JSn
Experienced Starter w/First Big Contract
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These threads are often MG's thing, but I was pondering some things in the wake of the Taylor injury and the Galloway benching and D. Burgess' amazing disappearing trick.
How the roster could go:
QB - seems good to me. Less guys means more reps and a better likelihood of Hoyer being ready.
WR - The only real question mark is Galloway. If he can't cut it I'd expect to see Tate or Nunn turn up on the squad by November. Luckily we have a lot of pass catching options at other positions.
HB - Taylor going down sucks, but I'd like to think we can hold his roster spot open until he gets back to playing. He could come in VERY handy in the playoff's. If he goes to IR, I don't suspect they sign another RB, but an LB to fill the spot. Maroney, in the immortal words of Woody Harrelson, needs to nut-up or shut-up. He's good in space and maybe making him more of a legit receiving threat will open up better chances for him to run. I expect Faulk, Morris and Law Firm to do a great job keeping the run/pass balance in tact. If Law Firm comes in and runs like some think he can, that will be a huge bonus.
TE - Brilliant set up. I'm hoping to see Matthews getting more and more snaps and see if his reputation holds up.
O-Line - I feel like we've been rolling the dice at this position a little, especially at tackle. That said, we're just a little away from getting LeVoir back. As we saw last year, he's a solid swing-tackle and gives us a lot more breathing room. Tough to guess who gets dumped when he's back, but I'd guess a mystery injury could turn up for the rookie OL'man, Ohrenberger (or whatevs his name is).
So Offense is generally in pretty good shape, but I'd not be shocked to see a change at WR after the bye if the benching of Joey Gallows Sway doesn't motivate properly.
Defense is more interesting.
DL - seems to have more solid rotation of equally decent parts than in the past. We haven't seen for sure what we have in Morla (Sands) and I just don't know about Burgess. Is he an OLB or DE? Does it even matter?
He's not making an impact for whatever reason. However, I have a feeling the appearance of Seau will help that. Wright is really standing out in his elevated position.
LB - Mayo, Guyton, Woods, Thomas, Alexander - That's an excellent (and quick) group. Add in Seau - ageless, smart, and a great leader - and I think this group will be brilliant. Thomas isn't showing up on the board much, but again, the LB group is running a little bit of a patchwork set-up right now. Mayo and Seau, the rhyming LB'ers will bring this group to another level by putting people back in their right positions and coaching them up a bit from the field. No worries, and I can't see any major, non-injury related changes in the future.
Safety - Well the rational amongst us know that Hit Stick, BMx2 and The Colonel make up a very good safety group. Some don't like Sanders and they have their reasons, but when your number 3 safety is decent and considered good enough to be #2 as the year opens, I think we're in good shape. Chung is a player, but he'll have to work like a freak to crack that line-up this year. Slater is apparently a WR now, so I guess he doesn't fit here. We have Lockett too, but I'd guess he's a spare part - man #53.
Corner - I think this is the strongest group on the team. Springs, Bodden, Wilhite, Wheatley, Butler are all capable starters and probably all better than Deltha. Maybe even Hobbs. Wilhite and Wheatley have their down moments, but they're young. Butler hasn't made any glaring mistakes, but his playing time is coming along slowly. We've seen these guys sticking to their WR's longer and that should start enabling the rush to get to the QB even more.
So in all, I think defense is solid and actually see only Burgess as a question mark. Still, my gut feeling is he, like Galloway, could still prove their worth.
ST's - The biggest place for question marks. I don't personally have a problem with Hanson, but I could see why we might sign a Punter to the p-squad. Still I think Hanson only needs minor improvements to be kicking real good field position. I also think we need a better return option. Edelman can return punts, but to my memory he hasn't yet (has he?) and maybe Tate is the answer at KR. Slater could return them, butmaybe something about the condition of his elbow is limiting him to playing other spots on ST.
Now I only questioned 2 personnel there, but those are big roles and they either own them or don't. We have no KR on the field right now that scares anyone. The Punter needs improvement, which Hanson can do, but he also could be replaced.
Summary:
Players in danger of being upgraded:
Maroney - Though he wouldn't be cut, he could end up a healthy scratch if BJGE happens to come on the field the next couple of weeks and outplay him.
Galloway - He'd have to go if another WR joins the team and he SHOULD go if things don't improve.
Hanson - We're all split on this guy, but Bill seems to like him. Tough to say what might happen.
Kick Returner - We need one and unfortunately that guy requires a roster spot. Either get Wheatley back there or maybe Butler, or get Tate on the field and solve two of these issues at once.
So these are just my thoughts. Feel free to add or expand. I'm sure there are other players I hadn't considered and I'm sure at least one of you think we can upgrade over Sanders (though I think that's just being greedy at safety). If you really feel you have to, go ahead and denigrate my considerations here. I can take it.
How the roster could go:
QB - seems good to me. Less guys means more reps and a better likelihood of Hoyer being ready.
WR - The only real question mark is Galloway. If he can't cut it I'd expect to see Tate or Nunn turn up on the squad by November. Luckily we have a lot of pass catching options at other positions.
HB - Taylor going down sucks, but I'd like to think we can hold his roster spot open until he gets back to playing. He could come in VERY handy in the playoff's. If he goes to IR, I don't suspect they sign another RB, but an LB to fill the spot. Maroney, in the immortal words of Woody Harrelson, needs to nut-up or shut-up. He's good in space and maybe making him more of a legit receiving threat will open up better chances for him to run. I expect Faulk, Morris and Law Firm to do a great job keeping the run/pass balance in tact. If Law Firm comes in and runs like some think he can, that will be a huge bonus.
TE - Brilliant set up. I'm hoping to see Matthews getting more and more snaps and see if his reputation holds up.
O-Line - I feel like we've been rolling the dice at this position a little, especially at tackle. That said, we're just a little away from getting LeVoir back. As we saw last year, he's a solid swing-tackle and gives us a lot more breathing room. Tough to guess who gets dumped when he's back, but I'd guess a mystery injury could turn up for the rookie OL'man, Ohrenberger (or whatevs his name is).
So Offense is generally in pretty good shape, but I'd not be shocked to see a change at WR after the bye if the benching of Joey Gallows Sway doesn't motivate properly.
Defense is more interesting.
DL - seems to have more solid rotation of equally decent parts than in the past. We haven't seen for sure what we have in Morla (Sands) and I just don't know about Burgess. Is he an OLB or DE? Does it even matter?
He's not making an impact for whatever reason. However, I have a feeling the appearance of Seau will help that. Wright is really standing out in his elevated position.
LB - Mayo, Guyton, Woods, Thomas, Alexander - That's an excellent (and quick) group. Add in Seau - ageless, smart, and a great leader - and I think this group will be brilliant. Thomas isn't showing up on the board much, but again, the LB group is running a little bit of a patchwork set-up right now. Mayo and Seau, the rhyming LB'ers will bring this group to another level by putting people back in their right positions and coaching them up a bit from the field. No worries, and I can't see any major, non-injury related changes in the future.
Safety - Well the rational amongst us know that Hit Stick, BMx2 and The Colonel make up a very good safety group. Some don't like Sanders and they have their reasons, but when your number 3 safety is decent and considered good enough to be #2 as the year opens, I think we're in good shape. Chung is a player, but he'll have to work like a freak to crack that line-up this year. Slater is apparently a WR now, so I guess he doesn't fit here. We have Lockett too, but I'd guess he's a spare part - man #53.
Corner - I think this is the strongest group on the team. Springs, Bodden, Wilhite, Wheatley, Butler are all capable starters and probably all better than Deltha. Maybe even Hobbs. Wilhite and Wheatley have their down moments, but they're young. Butler hasn't made any glaring mistakes, but his playing time is coming along slowly. We've seen these guys sticking to their WR's longer and that should start enabling the rush to get to the QB even more.
So in all, I think defense is solid and actually see only Burgess as a question mark. Still, my gut feeling is he, like Galloway, could still prove their worth.
ST's - The biggest place for question marks. I don't personally have a problem with Hanson, but I could see why we might sign a Punter to the p-squad. Still I think Hanson only needs minor improvements to be kicking real good field position. I also think we need a better return option. Edelman can return punts, but to my memory he hasn't yet (has he?) and maybe Tate is the answer at KR. Slater could return them, butmaybe something about the condition of his elbow is limiting him to playing other spots on ST.
Now I only questioned 2 personnel there, but those are big roles and they either own them or don't. We have no KR on the field right now that scares anyone. The Punter needs improvement, which Hanson can do, but he also could be replaced.
Summary:
Players in danger of being upgraded:
Maroney - Though he wouldn't be cut, he could end up a healthy scratch if BJGE happens to come on the field the next couple of weeks and outplay him.
Galloway - He'd have to go if another WR joins the team and he SHOULD go if things don't improve.
Hanson - We're all split on this guy, but Bill seems to like him. Tough to say what might happen.
Kick Returner - We need one and unfortunately that guy requires a roster spot. Either get Wheatley back there or maybe Butler, or get Tate on the field and solve two of these issues at once.
So these are just my thoughts. Feel free to add or expand. I'm sure there are other players I hadn't considered and I'm sure at least one of you think we can upgrade over Sanders (though I think that's just being greedy at safety). If you really feel you have to, go ahead and denigrate my considerations here. I can take it.
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