Fair points there, although I do understand downgrading, just didn't elaborate on which benefits I would continue using. For example, downgrading Sapphire Preferred to Sapphire still gives me 2 points/dollar on dining, which is a large spend category for us. Downgrading Ink Plus to Ink Cash would still allow me to get 5 points/dollar on my utilities and office supply store purchases, just with a lower max spend per year. If at some point in the future I want to apply for a new Chase card and I have too many open, I can always cancel them at that point.

I guess most people who "churn" credit cards don't tend to worry about whether they have a "premium" card available to transfer points at any given time, since they typically always do. I wasn't planning on keeping cards and paying the annual fees though unless it truly makes sense for me to do that, hence my solicitation of advice on the particular cards my wife and I currently have open.