Eloquently stated, T, but I think you are a bit overboard with your negativity.
First take the elephant in the room, the OL. Going in we were likely to be strong at 4 of the 5 positions with Brown in a contract year and hungry, Strange looking for a 2nd year jump, Andrews a top 5 C in the league, and Owenu who is already where we hope Strange will be this year. The off season objective was to find a serviceable RT and swing T, and upgrade the interior OL depth.
If they knew that EVERYONE on that OL, including most of the RT prospects would miss SIGNIFICANT time due to injury and illness, they might have drafted differently. But you CANNOT predict injuries especially when they are so widespread at this position group. In an ideal world the 4 known commodities would have had hundreds of snaps together. Out of the prospects say Anderson and McDermott became the RT and swing guy (either or). Mafi is already an upgrade as depth at OG, and Russey might not be ideal as back up C, but serviceable; And it looks like they might have missed on Andrews at least so far. Some players DO improve. To be more succinct, when the major roster decisions were being made NOONE could have predicted what occurred on the OL. Bad luck. Back in 2003 the 5 rather average OLmen we had never missed a snap on the field or in practice and that continuity was instrumental in a superbowl win. Go figure
But you are right in this, the OL situation has turned OUT to be a mess. But a mess that can be straightened out in a month with a bit of luck.
2nd, You might be right that this will be another losing season, the division and schedule might be the toughest one in Bill's 23 years here. Personally, I believe this team needs another year of rebuilding before it competes for a championship and they have the draft capital and the cap space to significantly add more talent (read explosiveness) next year.
3rd - While you slam the GM for the job he's done on offense, you ignore the job he's done on defense. The draft added THREE significant starters or rotational players A significant upgrade at punter, a significant upgrade in FG talent. (Lets see how he does as far as consistency) We seem to have solved the back up interior guy with Mafi and looked like we had a rotational guy at CB in Bolden....until his injury. That's a pretty good draft assuming NONE of the other guys contribute. (and I still have high hopes for Sow, just not this year)
4th - Improvement at RB, TE, QB, OL - At RB we have one of the best young guys in the league, and an experienced solid guy in Elliot. Improved, maybe let's see who the 3rd guy is. TE? could be with a healthy Gisiski again they need to add a third guy. QB, by ALL reports Mac has been solid all through camp and much improved over last season. OL already discussed. So we could very well be improved at 3 of the 4 positions you mentioned and EVENTUALLY improved on the OL too.
In the end T, you never know until the season is over. Remember in the Spring of 2001, the prestigious PFWeekly put out a list of teams LEAST likely to be in a superbowl over the next 5 years. #1 on that list were the NE Patriots. Now I do not know how successful this team will be. Right now there are STILL a lot of moves in motion, but NOTHING will be known for certain until its all over and THEN we can assess all the moves that have been made and credit given or taken away.