This is the breakdown in your logic. I've been somewhat undecided in rating Ferguson, and in that respect, this is very much a make or break season for him. He was a little bit patchy before Faneca showed up, and now, without a vet alongside him, he has to prove that he can be part of the foundation of the line. That said, the idea that he's the most easily replaceable of all our impending big dollar free agents is completely backwards. Heck, half the other positions are positions where we already field two players. Revis is a top notch talent, but we've got Cromartie. Harris is one of the best in the biz at what he does, but so is Bart Scott. Not only have we got nobody else who could be counted on to fill Ferguson's space, it's typically one of the hardest spaces on the depth chart to fill. There are positions where we have a surplus of talent, but left tackle isn't one of them. I think they took Ducasse because he's a tremendous talent, who could wind up being useful in any number of ways. If he doesn't beat out Slauson this year for Faneca's old spot, he's waiting in the wings to take a crack at replacing Moore, Woody, or yes, even Ferguson if he doesn't get resigned. But I think guard is what he was mainly drafted to address, and guard is what he'll likely end up playing, at first anyway. Teams with no left tackle can struggle for years on end if they don't address it, so unless Ferguson goes out and shits the bed without Faneca backing him up, I tend to think he's number two, after Revis, in line for a new deal. I'm also not convinced that we won't end up keeping most of these players. Cromartie is, I think, maybe the least likely to stick if he demands big dollars, since we just added Wilson. But I don't think things are as dour as some are playing them up to be, in fact I think we're in the enviable position of, at most, being able to lock up a number of the leagues elite players, and at worst, being able to choose which elite players we can't keep.
I am a huge VLAD fan. Watched him kill people in college. Thought we'd get him and was psyched when we did. But he is not an NFL LT. If I can see that - the Jets CS can certainly see that. In contrast - Brick is just starting to be a very good LT. Brick was drafted to get progressively better (as he has) and then dominate for 10 YRS. Brick is the man here for the forseeable future. VLAD is here to get very strong and develop his skills and hopefully slot in next to Mangold and Brick and help the OL become more dominant than they were last season. Brick & Revis are the two top priorities for resigning.
IMO Revis, Ferguson and Mangold HAVE to be signed. I think Harris could be replaceable, at least more easily than the first three I mentioned. Also, if Jenkins unfortunately has another injury this year, I don't see him playing another season or the FO keeping him around another year. Basically, except for Revis, I think it is better to keep our offensive guys because Rex can do a lot with any front 7 as long as he's got the secondary to hold them.
What is conventional or wise about the idea of cutting our blue chip LT loose and keeping an over-the-hill, overweight and injury-prone RT like Woody? If Ducasse was brought in to replace any position player, it would be at RT or LG.
Harris is a tacking machine and a overall great athlete. At 26 he's only going to get better at LB especially with Bart Scott helping him along. David Harris stays-
They all stay. If we let any of them go, we basically drill a hole in our draft success we have had recently, starting from the D'brick pick till the John Conner pick and hopefully onwards. Brick, Mangold, Harris and Revis are the four corner stones of this team. They are extremely talented, and very young. The least talented in that group would be Harris and that says a lot. Where as Harris hasn't made the pro bowl yet, he will definitely make it sooner than later. We have to lock these 4 guys up for another 4-6 years at least.
