The more I think about it the more I am interested in the idea of trading for Vince Dunn prior to the expansion draft. FLA 2022 2nd for Dunn, and Dunn all of a sudden becomes Seattle's most likely target. Assuming Seattle does take Dunn we are left with 1 year of Gio, and even though he regressed this past year he only has 1 year left and our depth without him is abysmal.
This way we get to keep our top-4 intact, get an extra year of Gio and can almost certainly recoup the value (2022 2nd, if not 1st) at next years deadline with some retention by flipping him. This will help insulate Valimaki, and this way we won't have to overpay a meh 3/4 LD with a longer term in FA while Valimaki and some of our other LD prospects (hopefully) develop. Plus if Gio bounces back a bit and with a more sheltered role he could easily net a 1st, in which case we upgrade from a 2nd to a 1st and get one extra year of Gio in the process. It's definitely a risk, because what if Gio falls off a cliff or gets hurt, but imo he could easily net a 1st with some retention and I still think 1 year of Gio is better than spending a lot on a Ryan Murray or Mike Reilly type with lots of term. What do people think?
Or, on the off-chance they take Gio, we have our #3/4 LD replacement in Dunn who is young and has tons of room for growth, and provides the offence we desperately need from the back end at a reasonable price.