Which positions would help improve the 2026 playoff chances most?

[n1997y]

I believe what Rain is eluding to is the depth on the OL. While I agree with you.. the OL was near catastrophic during the postseason where as they should have been at thier best. It's unknown if Campbell is going to be completely healthy coming into the season or will start off on pup as he did suffer a tear not a sprain.. him choosing to return comprised the left side and you could see he wasn't right during the playoffs.

I do love the Vera Tucker pick up. Provided he can remain healthy he is an all pro level OG. He's a road grader in the run game.

Understand. Campbell was rock solid prior to his injury i have no concerns whatsoever regarding his abilities. It's lingering injury that concerns me RG3 had the very same injury and it ended up ruining his budding career because he played injured. Benny brown is a nice serviceable OL his valuable. We signed Hudson and we have Bryant at the only OTs currently behind the starting guys.. I personally don't think we should take an OT at 31.. you can get thst guy in round 2-3.. the priority IMO is edge. For example having the pass rush significant helps the offense. Creating more TOs, sack fumble recoveries, pick 6s.. adding the edges with this secondary class this defense to another level. Having the edge pass rush will get Drake the ball back on 3rd down at the 50 or inside the 50 as opposed to inside his own 20 like last season so many times..

Great points wozzy. Would mention though Campbell was having a great rookie season until the Cincinnati game where he got hurt. He was holding up well at LT.. by him being allowed to play injured and not being able to be as physical amd plant and play with the techniques that Marrone has coached him comprised the OL this postseason. Provided he's made a full recovery I'd expect Campbell to come back better, stronger, and will have the nasty taste in his mouth of the superbowl..

My big concern during the playoffs was whether returning Campbell to the lineup and then continuing to play him when his performance showed he was still impaired by lingering effects of the injury might result in long term consequences.

There are really two issues now. One is how well he heals and recovers from the injury. The second is how much his recovery and rehabilitation during this off season interferes with his growth and improvement and undermines his sophomore bump in performance. He certainly had things he needed to improve that he may not have been able to do the work on because he was still rehabbing.

Those are reasons that I’m more inclined to still be looking for a potential starter at LT now.

 

[mgteich]

Good points! I guess from here on out do we go BPA at 31? Provided we remain at #31? Would the strategy be BPA?

Yes, I would be fine with the BPA on Vrabel's board at 31 and thereaffer.
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The only issue I had last year in the first 7 picks was that Swinson wasn't drafted earlier. Of course, I was wrong and Vrabel was right.

 

[TheRainMaker]

huh?
the team has already upgraded at LG and at OC.
Campbell will be healthy and look to improve on his very good rookie season
are you looking for OL depth in rounds 1 thru 4?
I honestly don't see any rookie OL, regardless of which round picked, playing over any of the top 5 presumed starters if they are healthy.

This insanity downplaying the OL is worse than 2022 when this board and media were stoked after the Pats signed retreads at LB thinking their problems were now solved. At the same time they were thinking the legendary Cameron McGrone was going to be the icing on the cake.

AVT is a massive injury liability. Jared Wilson was awful at G before his injury and looked like Reggie Ray in "Varsity Blues" after. There's no way Vrabel is going to hand the C position over to him without competition. That is the type of enabling he's trying to get rid of.

Moses is old and wasn't very good either as a FA signing. They need to draft a T as this will be his last season in NE.

The immobile Owenu was the only player that didn't play completely awful which saved him from being a potential cap casualty at his high cap hit. If they choose to not extend him (which they shouldn't) they will need to draft a G in case they let him walk in 2027.

That leaves Campbell. He was shaky prior to his injury and looked like he should've been shut down for the season when he returned for the playoffs. The blueprint is out on how to attack the Pats. Put the OL (Campbell) on the sled drill and their offense is dead to rights.

If they don't address the OL, it's absolutely possible they regress and miss the playoffs. @Triumph got **** for it, but is not out of the ordinary at all. I expect 2-3 OL at minimum to be draft at T, G, C. or they wait for any veteran cuts to be brought in.

 

[Real fan 02]

My big concern during the playoffs was whether returning Campbell to the lineup and then continuing to play him when his performance showed he was still impaired by lingering effects of the injury might result in long term consequences.

There are really two issues now. One is how well he heals and recovers from the injury. The second is how much his recovery and rehabilitation during this off season interferes with his growth and improvement and undermines his sophomore bump in performance. He certainly had things he needed to improve that he may not have been able to do the work on because he was still rehabbing.

Those are reasons that I’m more inclined to still be looking for a potential starter at LT now.

This! Campbell has skill, ability we all know this. The long term or lingering effects are what concerns me. As I've made a mention in my conversations with @mgteich did anyone see Us every taking Cole Strange or in 2011 Nate solder? I don't know with certainty like anyone one of us don't what Vrabel's doing with the second round pick.. I've convinced myself we are taking edge at 31.. so based on your post I wouldn't he the least bit suprised to see something done we all did see coming at # 63... now on Campbell i can't stress enough that he had a tear not a sprain stark differences.. there's scar tissue damage concerns, ect, ect. A sprain is far different in far of recovery and management as we know than a ligament tear. Always felt it was premature of him returning.. I remember when will got hurt Vrabel's mentioned he had to IR'd him to " protect him from himself "...

 

[rkarp1]

repeat, I prefaced my post with "if healthy"
I also believe you are down playing how good Vera-Tucker was when healthy, and only focusing on his fluke, unrelated injuries.
Likewise, OC is Wilsons natural/better position. he returns healthy, stronger and much more comfortable with the offense. Ditto Campbell.
I understand the concern with Moses age. but to state he was less than solid last season is a lie.
this OL has great upside. more so than last seasons upside. yes, they must remain on the field, and grow as a unit, but thinking this might be a top 10 OL is not so far fetched

 

[JoeSixPat]

This insanity downplaying the OL is worse than 2022 when this board and media were stoked after the Pats signed retreads at LB thinking their problems were now solved. At the same time they were thinking the legendary Cameron McGrone was going to be the icing on the cake.

AVT is a massive injury liability. Jared Wilson was awful at G before his injury and looked like Reggie Ray in "Varsity Blues" after. There's no way Vrabel is going to hand the C position over to him without competition. That is the type of enabling he's trying to get rid of.

Yeah, I'm not feeling great about Jared "if you liked him at Guard you're gonna love him as Center" Wilson

While I want the RT of the future, I'd like to see them go with a guy who has LT experience as well for needed depth (and if they can play LT they can probably step in at LG too). I would have been pleased to sign a good center in FA and draft an RT/LT/LG at #31 but the prices on Cs went crazy.

While there's a dropoff on OL after the first this year I think there will be possible Cs later in the draft.

Funny thing is, if you look at the success rate of 1st round OL being around 80%, from a salary cap management standpoint, given that hit rate, teams could do far worse than to focus on drafting their OL starters. If you're a team in the top 50% you can wind up having great young linemen locked into 4 year contracts at $4-6 million a season. Extend a few worth the 5th year and you're still saving a lot on the cap for other positions such as QBs that command $50-60 mil a season

 

[mgteich]

.

Funny thing is, if you look at the success rate of 1st round OL being around 80%, from a salary cap management standpoint, given that hit rate, teams could do far worse than to focus on drafting their OL starters. If you're a team in the top 50% you can wind up having great young linemen locked into 4 year contracts at $4-6 million a season. Extend a few worth the 5th year and you're still saving a lot on the cap for other positions such as QBs that command $50-60 mil a season

This is certainly true if you cannot draft a red or blue chipper, usually gone by 20.

After all, the question this year is whether we will be able to use a 3rd to move up to get one of the top players on Vrabel's board.

If not, there is a strong argument that if we can't get a good trade down partner, the best choice at 31 may very well be Rutledge.
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Is this year's draft that different?

In most drafts, there is little difference in value between 25 and 50. Of course, much depends on Vrabel's board. Just because a player is a top 50 prospect doesn't mean that he is high on our board

We arguably do very well with Rutledge plus whichever EDGE player we can get by moving up in the 2nd.

 

[JoeSixPat]

This is certainly true if you cannot draft a red or blue chipper, usually gone by 20.

After all, the question this year is whether we will be able to use a 3rd to move up to get one of the top players on Vrabel's board.

If not, there is a strong argument that if we can't get a good trade down partner, the best choice at 31 may very well be Rutledge.
=========
Is this year's draft that different?

In most drafts, there is little difference in value between 25 and 50. Of course, much depends on Vrabel's board. Just because a player is a top 50 prospect doesn't mean that he is high on our board

We arguably do very well with Rutledge plus whichever EDGE player we can get by moving up in the 2nd.

Wondering what your "cutoff" is on RT prospects that are first round worthy?

I get your point that this year the difference between round 1 and round 2 is pretty signficant

No one wants to see them reach even though we are all tracking RT of the future as a priority so if they're gone, better off prioritizing another position or trading back and still having a high 2nd rounder if some of the Edge rushers are still on the board

My point on the hypothetical of being a team in the back third of the draft filling their OL with guys on their rookie 1st round contracts is that they would average $5 mil a player instead of $20-$25 mil for veterans.

That could leave a team with a consistently young and strong OL for $25 million instead of $125 million, leaving that $100 million to pickup guys that are tougher if not impossible to draft. I do realize that means passing on other 1st round positions, which of course have lower "hit" rates too - so that draft pick and salary can also be a waste.

But if we were looking at the NFL draft from a "Moneyball" perspective, a team could basically get a 5 out of 11 offensive starters for a consistently low salary/cap amount while strengthening other parts of the team with free agent cash

 

[mgteich]

Wondering what your "cutoff" is on RT prospects that are first round worthy?

I get your point that this year the difference between round 1 and round 2 is pretty signficant

.

Perhaps, you are nitpicking.

Three are 7 OT's generally deemed worthy of a 1st round pick or one before 35. We HOPE that one that Vrabel wants is available when we pick.

There are no others generally deemed worthy of a 2nd round pick.
There are a couple of others arguably OK to pick in lower 3rd round.