't because he wasn't worth the money he ended up getting.

A starting ILB that would play 90% of the snaps and improve the position and team, would not be overpaying at 6/per over 4 years even if his last team had the money to be able to sign him and let him go. What matters is what is the going rate for the amount of talent at the given position.

A team cannot be built solely on draft and develop. the numbers just don't add up. The best draft Wolf ever had was 2000 producing Clifton, Tauscher, Bubba and KGB. If that production from the draft could be reproduced every single year it would still take almost 6 years to fill a team with quality starters. and that is assuming that there is no duplication in position and that every one of them are able to be resigned when their rookie deals expire. We are no longer improving the team through the draft, we are only maintaining. If we want to make the team better we have to step outside of draft and develop some.

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I dont see much difference in the way Belicheck and Ted do business [Ted would have NEVER rented Revis for 1 year and for 1/5th of the cap]. Belicheck got Blount, would he have done that if he had Lacy and Starks? Would he have signed Browner and Revis if he developed Shields and Tramon and drafted Hayward? He signed Branch and Hicks only because his drafting didn't provide enough DL quality due to Wilfork getting old and Jones' injuries .

2 years ago to plug holes GB signed Q, Starks and Neal to 2 year contracts; that is exactly what Belicheck does, except he doesn't have as much loyalty to his own guys.

Just like Belicheck when D&D didn't provide enough resources: When Ted needed a RB he traded for Grant; When Burnett went down, Ted signed Peprah; EDS was not very good so he signed Saturday; Howard Green came free and Ted added him for depth; Pick and Jolly got cut, Worthy and Dante Jones got hurt and Raji was under performing so he signed Guion; OLB is a critical position in 3-4 and Perry, recently converted Neal and CM3 all had their share of injury problems so Peppers was signed. If Neal, CM3 and Perry are all-pro playing 16 games/yr, Ted dont sign Peppers.

All I'm saying is that FAs typically do not play as well as they did with their old teams and there is a thousand reasons for this ranging from personal life factors, like being away form your family or pissing them off by moving them to GB, or meshing in locker room; to having to refit their game into a new scheme with a different supporting cast. On on top this; most of the time the old team didn't want that FA or he wouldn't be a FA. The Bears didn't want to get rid of Peppers; they owed him 38M for 2 years and cut him to save 30M; but Peppers wanted to play OLB in 3-4 plus he's a Reggie-like stud of a man. This is a situation with a higher likelihood of success and that is when Ted takes his chances.