Having some F-22’s if we need them are nice but for normal over the sandpit-istan battles why risk something so expensive?
Having a core of advanced fighters is good but lets have a bunch of cheaper but very capable fighters around for regular missions.
But we do have a bunch of cheaper but very capable fighters available, and will have for the next 20+ years. We are not getting rid of all of our F-15Cs, F-15Es or F-16s, and we are upgrading many of them with AESA radars.