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Just a couple of TC thoughts.
These are only just impressions but:
1. The WR is MUCH better than we expected. Parker seems to be everything we hoped him to be. Aghular is playing like we HOPED he would be last year. Meyers is as steady as ever. Thorton seems to have the skills to make him worthy of his pick. btw - I recall looking at a predraft evaluation of Thorton which noted he is a plus blocker, which I thought was an odd comment given his slight build. But so far I've noted a couple of times in the Giants game where Thornton stuck his nose into a defender's chest and WAS a plus blocker..Nixon and Wilkerson have BOTH had a lot of catches so far, and even LJ Humphrey has flashed some this TC. In fact the entire group has been better than we expected, EXCEPT for the guy I thought would be the leader of the group, KBourne. Its still early, but I thought he'd be a 1000 yd receiver this year. Not seeing it yet.
The RB room looks to be as strong as we expected with Stevenson and Harris looking to take a majority of the run game snaps, and Ty Montgomery looking like he will try and fill James White's role with Strong and Harris two guys with vastly different skill sets along for depth.
TE's seem to be OK. Smith and Henry can be two plus TE's and Asiassi has the potential to be a good 3rd.
The OL IS a problem. I don't question the talent, but EVERYONE but Andrews is playing a new position and there is no question that this group is NOT yet playing as a unit. Again there is a lot of time left before the first game, and hopefully this will get better over the next few weeks. It HAS to.
Nothing spectacular to say about the QBing. Jones has been making progress and looks improved like we hoped. Zappe has been a LOT better than I expected, though he most likely finds his way to our PS. Hoyer is Hoyer. The perfect back up. The kind of guy who could manage a team when your top QB goes down for 2 or 3 games. Of course it could wind up the other way around since no one is going to take Hoyer off of waivers since he's making the vet minimum which is a lot, and Zappe makes the 53, with Hoyer coming back if their is an injury. Just a thought.
On the defensive side, I think the outlook is a lot brighter. On the DL Godcheaux is looking like a stud in his 2nd year and the thought of he and Barmore as 2 DT's is exciting indeed, PLUS the fact that Davis, Ray, and Roberts have all popped during this camp bodes well for the depth of this area.
Mac Wilson and McMilan seem to be the real deal and flashed on several occasions. McGrone on the other hand has not. Still I want to give him the benefit of the doubt since this is first action he's seen in 2 years. He should be getting a lot of snaps in the next 2 preseason games. I'm Counting on him getting better. Still a rotation of Wilson, McMillian and Bentley doesn't suck. Getting McGrone playing well would be the icing on the cake.
THe OLB position is looking solid. Judon is proving that the first half of last season wasn't a fluke. But we all wondered who would be the guy on the other side. So far it looks like AJennings who has come back from the virtual DEAD to take the lead for that spot. Uche looks like he has improved his game to be a good situational option and provide depth tor the starters.
The Safeties will be the rock upon which the defense will be built. It has talent that goes 6 deep. It will be flexible with guys like Peppers and Philips who have the size to play in the box plus the speed to cover. Bledsoe has looked like he will compete for snaps. and Jake Eliot looks like we wants Davis's role. And that not even mentioning Kyle Dugger, who might end up being the most impactful of the bunch, OR Devan McCourty,. This is a real good group.
And Finally we come to the CB's So far this group has been the biggest surprise. It's been surprisingly good. Mills who was solid last season, looks like he has stepped up his game and WANTS the #1 role. John Jones has come back from injury and is competing well for the #2 roles with Jack Jones. Sean Wade and MJones look like they are competing for the slot role and Mitchell and Butler are experienced quality depth. One of the biggest questions about this defense going into camp was the CB position and it only shows how much better it looks now with decent proven CB's like Mitchell and Butler are just fighting to make the team.
Now to the reaction to the coaching situation on offense.
I want to concentrate on the OL with Yates and Patricia carrying the responsibility in that area. To my mind this the area that seems to be the most disjointed and clearly NEEDS the most work. Like I said before, there is more than enough talent in this area, both as starters and depth. Cajuste, Herran, Hambright, Dejardins, Ferrentz, etc provide more than enough quality depth to a starting line up of Brown, Strange, Andrews, Owenu, and Wynn. It is just a matter of them becomimg a UNIT. Understand that with the exception of Andrews everyone is not playing the position they were in last year SO issues are to be expected early on. What we NEED to see is incremental improvement as we go on. The Giants game was better than the previous week, and from what I read so far the Carolina scrimmage was a bit better than the Giants game, though Bedard is more down on the OL than I am. LOTS of improvement that needs to happen, so I wouldn't be surprised to see Judge get more of the play calling duties as Matt concentrates on getting the OL straightened out.
Right now THAT is the area of concern for me. We have the talent there to have a STRONG OL and have it be a strength for us. So far it isn't. And THIS will be the area I will be watching closely. We are fine at WR, TE, RB, and QB.
These are only just impressions but:
1. The WR is MUCH better than we expected. Parker seems to be everything we hoped him to be. Aghular is playing like we HOPED he would be last year. Meyers is as steady as ever. Thorton seems to have the skills to make him worthy of his pick. btw - I recall looking at a predraft evaluation of Thorton which noted he is a plus blocker, which I thought was an odd comment given his slight build. But so far I've noted a couple of times in the Giants game where Thornton stuck his nose into a defender's chest and WAS a plus blocker..Nixon and Wilkerson have BOTH had a lot of catches so far, and even LJ Humphrey has flashed some this TC. In fact the entire group has been better than we expected, EXCEPT for the guy I thought would be the leader of the group, KBourne. Its still early, but I thought he'd be a 1000 yd receiver this year. Not seeing it yet.
The RB room looks to be as strong as we expected with Stevenson and Harris looking to take a majority of the run game snaps, and Ty Montgomery looking like he will try and fill James White's role with Strong and Harris two guys with vastly different skill sets along for depth.
TE's seem to be OK. Smith and Henry can be two plus TE's and Asiassi has the potential to be a good 3rd.
The OL IS a problem. I don't question the talent, but EVERYONE but Andrews is playing a new position and there is no question that this group is NOT yet playing as a unit. Again there is a lot of time left before the first game, and hopefully this will get better over the next few weeks. It HAS to.
Nothing spectacular to say about the QBing. Jones has been making progress and looks improved like we hoped. Zappe has been a LOT better than I expected, though he most likely finds his way to our PS. Hoyer is Hoyer. The perfect back up. The kind of guy who could manage a team when your top QB goes down for 2 or 3 games. Of course it could wind up the other way around since no one is going to take Hoyer off of waivers since he's making the vet minimum which is a lot, and Zappe makes the 53, with Hoyer coming back if their is an injury. Just a thought.
On the defensive side, I think the outlook is a lot brighter. On the DL Godcheaux is looking like a stud in his 2nd year and the thought of he and Barmore as 2 DT's is exciting indeed, PLUS the fact that Davis, Ray, and Roberts have all popped during this camp bodes well for the depth of this area.
Mac Wilson and McMilan seem to be the real deal and flashed on several occasions. McGrone on the other hand has not. Still I want to give him the benefit of the doubt since this is first action he's seen in 2 years. He should be getting a lot of snaps in the next 2 preseason games. I'm Counting on him getting better. Still a rotation of Wilson, McMillian and Bentley doesn't suck. Getting McGrone playing well would be the icing on the cake.
THe OLB position is looking solid. Judon is proving that the first half of last season wasn't a fluke. But we all wondered who would be the guy on the other side. So far it looks like AJennings who has come back from the virtual DEAD to take the lead for that spot. Uche looks like he has improved his game to be a good situational option and provide depth tor the starters.
The Safeties will be the rock upon which the defense will be built. It has talent that goes 6 deep. It will be flexible with guys like Peppers and Philips who have the size to play in the box plus the speed to cover. Bledsoe has looked like he will compete for snaps. and Jake Eliot looks like we wants Davis's role. And that not even mentioning Kyle Dugger, who might end up being the most impactful of the bunch, OR Devan McCourty,. This is a real good group.
And Finally we come to the CB's So far this group has been the biggest surprise. It's been surprisingly good. Mills who was solid last season, looks like he has stepped up his game and WANTS the #1 role. John Jones has come back from injury and is competing well for the #2 roles with Jack Jones. Sean Wade and MJones look like they are competing for the slot role and Mitchell and Butler are experienced quality depth. One of the biggest questions about this defense going into camp was the CB position and it only shows how much better it looks now with decent proven CB's like Mitchell and Butler are just fighting to make the team.
Now to the reaction to the coaching situation on offense.
I want to concentrate on the OL with Yates and Patricia carrying the responsibility in that area. To my mind this the area that seems to be the most disjointed and clearly NEEDS the most work. Like I said before, there is more than enough talent in this area, both as starters and depth. Cajuste, Herran, Hambright, Dejardins, Ferrentz, etc provide more than enough quality depth to a starting line up of Brown, Strange, Andrews, Owenu, and Wynn. It is just a matter of them becomimg a UNIT. Understand that with the exception of Andrews everyone is not playing the position they were in last year SO issues are to be expected early on. What we NEED to see is incremental improvement as we go on. The Giants game was better than the previous week, and from what I read so far the Carolina scrimmage was a bit better than the Giants game, though Bedard is more down on the OL than I am. LOTS of improvement that needs to happen, so I wouldn't be surprised to see Judge get more of the play calling duties as Matt concentrates on getting the OL straightened out.
Right now THAT is the area of concern for me. We have the talent there to have a STRONG OL and have it be a strength for us. So far it isn't. And THIS will be the area I will be watching closely. We are fine at WR, TE, RB, and QB.
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