Saintman2884 said

In an era of limited pre-1993, "Plan B" NFL free agency, where NFL teams and GM's controlled a lot more of the cards, negotiating standards, before a general salary cap was agreed to, no, its not so uncommon that even a good, NFL starting QB had a year-long holdout because Finks and Mora thought Hebert was relatively replacable. Despite his USFL success, and some decent success as Saints QB from 1985-89, was Hebert really what you'd describe back then as a Pro-Bowler, a game-breaking type of guy like Montana, Elway, Warren Moon, or Jim Kelly? No, not even close. Going into the 1990 season, Finks and Mora believed they could play "hardball" by ignoring Hebert's demands, bring in another QB to compete and this guy (Walsh) wasnt an NFL-capable QB and he failed miserably?

Finks and to a certain extent, Mora didn't understand or know how to deal with the upcoming monster named unrestricted free agency because a lot of their power and control and dominance would be reduced and Finks' playing hard-ball was one of the few bad decisions he ever made as Saints GM, but if you more closely examine Finks history of dealing and negotiating with Pro-Bowl QB's in Minnesota, in Chicago he was just as happy with a modest, mediocre QB then a Pro-Bowler? In 1979 preseason as Bears GM, he turned down an offer to trade for Oakland Raiders QB Ken Stabler, a 4-time Pro-Bowl SB-winner, by saying "we're happy with what we have" I mean, WTF?

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Saintman2884 said

If Hebert had been a 2-3x Pro-Bowler, he might've gotten his demands but while he certainly had his moments and while he was perhaps was the best QB for Mora's overly-conservative offense, compared to Randall Cunningham, Montana, Simms, or even Jim Everett, Hebert was seen as a very good, "game-managing", Trent Dilfer-like QB. Decent, maybe good at his very best, but not great.

Plus, if you examine Finks past with other NFL teams as GM, he didnt view QB as an absolute " centerpiece " necessary to guide a potential perennial playoff team. The only HOF QB he had was Fran Tarkenton and he didnt select or draft him, Grant wanted to trade for him in early 1972, and Finks went along with it. He refused a 1979 pre-season trade offer for Kenny Stabler, he refused to draft Joe Montana in the 1979 Draft even though his scouts, Bears HC and his assistants and a few Bears players, like Walter Payton, were pleading for him to do it.

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