It's funny. The storyline from the media especially the local media was comparing the Pats to the Broncos and how the Broncos knew their window with Manning is very short and were "all in" and loaded up for a Super Bowl run while the Pats blew it because they sacrificed maximizing Brady's this time this year for the future. Now that the Pats are clearly better than the Broncos and seem to be THE FAVORITE to represent the AFC in the Super Bowl over Denver, we don't hear anything.
Granted, they may prove otherwise in the playoffs, but I think this shows that the "all in" strategy is a stupid strategy. The Broncos are slightly better on defense, but they are significantly worse on offense. But this could be that Manning's window shut last year and he has reached the point where his physical limitations are going to hold him and the team back.
I think the "all in" strategy doesn't work in the modern NFL. Too many risks of free agents not performing as well as their financial commitment and it is about team and not individual players. People will point to the Seahawks of last year, but they are really not "all in" but just was lucky enough (or good enough drafters) t0 have almost all their elite players playing on their rookie deals giving them room to sign a lot of free agents. And they also benefitted from the fact that most of the free agents last year didn't get big deals.