Let me clarify. We can't go all in like the Bucs did with Brady and Gronk if we don't build a war chest first by not going all-in when we don't have a war chest of carried over cap and don't have an elite QB. You have to save to spend. Living paycheck to paycheck and maxxing the credit cards that were already maxxed before making the minimum payment doesn't work. Every dime you could but don't borrow/spend now is a dime you can borrow/spend later, and by waiting until later you can build up a war chest to spend it all at once and overwhelm the competition. This is a league where 4-13 one year and 13-4 the next year is a better outcome than 8-9 one year and 9-8 the next year, so spending money unevenly makes more sense unless you have a Patrick Mahomes who can make you 13-4 every year.

I don't expect Patrick Mahomes will become available as a free agent or via a reasonable trade offer any time soon, unless he becomes so banged up we should not want him or that he would be very risky to acquire.

Going all-in does not necessarily mean going all-in on the QB position. Hypothetically, a team could win with a Carr-like QB I guess, by going all in on extreme surrounding talent. Lets say Kool Aid developed into Deion Sanders, Chase Young resumed his early career track and developed into the next Reggie White, Demario Davis showed no signs of aging, and Fuaga made the pro bowl, and the Saints went 12-5 but could not beat the 49ers or Lions quite yet. At that point you could go all-in to win now by signing or trading for pro bowl caliber players at RT, WR, TE etc. Like the spending sprees that, got the Bucs and Rams their rings. But to go on a spending spree like that, you need the cash, so it helps if you are not already starting $90 million over the cap and can barely get under and sign one name player.

Its all about timing, but if you max out like every year is your time, then when it really is your time, you can't do anything extra that offseason. It will be a shame if the Saints do get within reach of a ring but can't make the extra push for the players they need because too much cash was wasted in deferred compensation to aging players and trying to 'win now' every previous year when it wasn't in reach. You have to save to really be able to spend. And if you don't have a QB like Mahomes, you probably need to be able to really spend when it counts to win.

I never mentioned the Cowboys. If anything the Cowboys are an example of the failure of trying to 'reload not rebuild' and have modeled the always competitive and never on top results you define as success.

As for the 49ers, it makes no sense for you to call 3 Super Bowl appearances, all close games, an abject failure, but at the same time argue that by poaching their 1 year passing games coordinator offensive assistant, we are guaranteed a perfect record because they are so great.