Oh, we could have afforded it but we would have had to have done some really dumb things with older players to make it work. Things they should not be doing these days. It was worth it with prime Brees and some can kicking to keep good young players makes sense, but this thing where they extend 30 plus year-old players and then add void years that go well into their 30s has to stop now. We aren't in a Championship window now and we shouldn't act like we are.
What we need to do is get back closer to cap compliant, or well under it, so that if Rattler is the guy, or we find another QB who is the guy, we will have the money and draft picks to build a team around them. Loomis started that process 3 years ago but it has been slow and slowed greatly by the Carr contract. But it needs to be accelerated now. I'm not talking about tearing it all down, but I do think it means walking away from Jordan, Davis, Lattimore, Adebo, and Kamara. It also likely means you don't take the chance on signing Olave to a new deal due to his concussion history and you have to look at whether Mathieu's contract is worth it on this team.
I think they also need to see if there is a way to move on from Carr if Rattler turns out to be good.