Stingray3030

This guy is not as much of a project as you all are reading into it - he is a 3-yr starter for Penn State in a tough conference. He has 10 sacks in 12 games and 20TFL this year. I believe the comment is more that he has only begun to tap into his potential because he is converting to EDGE from LB this year - he is already an effective pass rusher from the stand up, just adding to it in a 3-pt edge stance. In our scheme this position is exactly what he is doing now at a very high level. Just an opinion but his numbers don't look like a project - more a solid start with a fast learning curve, crazy upside potential. Worst case scenario he is our best OLB instead of best EDGE. He is my #1 choice at the moment in case that wasn't obvious lol

This one is crazy - I mean the guy has nobody on the field outside of Jaycee Horn for most of the season. Revolving door at LB. Basically teams could double Clowney, run away from Jewell, and throw away from Horn since he only plays 1 side. But you see how different it became when Wonnum and Fuller came back? Those doubles went away from Clowney, big increase in QB pressure, Jewell isn't getting caught up by the line as much since they have to worry about Wonnum now. And the secondary got more solid and has an easier job since passes are coming out quicker. Imagine what this team will be when DB is back and we have legitimate starting LB's other than Jewell? Evero is fine IMO - you can't ignore the injuries in this instance.

Sorry but that is a funny comment "peak Curtis Samuel over Adam Thielen". Peak Samuel in his mid 20's can't even put up Thielen numbers at 33 years old! You can try and blame his organization and QB but he has Josh Allen this year and has disappeared. They don't even have a clear #1 - he is in his best situation yet and is doing nothing.

That was my point originally - you are replying to my response where a guy said they got better through FAgency. And it wasn't just the 2023 draft - they also built through the 2022 draft with a solid draft (Stingley, Pitre, Harris).

Thielen still has 1 more year on his contract. Palmer would be good for the #3 after that I guess. We probably should look more than 1 year out

The Texans were no better with Diggs than last year - 95% of their success has been the draft. Diggs is their 2nd WR. And the Eagles were a playoff team before they got AJ Brown. They drafted Hurts, Devonta Smith, Goedert, Miles Sanders, the entire defense. It is wild to claim a single WR FA changed a team that much.

I would even go as far as to say most of your better teams let some of their drafted stars walk in FA or be traded at times because they draft so well.

The vast majority of the stars on those teams were all drafted - including every one of the QB's. They were all deep running playoff teams who picked up extra pieces, not bottom of the league rebuilders.

We already have a #3 though....would you want Palmer over Coker/Thielen? I honestly like our top 3 at the moment. If we don't go get a true #1 I would rather leave it as is.

Coker is an ERFA - we have rights but we still have to sign him to a new contract. He was a UDFA so he was on a 1-yr deal. He belongs on the list. As for the team priorities, WR is down the list behind most of our defensive needs. You have XL, Coker, and Thielen - there are certainly upgrades to be had, but WR is not as big a need as EDGE, DL, LB, CB, or Safety at the moment considering contracts and talent. I am all for one of the top 3 WR's if they are Brian Thomas level or better, but not at the sacrifice of most of those defensive needs.

No I mean our 2nd first round pick - if you read the rest of the response I said we could end up with 2 first round picks.

I would love to see our 2nd pick in the 1st RD be a WR like those 2 guys - first pick has to be DL, EDGE, or CB for me. I prefer Abdul Carter. If we end up with a top 3 pick we could work a few trades and end up with 2 firsts.

I love Tee and would love to have him here, but not sure we wanna pay him $20-23M a year given our situation - or if he wants more. Godwin at a discount I would. No other FA WR moves the needle in my opinion and just ties up more money that we need elsewhere. We have quite a few decisions to make for our own FA's: Xavier Woods, Andy Dalton, Brady Christensen, Tommy Tremble, Jordan Fuller, Johnny Hekker, Eddy Piniero, JJ Jansen, Sam Franklin, David Moore, Michael Jackson, Raheem Blackshear, Jalen Coker, Cade Mays, DeShawn Williams Plus guys expiring in 2026 that we may wanna resign now which may or may not impact our cap: DJ Wonnum, Jaycee Horn, Taylor Moton Plus guys we should be cutting and taking a hit: Miles Sanders, others?

Bottom 5 teams still have Pro Bowl players to match up against. You absolutely still see progress. You really need to disappear and drop this. Doubling down is insane.

This is such a stupid take - why does this even still have a thread? How are you supposed to get better as a team? As a franchise? Deliberately lose games but run the plays in a way so you still look like you COULD have done it at a high level if you wanted to? THEN when you have 3-4 years worth of 2-win seasons and secretly successful drafts that look like complete failures with guys missing Pro Bowls, bonuses, endorsements - your franchise losing millions of dollars in revenue due to sucking, you suddenly FLIP ON THE WINNING SWITCH and give everyone a James Doakes moment? You cannot see progress if you play to fail - period. You cannot build a culture by losing - period. You cannot keep your job by losing - period. You cannot attract talent by losing - period. Are we done here yet?

Brooks is likely to be very limited the rest of the year. I don't think we will see enough from him to judge his long term value. Plus we still need a 2nd RB regardless - the 2025 FA class is gonna be slim pickins compared to last year.

I think you also have to take into account that we have no clue about Brooks yet, so 4-yrs covers us if he is a bust without giving us an issue in 2 years to fix. Plus that will mean he will need a new deal again as soon as Brooks needs one, so if Brooks is a stud you don't have a lingering expensive contract for Chuba. All around seems sensible to me

Chuba was still on a rookie deal so he was only making a little over $1M a year

Y'all need some perspective - the man signed an $8.3M a year deal. That makes him the 9th highest paid RB in the league. Is he not the 9th best RB in the league who isn't on a rookie deal? By all means please give me the list of who is paid less that is better and NOT on a rookie deal? I'll give you Derrick Henry and Aaron Jones (who will be higher this offseason and is only lower due to injury history). In 2 years Chuba will be the 15th highest paid. Plus 15th is only $1.5M less. What exactly do you think we are gonna do to change this roster significantly with $1.5M a year? That only buys us like 2 games from an Offensive Lineman... This is a solid contract for a 25-yr old RB doing what he is doing. And for those saying "why did we draft a RB in the 2nd round and do this?" We are building the next 4-6 years - not making a 1-yr run to the SB. Short-sighted leadership is what got us into this situation. This guarantees us a solid starting RB for the next 4 years in this system at a mid-range price. With literally 15-20 upgrades needed to be competitive we have 1 less to worry about overpaying for at an significant amount.

Very much what I read - no one wanted him bad enough to pay much. They didn't see him as much of an impact.

Report I read said the deal we got was easily the best offer available because teams knew he wanted out and had no intention to resign. We had 0 leverage for a guy looking for a contract at 28/29 as a #2 WR. Mingo might not ever be good but younger, cheaper, no attitude issues, no contract. Makes sense

It makes perfect sense - we would draft him #1 overall. He is not worth the #1 overall pick. Therefore we would be overpaying. Pretty clear.

Funny how you answered your own question.

Sadly I think we might overpay for it though - like we usually do.

Shaq has been a good leader but not an amazing LB - this has been a significant weakness since Luke and TD left other than Luvu. That is why we have been one of the worst teams vs the run the last 3-4 years. But edge is currently a bigger need IMO. Both are a huge concern.