A Look Into 2012

[Matthias]

Last season Smitty was injured for most of the year and had one of his worst seasons ever. In the offseason he practically begged the team for a trade. Result: the team did everything possible to convince him to stay.

Now he's on board and having one of his best seasons in years. Do you think there's any chance at all the FO does a complete 180 and tries to trade him?

Well, I wouldn't trade him unless it was for a 1st/high 2nd. All I'm saying is if that offer came in, considering the cap money it would save, it would be good to take that deal.

[jtnc]

Well, I wouldn't trade him unless it was for a 1st/high 2nd. All I'm saying is if that offer came in, considering the cap money it would save, I would be good to take that deal.

Smitty presence doesn't have a price, he's good for this football team for his leadership and competitiveness. The fact you just wanted to trade our all time receiver and who's helped carry us to the SB is just sad.

[chef17]

Well, I wouldn't trade him unless it was for a 1st/high 2nd. All I'm saying is if that offer came in, considering the cap money it would save, it would be good to take that deal.

That offer won't come in. End of story

[Marguide]

The sky is falling! The sky is falling!

A lot of panic in this thread.

And by the way, our RG next year should be G. Schwartz, the forgotten starter on IR.

[TrueDat]

especially if we can get a true #1 WR like he has wanted us to do for a while now. Then we can put Smith in the slot in 2013 and he will thrive there for a handful more seasons I think.

We are going to have a good draft this year. Seems to me like we can almost pick BPA, and still upgrade our team tremendously no matter which position it happens to be.

Really depends on if we are able to trade out of our top pick. The top 5 of this draft class so far is all offensive players.

:shocked:

Smith's not a true#1 receiver and we're going to put him in the slot, but we're going to draft a true #1 receiver?

lol.

[stirs]

Zach Brown wont go in the second round. He will be a first round pick. I think the best situation is to trade down and stock up on picks.

that was my point. he had both on his roster

[davos]

I don't see us re-signing Connor next season. Connor has proved this season that he is more expendable than many originally thought of him.

Sherrie Martin as I put in my thread should be gone and I think we draft a CB, DT, & OL with our first three picks (no particular order) and from then on go BDPA

[Cyberjag]

Now if everything goes to my plan, or what I hope we are looking at the following team.

QB: Cam Newton

RB: DeAngelo Williams/Jonathan Stewart

TE: Greg Olsen

WR: Steve Smith

WR: David Gettis

TE: Jeremy Shockey

LT: Jordan Gross

LG: Travelle Wharton

C: Ryan Kalil

RG: Geoff Hangartner

RT: Matt Kalil

DE: Charles Johnson

NT: Ron Edwards

UT: Terrell McClain

DE: Greg Hardy

OLB: James Anderson

MLB: Jon Beason

OLB: Zac Brown/Thomas Davis

CB: Chris Gamble

SS: Charles Godfrey

FS: Sherrod Martin

CB: Brandon Hogan

Can this team make the playoffs?

I have a few minor disagreements with your proposed roster, but they don't really make a substantive difference. The question should be, can this coaching staff get this team into the playoffs?

We'll play our division, the NFC East, the AFC West, and what's looking to be St. Louis and Minnesota. So, do you think can Rivera & Co. get nine wins against that competition with the roster above?

[Easyt65]

I've been extremely disappointed with gross this year. He is not a probowl LT.

Yet he is the best that we have at the position. Wharton was a walking turn-stile at left tackle, comletely lost in space out there, which is why we moved Gross to Left Tackle. Wharton is much better, which isn't always saying much, inside at the Guard position. I agree, however, that Wharton is an above average player.

The offenssive line does need work. I was pumped when we got the 'Human Road-Grader' several years ago. When he was healthy, DW and Stewart set the record for yards in a season for a RB tandem. THAT shows you what a truly talented OL can do for your offense. since then, however, he has been injured - too much weight, it seems, on the knees.

[section543]

Yeah, this is the other thing. Not only do we need to add significant outside talent to improve the team but at the same time we also have to replace any guys we lose.

Captain Munnerlyn

Sherrod Martin

Darius Butler

Steve Smith

Jonathan Stewart

Jason Baker

all free agents in 2013. And then if you cut/trade guys to create cap space you've got to replace them as well.

-If we had gotten rid of Baker last year and replaced him with someone who could/would kickoff, we'd still have Kasey and millions of dollars.

-We resigned the wrong back in Williams, so now I cant see how we sign Stewart- but if our line could actually open some holes, we can find a serviceable(?) back.

-I doubt we're going to trade Smith

-Captain, Butler, and Martin would make great depth for ST and fill-in.

- We really need backups who can play when needed and can play ST full-time. That would add 2-3 wins for us right there. Is it possible to have that much turnover and talent infusion in one offseason?

[rico6]

Hopefully next year we're not the #2 team in penalties.

[catnip]

If we can get a decent 1st and add another 2nd round pick for trading down, I think we should go for it. We don't have a third round pick and we have a lot of needs on D. If we need an OT, we could use one of our 2nd round picks. Otah has one year left on his contract, so keep him and work in the new DT. The first round pick could be bpa at our

biggest need.

[chknwing]

After this year, Riveras going to clean house on defense.

[GotSwag?]

We just need to keep this offense together. Re-sign Shockey but get rid of Otah and I agree that Matt Kalil would be a great draft pick.

Defense will be our focus and injuries will be key. With Beason, our defense looks much much better. We gotta somehow find a massive DT who can command double teams. If we find that, and add depth, this team WILL make the playoffs.