NFL: No matter the cost, keep your best defensive players [View all]

Even at the expense of your starting offensive skill players -- wideouts, backs, and TEs -- positions that while not necessarily always easy to replace exactly can be replaced adequately enough to field a winning team.

49ers traded DT DeForest Buckner in 2020 because they couldn't afford to keep him. He wanted literally a mint to stay, but he was young, healthy, and his presence on the line made Nick Bosa and Dee Ford even more of a pass rushing force.*

It starts in the trenches and filters down.

*Don't want to hear about injuries—i'm talking big picture.