[Vedder]

I am guessing Murray heard a very similar sell job on the last rebuild. Short term pain for the long term and consistent gain, etc. That one didn’t result in any sustained playoff success so I imagine the cost / benefit was massively oversold, creating skepticism to do it consciously again.

Numbers last year in a “competitive” season were maybe enticing enough compared to what’s projected during the lean rebuild years.

Or maybe they view the risk of a Buffalo situation as high enough that they can’t rationalize it (likely existential risk for a franchise to replicate that).

I don’t agree with any of that. Just trying to steel man a justification for the argument DM is trying to make. I doubt he feels that passionately about any of it, just happy to pad his retirement fund while being the yes man to Murray.