Bear Hands

Michael Pratt accepted his Senior Bowl invite so he should be good to declare. He's the one that I've been enjoying watching. Even when he's had down games, he makes up in big moments. Was somewhat banged up this year but LOVED that team with him, Spears, and Dorian Williams last season. Especially that epic bowl game beating USC.

Ignoring the Bryce sidebars... It's Mingo vs. the rest of the class for me. Bigger issue is that we clearly were in need of a different type of receiver and there were more than a few that fit the bill in the draft. We need someone with good route running skills, enough speed, to get open early and a guy you can slide outside and the slot. Ideally, someone who had been high enough volume/experienced enough in school to translate more effectively. It's not just Dell. Reed, Downs, Rice, Mims, Wilson, Douglas, Palmer.. there were good options. Something I've stayed fixed on (bc my second round faves are looking good)--there were some legit non-WRs that just seemed like such more sure things. Tuli & JuJu Brents come to mind. Merp.

Yup, can't forget, these dudes don't lose touch the second they're with a new team. The friendships and connections are all still there. Even in this day and age where so many coaching trees have fused and intertwined over the years -- I doubt we're going to be getting a swell of coaches from the whole Pederson umbrella that Reich came from or others in Dan Campbell's offshoot orbit. I hope we do right by Thomas Brown and maybe the McVay/Shanahan crew still seems like a viable crowd. Slowick, Waldron, Phillips, Frank Smith, etc. I do think there's somewhat of a mini audition for Thomas Brown right now to show the league if he can make this a bit more tenable. He's a type that you could use to help get better word out there, and he could help landing a guy from the tree I think makes a lot of sense for Bryce.

It’s not a terrible idea

He doesn't call plays. Frank Smith is a growing myth around these parts. He has had kind of a meandering career until McDaniel poached him. Very young into his OC career and isn't even a full-on OC.

Unsure...but our area scouts are finalizing senior reviews this week. So, the lovely staff that's been in tact for Fitt for the last few years is getting ready for some deep dives with him and Morgan this next month on prospects. Makes me nervous lol.

The current culture: "I'm going to work, doing my job, staying professional, what happens happens" Very uninspired. Professional, nice, clean, but uninspired and doesn't seem like they're really playing for anyone. They seem numb to losing. The younger guys only know losing, the older guys that came from better teams seem like their eyes are elsewhere. Like Cam said, it's evident there's no silent leaders. And there's no Cam-style leaders either. This team needs a kick in the nuts.

I’ve been following a lot of the guys in this next class bc some were on the fence last year about declaring. Been a fan of a handful—Penix, Jayden Daniels, Cameron Ward, and Michael Pratt to name a few. Will be interesting to see where they end up, but I doubt we land one. Although maybe a 4th-5th type project that could be a backup. That could be a Pratt/Ward type.

I am not sold on the impatient narrative. He's been hiring the wrong guys and then rightfully firing them. So we're on a roller coaster of crazy. He didn't get rid of Ron and Hurney together, or soon enough. He's not hiring the right people -- I.E. No Exec-GM, missing on Rhule, Reich, and it's looking like Fitterer as well The Rock Hill disaster left a regional mark, more than football He has also been way too hands-on & aggressive trying to find a QB. This is putting pressure on the team every season to get it perfect at that position and it's creating crazy volatility. Now, you've got a fanbase splintered on a #1 overall pick that crazy underperforming (yes, I know, the team is bad overall as well) I don't care about soccer coaches or the timing of the firings. Hire the right guys and you won't have to do that. Tepper doesn't appear to have a good shmuck/BS detector. Combine that with not having an true guru to really run the operation Ozzie/Howie style, and you get the mayhem we've endured. He wants a lacky lap-dog like Fitt to fulfill his wishes. He doesn't want to be idle and let someone run the ship while he's chilling. He wants to be part of the build and it's a problem. He can't just be a Lurie.

Never forget -- for all the trades he did make, the one he didn't... Fitt admitted to fielding offers for pick 8 in 2021, but they refused because they wanted Jaycee Horn that bad over the others available. My guess that was at least CHI and NE just a few spots down calling to move up for Fields. That "other" batch we would have had to choose from included: Slater, Parsons, Surtain, Devonta Smith, & Darrisaw And the trades he does make... The assets we traded Sam Darnold for became: RB Breece Hall (they used their new 2nd to trade up for him), Max Mitchell, & OT Trey Smith We used CMC's return to package for both Bryce and DJ Johnson It just makes me sad haha

It's not shear size. Having lived in Denver, Southern Cal, DC/Nova, & Chicago, it's a multitude of factors. Sprawl classification has many facets.

Not really about the thread but sure to the Saints point. You're selling me on changes to the OL and what could be successful. But that's reliant on making changes under a new staff, and hoping they progress once things are adjusted. I'm not banking on that and that's not what this is about. Poor roster construction, poor scheme pairing. Doesn't change the point of having alignment between a front office and coaching staff. There's nothing to suggest any modicum of comfort moving forward. If you're needing to sell potential improvement on both scheme and positional changes..(& needing better guard depth) then they clearly had some misalignment staff-wise. Product shows that at 1-10 clear as day.

I want to see progress, and with that, you'd like to see some wins. And even with some wins, we're too much in a hole to get deeper than maybe pick 4 at best. Heck, 4-13 could still net us pick 1. There's realistically only one team out of conference in play for #1 being NE. AZ is the other in the NFC, but they play Chicago Christmas week and have a strange Steelers team next weekend. Bears also have some winnable games ahead. WAS and/or NYG losing out is possible with their schedules for 4-13, but even that said, I have a hard time seeing AZ, us or NE getting 2+ wins. I could see it shake out where NE has #1.

Was Bozeman a 6-game stretch aberration? He's been awful regardless of assignment this year. Same goes for Icky. Is he really going to be better at OG simply because scouting reports suggested such? Why are we confident he suddenly becomes a great OG? Corbett is injured again and may be long term issues with his leg. Moton is still good. So I'll give you that, but he won't be here by the time we build something. Have no faith or comfort in their ability moving forward.

After today's presser, it's hard to tell what will happen with Fitterer.

I can see some different things being done now that Brown has a bit more liberty to do what he sees fit. However, I wouldn't expect much given the personnel we have. Unless we can magically get a shifty slot weapon and a pass catching RB, we just have no one that can create quickly and stretch the field in any direction. There's just no weaponry. I could maybe see an uptick in Blackshear and Shenault snaps to help in this regard, but we just don't have the team built for a McVay-esque offense. But Brown has a chance to figure something out, so I'm at least excited a tad. Just a smidge.

That's what I'm afraid of and hope he realizes sooner than later. Whether he likes Scott or not, he needs to reset this so that the GM/Coach pairing actually makes sense. Fitterer has this ever-changing role going on since Rhule, but as his role has expanded, we keep getting worse. And whether it's his decisions or not, he's the GM, and the roster top-down is the worst in the league. It's just unacceptable.

Opinions on Fitterer aside, this cannot happen again. This is the Tepper-era's GM/Coaching Pattern (not counting Interims): Hurney/Rivera -> Hurney/Rhule -> Fitterer/Rhule -> Fitterer/Reich -> ? You start with an established GM/Coach combo (that we should've cleaned out) that had a set structure. Then, move to a coaching car-sales czar that controlled all w/Hurney as a lackey. Then you shift to hire a GM to pair with the coaching czar, then as things are slipping, the GM is given more power to build. Onto a GM & AGM collaborating with the HC in a more evened out role. IT'S AN ABSOLUTE MESS organizationally. And then you factor in an assessment of the roster this actually resulted in: The player personnel is the worst in the league, bar none. It's the absolute worst. There is legitimately no one on offense, line or skill position to feel even a modicum of comfort with moving forward. We've got Derrick Brown and (maybe) Brian Burns to build around on defense. Frankie Luvu is set to be a FA but is our notable fan fave and has played great. And this all comes back to management. Whether coaching influenced certain FA or draft selections, at the end of the day, you need a GM and scouting department that maintains course, and can stand their ground with the team's vision. A staff that understands what the team needs over who a coach's favorite is. I heard far too much this offseason about Reich for example really loving Chark, or Evero loving DJJ, or Campen wanting Zavala. So with this pushover GM situation, how on earth do you move forward with that and finding a coach to pair him with? You simply don't, you hard reset this. If there's any lesson learned by Tepper that can start a course correct, it is that you need to wipe the slate clean. EVERYONE is starting to recognize this--national & local media and diehard fans alike. Whether any particular move was pushed by a coach, Tepper himself or Scott, at the end of the day, you need a GM who can push back to show how to exercise patience. You need a guy that can have the healthy argument and own it-- "Hey, I know you like him but we have glaring holes at our offensive skill positions, we can't give up more picks". And bottom line/TLDR -- It needs to be a pairing, with established roles. I honestly don't care if Tepper gets someone or not to run the search for him and come on in a president/exec role, but the disjointment between GM and HC needs to end. Clean it out, reset.

I'm looking forward to this -- hopefully it's not a bait and switch where he just issues a statement publicly and doesn't take much questions. I'd like to see him straight up answer some of the questions that the major networks are now asking out loud. Is he willing to be hands-off given what hands-on has resulted in? Will he and his wife step back from the decision making side of things? Is he willing to restructure & find an exec to build out the FO and coaching staff? How do you address this as a systematic indictment? Reich was not a fit, but it doesn't seem like the coaches were on the same page (Brown's concepts vs. Frank's scheme) and the players brought in didn't mesh with the system they wanted to implement (that's on coaching & management). How can you reconcile this? What's the plan organizationally beyond a HC? To that point--Scott Fitterer put together the worst team in football, with help or not, he's the GM. How can you possibly move forward with this scouting department that's failed at every level of the draft and FA? Where do you stand with the QB that you mortgaged the combo of Jalen Carter/DJ Moore/Drake Maye/2025 2nd for? How will you allow for an environment to truly test out his skills actualize?

The man will not say much sh*t on the way out. The dude abides. The man is good. He is not Rhule. Wish him the best, this was not a fit.

Rewatched a blip from the 1st round draft presser I caught something that should have been more obvious at the time. Joe Person asked how Frank dealt with needing more convincing of Bryce because of his size preferences...Frank answered that "It wasn't that I needed convincing" and that it was about how he was "committed to the process"..but what he referenced, wasn't himself turning in favor on Bryce, rather, that the entire scouting department had a moment in the room where Scott asked them and they were all unanimous with Bryce. "And Bryce was their guy, and that was great for me to hear" He goes on to say general superlatives and that Scott told him to just take their time. Eventually he said they watched tape and Bryce was "the best player", but man, reading between the lines, you can tell. The coaches had to be convinced. The scouting room didn't.

I like Ben Johnson, Waldron, and Frank Smith...all good candidates. Unless it's a potential rockstar DC type, we're obviously going OC. But who will it actually be? I'm gonna make an out-there prediction-- Thomas Brown somehow, some way, gets the offense producing TDs from here on out. With some renewed trust, we pluck more from the Shan/McVay tree with some fresh perspective on that Rams SB staff. This time, we're going full nepitism & a young offensive mind: Wes Phillips Thomas Brown sticks around with his old bud. Do note--O'Connell wanted Brown in Minny.

The idea of Luke as coach is a fine one and not a reach. He has just as much/probably even more upside than Vrabel, Ryans and Mayo. It's honestly cool we've got a guy like Greg so dedicated to the franchise. Between him, Luke, Smitty, Jordan and Jake, it is nice to see they are willing to be a part of it all in these times. Easy headline to pan in here but at least Greg is repping the franchise in the hell we are currently in.

Agreed. I'd trust Luke as GM at the rate we're at lol.

Well that would certainly be entertaining. Just take all the ex-players in house on the media side of things while we're at it. Jake, Gross, Luke and Greg. lol /s