Other than DT what areas have we really improved?

[FootballMaestro]

Let's hope the addition of Gettleman, including any influence/assistance he may have in improving Rivera, along with Shula's new streamlined offense has a bigger impact on the field than many of us would ever realize (amongst a few potential improvements pointed out already)?

[Swaggasaurus]

I liked Mitchell when we played the Raiders last year. I think he will be an improvement at S. Anyone at CB is better at cb than norman and gamble

[CRA]

Ask me again in October. Right now I couldn't even tell you any position has improved because they haven't played.

Yep. Every year collectively we think X is awesome and Y sucks. Generally some of the things we are most sure of turn out to be opposites.

DT, CB, S IMO are all unanswered questions still. Unclear if our attempts improve us for 2013. Perfect example would be if just looking at 2012....we got worse on the OL swapping Wharton for Amini. Big picture it probably makes us better but it didn't just looking at last year.

From a starting standpoint WR is still a question. Depth and guys watching most of the game likely was improved but it is unknown if we will have better starters on the field

[TANTRIC-NINJA]

Even the secondary has improved a bit. Godfrey seem more comfortable blowing assignments at FS than SS.

[Keith Moons Liver]

Roster wise, not much. Too many holes to fill and not enough resources to fill them- this is a multiyear rebuilding project. If we want to see immediate on field improvement, it will have to come from better coaching and playcalling. Considering what we've seen of Rivera so far, I'm not getting my hopes up. I do think 2014 is much brighter, however. It really depends on who we hire as HC next offseason. 

[La Pantera]

Roster wise, not much. Too many holes to fill and not enough resources to fill them- this is a multiyear rebuilding project. If we want to see immediate on field improvement, it will have to come from better coaching and playcalling. Considering what we've seen of Rivera so far, I'm not getting my hopes up. I do think 2014 is much brighter, however. It really depends on who we hire as HC next offseason.

Guess we shouldn't watch this season since you've already predetermined that we'll suck.

[Keith Moons Liver]

Guess we shouldn't watch this season since you've already predetermined that we'll suck.

I don't know about you but my entertainment isn't contingent on wins, any team with Cam and Kuechly will be exciting to watch, and even if our destination isn't that sunny the journey is the fun part. It's possible to be a level headed and realistic fan with reasonable expectations and still have fun and enjoy watching. 

[La Pantera]

I don't know about you but my entertainment isn't contingent on wins, any team with Cam and Kuechly will be exciting to watch, and even if our destination isn't that sunny the journey is the fun part. It's possible to be a level headed and realistic fan with reasonable expectations and still have fun and enjoy watching.

Well the way I see it is we've been extremely close to winning a majority of our games. If we've improved slightly coaching/players wise, we could vert well be good enough to get over that hump. I feel like we could easily have a playoff caliber team.

[Frizzy350]

Special teams should be much improved with all the work we've done at the bottom of the roster.  CB I think hasn't necessarily improved, but we have a lot more depth there, giving us flexibility and not thinking the world is over when a starter goes down.  Safety gets an automatic improvement with Nakamura not starting.  Our backfield's production will improve simply because Chud isn't here right now.

 

We are also a very young team, many areas that are already strength will improve just from natural progression and experience.  Guys like Hardy, Keuchly, Cam, Lafell, Norman and Josh Thomas all have room to improve.

[panther4life]

I liked Mitchell when we played the Raiders last year. I think he will be an improvement at S. Anyone at CB is better at cb than norman and gamble

You can't be serious or sober.

[CatMan72]

The offensive guys seem extremely confident in the interviews I've seen, I think one more year in the system and a return to the power run game has everyone feeling good. 

[Icege]

1. DL
2. WR
3. LB
4. S

DL = Lose Ron Edwards, gain Star, Kawann, and Cole.
WR = Lose Louis Murphy, gain Hixon & Ginn Jr
LB = Lose James Anderson, gain Blackburn & Klein, Beason returns
S = Lose Nakamura, Godfrey to FS, potentially Mitchell at SS.
 

[Razeyfingers]

QB - better - played whole year healthy, learned lots of valuable lessons, showed that he learned them.

 

RB - marginally better - Added depth and another weapon.

 

WR - better - The return of injured players, the development of prospects, one more year of catching bullets from Cam and learning his nuances, oh ya and those two guys Ginn and Hixon who werent strangers to being called "playmakers" before arriving here. New systems can do wonders for a career . . . so can a new QB.

 

OL - better - The return of an All Pro center plus everyone else providing continuity. We'll see about Gross, but all signs are that he's still ready to ball. Adding Kugz is not too impacting to me because he's going to be learning all year I would think.

 

TE - same - I wouldnt rate any of the movement here significant yet

 

 

----

 

DT - better - lol nuff said

 

DE - same - so far no big changes here, but it should be noted that Alexander is in a possible break out year.

 

LB - better - the return of an All Pro LB and leader of our defense. The addition of some baddass depth. Wow LB is still our strongest spot by far.

 

CB - better - Gamble was injured and didnt return. Added a savvy vet and gave some young guns with potential a LOT of snaps last year to improve.

 

S - Better - Nakamura will go back to ST's if he makes the team, nuff said.

 

 

Coaching - who knows? Id like to say Chico got a year of experience but coaching is so complex that I dunno if that matters. I guess it does, but how much? whatever, different discussion maybe than what Jarhead was looking for.

[SOJA]

In theory we upgraded qb as Cam should be better next year