Mike McCarthy gets a 5 year contract at 4 million a year/How Ted built the Pack

Its the NFL version of moneyball. Ted Thompson came in, and instead of retaining expensive free agents, like Ahman Green, he let them go for younger players who could step in and start ( Hawk, Barnett, Jennings, etc.). He pissed off alot of Packer fans in the process, but the proof is in the pudding.

Look for more teams to be built this way.

and Thompson did a great job as well. This is the way the Pats have been operating for a number of years, and it's worked well for them, too.

Thats why TT did not acquire Moss, Seau or Welker

Ryan Grant was coaching hs football a year ago. Got him for a 6th round draft pick

Thats why Parcells said what he said-no babysitting

Moss wanted to go to NE (more than he wanted to go to GB, anyway). NE got him for a 4th round draft pick and will pay him 2.5 million compared to his 7.5 million last year. Welker is making just over 500K (less than Driver or Koren Robinson), Seau is at 1 million. These are NOT "high priced" players by NFL standards. Admittedly, Adalius Thomas was, though. Of course, over the past few years, we've seen the Pats let Vinatieri, Ty Law, Lawyer Milloy, Deion Branch, Willie McGinist, Damien Woody, and to a lesser extent David Givens, David Patten, Ted Washington walk away (or get traded) to replace them with lower cost alternatives. The Pats haven't been doing this since the Parcells days, but they've definitely been doing it over the past 5 or 6 years.