A Look Into 2012

[Snake]

IMO, we have six games left to see what Hogan can do. We have to find out if he can be a #2. My thinking is that Rivera is impressed with what he can do on the practice field, but does not want to put him in games so as to protect him. I hope I am right because that would be one less need we need to address.

Other quick thoughts. Hangman is a quality BACK-UP, not a starter. Bell is scary good. Because I think he can be good, but he scares me. I WANT Gettis to be a solid #2, but I am not ready to just hand it to him. (But I do believe he and Lafell are both very capable WRs. Just not sure capable is good enough.) I am of the belief Shockey will be back, but we need a TE to groom.

Defensively, if Edwards can play that helps a ton, but we need somebody that can make McClain and Sua rotational players. LBs is the scariest position because we really do not know what we have. IF the Beast is back, we can get by. But to get to that next level we need a playmaker to add to him and Anderson. Which brings us to safety. I like Godfrey more each year. So bringing in a FS with SKILLS would round out our D.

Short story long. IF Beason and Edwards return to form, we really only need a good DT, an OLB, and a strong FS for our D to be respectable. BUT I still believe we need a strong

RG, and a true #2 WR for the O. Which would leave us with upgrading five positions through FA and the draft.

The draft is for the future, whereas a FA is for the now. So if we ignore FA and go with the draft, that means we are still in rebuild mode. And that means another year or two before we are competitive.

Too many of our back-ups are starting, and we have a few starters who should be back-ups. Which disrupts our STs. With a few upgrades to the starting lineup, our back-ups go back to being back-ups. Which will add to the overall depth, and improve the ST.

Sorry for the length, just got carried away. And GOOOOO CATS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is a very good write up and I approve. I also agree that we need to add another Vet DT to the mix next year. Also I agree with another Safety. While Godfrey and Martin have been adequate both suck at coverage.

[Woodie]

IMO, we have six games left to see what Hogan can do. We have to find out if he can be a #2. My thinking is that Rivera is impressed with what he can do on the practice field, but does not want to put him in games so as to protect him. I hope I am right because that would be one less need we need to address.

I have high hopes for Hogan. But we really do need to see him on the field this year in order to get an idea of what he can be at the NFL level. I'm sure he'll get time in the last 2-3 games, so we should get some sense of him...but we'll need to temper our expectations and prepare for him to be wildly inconsistent (after all, he's a rookie that's coming off a serious injury).

Other quick thoughts. Hangman is a quality BACK-UP, not a starter. Bell is scary good. Because I think he can be good, but he scares me. I WANT Gettis to be a solid #2, but I am not ready to just hand it to him. (But I do believe he and Lafell are both very capable WRs. Just not sure capable is good enough.) I am of the belief Shockey will be back, but we need a TE to groom.

I agree, I like Hangartner as a back-up/utility man for our OL. Also, I'm far from sold on Bell. I do think he is not just a bum, but I also don't know if he is starter material. Without immense development/improvement I just think he will end up as good depth. I couldn't agree more with your statement on Gettis. We saw some good signs last year, but he was far from a consistent threat, so I don't think he has shown enough to be completely sold on him...particularly with him coming off a serious knee injury.

Defensively, if Edwards can play that helps a ton, but we need somebody that can make McClain and Sua rotational players. LBs is the scariest position because we really do not know what we have. IF the Beast is back, we can get by. But to get to that next level we need a playmaker to add to him and Anderson. Which brings us to safety. I like Godfrey more each year. So bringing in a FS with SKILLS would round out our D.

I agree that right now, both Fua and McClain should only be rotational players. While I do believe both may be solid starters in the future, I think it will take each of them a couple of years to develop to that point. And if Edwards is able to come back and be the player we expected this year, then I also agree that we only need one more DT. But that DT will need to be a penetrating, disruptive DT. Edwards and Fua are both run-stuffing DT's, and McClain is still far too inconsistent at getting pressure and making plays. So we will need someone to come in that can make some noise up the middle...the only problem is I don't know if there's anyone in either FA or the draft that can give us that.

Now I am somewhat concerned about what we will get out of Beason next year. I'm sure if his recovery goes well he should at least be productive, but I'm not sure he will be the beast we are used to seeing. At best we can hope, but I don't want to gamble another season on hope. So at LB, I do think we desperately need a playmaker. Anderson is a solid role-playing LB every team needs, so assuming Beason takes a season to round back into form, we definitely need to bring someone in at LB that is a playmaker...but again, who would that be?

I also agree on FS. To be honest, Martin is one of the players I'm most disappointed with this year. I expected him to make the jump to impact player, but he just seems to be plugging away, not doing anything special. Hopefully, it's just that he is still trying to get comfortable in the new system, but I don't think we can count on that.

Short story long. IF Beason and Edwards return to form, we really only need a good DT, an OLB, and a strong FS for our D to be respectable. BUT I still believe we need a strong

RG, and a true #2 WR for the O. Which would leave us with upgrading five positions through FA and the draft.

I agree with this, except that I would add CB. Even if Hogan shows signs that he is the real deal, I don't know that he will be ready to step into the #2 spot next year, and I really don't think the Captain is very good. The way I see it for next year is Gamble as our #1, Hogan as our nickel back, and a hole at our #2 CB spot. So whether it's through the draft or FA, I think we will need to bring in a legitimate starter.

The draft is for the future, whereas a FA is for the now. So if we ignore FA and go with the draft, that means we are still in rebuild mode. And that means another year or two before we are competitive.

I don't think we will ignore FA this year. I believe that this past off-season Rivera was handcuffed by the lockout, so is taking this season as an opportunity to evaluate the players currently on the team in order to determine who he wants to keep, and who needs to move on. I have a strong feeling that we will see quite a bit of turnover on the defensive side of the ball, and next season we'll get a much better idea of what his and McDermott's plans are for our defense. I don't believe that what we are seeing now, from playcalling to execution, will have much resemblance to what we'll see next year and beyond. I actually think Rivera will use this offseason to assemble HIS defense...and much of that will be through FA.

Too many of our back-ups are starting, and we have a few starters who should be back-ups. Which disrupts our STs. With a few upgrades to the starting lineup, our back-ups go back to being back-ups. Which will add to the overall depth, and improve the ST.

100% agree. However, I will add that not only are too many of our backups starting, but many of those backups are really no better than 3rd/4th string (if that) on an elite team. So aside from filling out the holes we have on the starting unit, we really need to upgrade our depth if we ever hope to reach perennial contender status.

Sorry for the length, just got carried away. And GOOOOO CATS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As you can see, I'm the last person that could ever complain about the length of a post :o.

[Lakejamescat]

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?

No this team cannot make the playoffs.

[Catalyst]

It should be noted that the front office/coaching staff is all about player development and they won't give up on Fua, McClain, Byron Bell, and Hogan as easily as many here seem to think.

We'll take the BPA according to need, which means we will likely see competition brought in for one or more of those guys (add Gettis/LaFell to the list and pray to God Nannee is gone) but we're not going to draft replacements for this year's rookies.

I think between Fua & McClain we have at least one starter for the next few years. Likely McClain with Fua as depth, but neither are ready right now and, IMO, are being judged for something they're not supposed to be yet.

I don't think CB is a huge need, but certainly one we could stand to upgrade. Granted, a LOT depends on Hogan, but a Morris Claiborne could certainly be a possibility. I've said in multiple threads that I feel if we're in position we should take him then Justin Blackmon should be the guy. He's going to be an elite WR and would give us a scary offense, especially with Smith still on the roster.

[Clicheking]

The team isn't cutting Otah, he'll be making a relatively low salary next year(little over a million) he'll be kept even if its just as a back up. I believe he'll be given another chance to start however......sorry