Where we stand after the draft

[kungfoodude]

1 hour ago, Khyber53 said:

How we do depends greatly on our health and how healthy our opponents are when we play them.

I think we lost a lot of dead weight on the defense (except for Luke retiring, but he wasn't even himself last season). On the d-line, I think we're more solid than before and KK can look to either side and see young, hungry, top-end players -- he may be inspired to really work hard. We got the best DT in the draft and a DE that many had projected to go late in the first round. We also picked up a safety/nickel player that some of the folks called the hidden gem in this draft.

We should have an experienced, competent and healthy QB under center this year, the hands down best running back in the game, some excellent receivers (with experience) and the hottest OC to come out of the college ranks in recent years.

I think those projections of us having a terrible season, or even a middling one, are terribly pessimistic. This won't be a Superb Owl team, but we will compete and maybe even surprise some folks. 

Yeah but look at how unbelievably thin we are along the DL. Not including our misfit 3-4 EDGE rushers(Burns, Haynes, Miller) our roster has:

DE

Yatur Gross-Matos

Efe Obada(project)

Chris Smith(JAG)

Stephen Weatherly(project/depth)

DT

Zach Kerr(JAG)

Derrick Brown

Kawann Short

Woodrow Hamilton(JAG)

 

That's a really, really weak unit overall with some high end talent sprinkled in(Short, Brown, YGM). 

[section543]

No idea how many wins we’ll have but hope to see a hungry high-effort team with potential for a change, as opposed to old over-priced guys that still lost a lot

[kungfoodude]

4 minutes ago, bull123 said:

Burns is gonna be a player for us...and yes miller and Haynes and carter need to step up

but we are considerably better

I think we ultimately should probably move Burns. He would be a killer player in a 3-4 as a Von Miller/Khalil Mack mold(he is obviously not the level of player those guys are) but I think he is going to be a relatively one trick pony as a 4-3 end. We will see but I do think it will prove to be a bad pick for us in hindsight. Not to say he won't be successful elsewhere.

I don't agree we are better as a unit than last year. We are considerably worse when you look at the depth. If you eliminate injuries(which obviously didn't happen), last year's unit was leaps and bounds better than the unit we have currently. If you include injuries(which we had so many of), then we are probably even worse. 

That's ultimately my point, it is a great that we have this influx of high level talent but unless our JAG level depth becomes valuable contributors, don't expect to see the defense to be anything but another bottom five unit. We need to manage our expectations here. Our roster is absolutely DREADFUL. We have some potentially talented younger guys we signed, some guys we just drafted(and are going to draft) and 2-4 other "core" players. Other than that, it's a bunch of players on 1-3 year rental deals and a boatload of JAG's. Make no mistake, we are at the start of a total rebuild, not 3-4 years into the process. We are a very bad team. We are going to be a very bad team. That's why you have our owner telling PSL holders this process may take a while. It doesn't mean that we can't get excited about the picks, but we need to understand how badly we are likely to perform and that it doesn't mean that the good draft we are having is an instant failure. 

 

[stirs]

5-6 wins

The guys we got in this draft will probably take a year to get used to the league, but next season.  Get outta here.

LB's and CB's got better by default

What we need now is Tyler Biadasz as the nasty C/G that can take over the Center position very soon.  Little to come along and learn from Okung and the Oline will be solidified going forward.

I would expect with all the CBs taken in the first 3 rounds, that there will be some really good vets cut.

The 43 LB's are harder to find, so that remains one area where I'd love to have some help.  And a backup TE

[kungfoodude]

2 minutes ago, bull123 said:

not buying it

id rather have young hungry guys than dead weight collecting paychecks

I don't think those veterans were dead weight. I would imagine that the general locker room atmosphere was pretty broken with all the strife and uncertainty getting piled on top of the adversity. Eventually most coaching staffs wear thin on the players.

I don't think there are many that would agree that our current DL is better than last year's line. That's not really the point though. We are rebuilding from literally nothing, so that just kind of comes with the territory.

We have yet to see how "hungry" these guys are. That is probably an answer we won't know for sure for a couple of years or more. 

You may as well embrace the fact that we are going to be a really, really, really bad team. We just have to hope that these draft picks are all home runs(a rarity for a Hurney draft) and that some of our other potential core guys step up. All I really want out of next season is to see some guys step up and look like they can be a foundation we can build on moving forward. 

[kungfoodude]

4 minutes ago, stirs said:

LB's and CB's got better by default

For us??? This offseason?

[pdub0702]

I think we are in the middle of a rebuild with personnel and culture changes abound. In saying this, I don’t believe Matt Rhule is the type to tank. He and this staff we get the ship right. Be excited. It’s looking like the draft picks have been solid and our offense is going to be better. Biggest improvement: Hope for the Franchise. Ron Rivera and company made things incredibly predictable and produce average/below average results with the exception of Cam Newton leading us in 2015. Looking forward to see this all come together.

[TheRumGone]

We are gonna suck next year, middle of the road next year, year 3 we might have some success. That’s the optimistic trajectory. It might not even happen.

just because we drafted talent in the top 2 rounds doesn’t mean it’s gonna translate year one. It’s gonna take time and 2 or 3 more drafts to see it translate if it does at all.

[mrcompletely11]

This team, this roster, no mini camps, new coaches.  3-5 wins

[stirs]

5 minutes ago, kungfoodude said:

For us??? This offseason?

After making the Dline way more formadable and hard to block.  QB's will have to get rid of the ball quicker, and LB's will not as often have a Guard attached to there chest

[kungfoodude]

Just now, stirs said:

After making the Dline way more formadable and hard to block.  QB's will have to get rid of the ball quicker, and LB's will not as often have a Guard attached to there chest

Okay, I see what you meant. I was going to say, those units are DEFINITELY worse than last season. I would expect us to be around the same to a little worse than last year defensively but we will have the opportunity for the learning curves for our young guys(Burns, YGM and Brown) to get accelerated with lots of reps. Excited to see how we use Chinn, as well. He's a project but if we develop him well, he could be a Kam Chancellor type player. 

[mrcompletely11]

10 minutes ago, stirs said:

After making the Dline way more formadable and hard to block.  QB's will have to get rid of the ball quicker, and LB's will not as often have a Guard attached to there chest

Slow your roll brother these dudes havent played one snap yet and Brown is the only sure fire starter right now

[kungfoodude]

8 minutes ago, mrcompletely11 said:

Slow your roll brother these dudes havent played one snap yet and Brown is the only sure fire starter right now

I mean....if he doesn't start then it will be a big problem. Have you seen our roster????

[Daddy_Uncle]

4 hours ago, SOJA said:

the best outcome for this year is we are competitive in every game but lose narrowly and end up with Trevor Lawrence or Justin Fields next year 

Walter Football has us picking 2nd next year and taking LT Penei Sewell from Oregon. Lawrence #1 to Jags and Fields #3 to Lions. But Walter Football is dumb