Stingray3030

Hey man - money is Tepper's job to figure out. We're the fans - our job is to have all the answers...

Sadly the OLine FA pool is not great this year and the best ones are in their 30's already.

Spotrac also lets you make changes and shows you how it affects the cap - so a couple of points to help the conversations: First - Derrick Brown is still under contract, so his $11.6M is included in the $31M - an extension will not affect that unless they renegotiate this year as a part of the new deal, which is unlikely. If we restructure the 7 guys who have the option we can save an additional $20M - Moton is $6.5M of that. Cutting Ian Thomas can save us another $2.2M which I would ove to see if we can't trade him for a late rounder. If we cut or trade keep in mind it has negative impacts on the salary cap - for this year and future. We have $3.9M against us in 2024 because of Justin Houston....a guy we just released so he could go somewhere else and we got penalized. CMC cost us huge last year even though we traded him. So we have to be careful with the cap on cuts and trades. For me I would love to see us work on trades for Marshall, Sanders, Thomas, Burns, Jackson Biggest resignees we have are Burns, Luvu, Franklin, Henderson, Grugier-Hill, Gross-Matos, Smith-Marsette, Shenault

Our cap next year sits at $30M - if we restructure some deals we can get to $50M. We also need to deal with some free agents like Luvu, Burns, Franklin...but we should have some decent cash to spend. The one bright side of having no 1st round pick is the contract savings too.

Zero chance of this happening but I like it

I would absolutely consider moving Ikey and/or Bozeman to Guard. Ikey was fine blocking inside and got absolutely destroyed on the edge in pass defense.

Agreed - but will Tepper listen to anyone regardless? Seems like he won't

I agree completely - but removing them all, hiring all new, and still failing shows the problem is HIM. And often that is why "B" players do this....cause they want to be able to blame someone else and aren't capable of making the right decisions that aren't selfish.

He looked very slow - don't think he is fully healthy yet

At the time of the drafts and our free agent deals I was onboard with most everything we have done with Fitt - didn't like losing CMC and DJ but I understood and thought we got a fair deal. But seeing the results and complete failure of so many free agents we picked up, and our high percentage of misses in the draft Fitterer has to be accountable. We are almost as bad at drafting as the Hornets. At some point we have to draft actual Pro Bowl talent....like anywhere....

For sure - even just recently people are like "but Burrow....but Herbert....but Hurts...Tua...Trevor". Burrow had Higgins, Mixon, and Boyd...then got Chase. Hurts was not good rookie year then got Devonta, AJ Brown, Goedert. Herbert had Keenan Allen, Mike Williams, and Ekeler. They all had Pro Bowl help or were given it soon after they got there. Bryce doesn't have a single Pro Bowler on this offense - or even a significant starter to depend on. When your best option is old, slow Thielen.....

With you completely - although I do give alot of credit to Trevor also - being a Clemson guy I watched every college game of his and he was the best college QB I ever saw. His final year at Clemson he had no one to throw to and still put up crazy stats. But I just think most of the people here like creating drama and crying cause they think they knew better before the draft.

Even worse look at Peyton Manning rookie year

I agree - I don't think the average poster/fan understands just how bad our O-line truly is - or how much it affects our team and specifically a QB like Bryce. This line has been one of the worst NFL lines I have ever seen. We have had 2 guards starting almost every game who are 3rd string or worse caliber, our LT has been absolutely horrible, even Bozeman has been bad this year, and Moton is just surviving. This is a rookie QB who is getting rushed from every direction on 80% of his snaps...the WR's lack of separation and their lack of agility on contested throws hurts too, but the man has no choice but to try and force those throws. You could put Allen, Mahomes, Brady, Stroud, whoever behind this line and you wouldn't see a top 10 QB....better in most cases for sure but they would still be bottom 3rd in the league and we would be losing games. Bryce might never be great but you absolutely cannot tell when he has a 2nd or 3rd string caliber player at literally every position around him - not to mention predictable play calling.

I'm not disagreeing with anything you wrote - I have a legitimate question. If this was so obvious on his tape, then why did nearly everyone....coaches, analysts, GM's, teammates, opponents have this guy ranked as the #1? Again not at all disagreeing....I honestly haven't reviewed the stuff you posted....I just don't understand why such a high percentage of the "experts" say Bryce was the clear #1 if they are wrong.....I don't care what all these "fans" who say they knew better thought, they could all be FOS. I am honestly confused how so many would be wrong....the future of our franchise depends on us being right much more often - clearly Fitt is not the guy but I don't wanna get my hopes so high again. I understand you are saying stats and analytics - but these guys KNOW good NFL QB's also.

Maybe so...but Tepper clearly is a stereotypical, tyrannical business owner. His dealings with the HQ in Rock Hill, his impatient firings, and his comments all reflect bad leadership on his part.

I'm sure he hates to lose - mainly because of money, but probably wants to win as well. I suspect a lot of his anger is more because Frank and the team weren't doing what he wants/told them to. But anyone who fires a direct employee after nearly a year and can't even say his name correctly is a bad person. Ultimate disrespect.

And just like that.....we are still screwed....

Honestly the only guys who aren't overpaid these days are draft picks - but we are the worst drafting team of all time!

Very true - but still someone we should target IMO. He is a contested catch machine!

Higgins, Pittman, or Evans - the rest are not gonna move the needle enough without help...which we don't have. Y'all are really overlooking Pittman....he is my 2nd choice of these guys given Evans' age. Underrated cause he is in Indy with no QB....yet still putting up 1000yds. He is a true #1.

Y'all are hilarious "be a man and do what you want instead of what your boss says". Like any of you do that at your jobs? And I guarantee if you did you got fired - it doesn't help anyone else around you that also gets beat down by the horrible boss after either. Maybe, just maybe, Reich is a GOOD person who is trying to help his staff and players develop - and shield them from the horrible ownership issues that will ruin them. Maybe his purpose is helping all of these guys instead of caring about only himself - and the best option for him to help everyone else is to stay, say "yes sir", and do the best he can to protect them? If you have ever been in that situation as the one in charge you might understand....there is more than just Reich's future involved in the decisions he makes...we all want a boss that actually cares, you ever think this is what that looks like? Take off the hateful glasses for a minute and think about it....I don't know for sure but I have seen this exact scenario numerous times in my career. Might be some truth here.

I am not going to put much of any blame on the QB when his O-line is on the ground nearly every play....not just getting beat but ON THE GROUND. Ikey and Bozeman are having horrible seasons getting beat on every stunt....the guards aren't much better nor is Moton....

I get "The D" for pointing out that our entire line is bad? Good grief you people will piss on literally anything these days huh?