Thoughts on the the positions so far.
Offense
QBs - The rookie looks interesting. I doubt he takes Hoyer's job though and if he sticks he bound for the PS. He is a great practice arm but when the rush hits him he loses a lot of it. That's the book on him anyway.
RB - Sony looks pretty good and I'm glad they plan to use him as a pass catcher too. Just hold on to the damn ball. Hill vs Gillislee for one of the last spots should be fun. They will need that other big back with the relatively small White and Burkhead to give Sony a rest. As usual Bolden and Develin will no doubt stick and fill their roles.
TE - Curious to see what if anything Hollister can bring in the pass catching game. So far they look to be trying to really work him into more of a role. I wonder if this means they've given up on trying to make Allen a duel threat and will choose to split the duties between these two as they back up Gronk. In any case. the 3 spots here are locked.
WR - I think Edelman/Hogan/Matthrews/Patterson/Dorsett all make the team and there will not be room for anyone else after week 4. Even if there is they won't be a factor with this group ahead of them. The question is do they carry another guy till then or just go with 4. Matthews is going to probably lead the core in total yards if he plays all 16 games and will be a big factor. The guy to watch though is Dorsett. He is the wildcard who has had a strong camp and can a guy can be good for 1 game changing play a game. Everyone else is fun to watch but I don't wanna spent time to talk about guys who ultimately are competing for PS spots.
OL - A very good unit this year. I think there are 2 interior spots open with Karras and Croston having the inside track on them. The 4 tackles should be locked in as should the 3 starting IOL. It looks like both the moves made in the the draft to help out the OT spot worked.
DE - Besides the top 4 there isn't much to talk about here so far. I doubt they keep a 5th guy at this point. Right now Wise looks ahead of Rives from all the clips and reports we've read. That's to be expected, but Rivers has more talent. His ability to redirect with ease is off a block is legit. Hopefully he comes on later this year but i won't expect it early.
DT - This is a great conversation point. Do they carry 4 or 5 guys here? They have 5 guys that are clearly good enough to carry but do they keep them all. Maybe they do a surprise trade of Brown (unlikely) but besides that it comes down to Valentine vs Butler if they need to cut someone with Butler probably on the outside due to him being more of a niche player. I think they keep all 5 but it will be interesting to watch this.
LB - Another great spot to watch. The starters are a lock and I do hope Van Noy is making the step it looks like he is. If he can go from a C level start to a B- level starter (just to put it in those terms) they would make a huge difference for this D. In the end this unit lives and dies by Hightower though. After the top 2 is a cluster f*** which is kind of fun. I wish there was a clear legit 3rd option though. The closest right now look like Langi but he is more of an outside than all around player. If he sticks it will be in part to be emergency edge to the DEs as well as LB play. King should stick but he is a STer. So the question is how many more guys do they keep? Sam, Roberts, Flowers, Bentley are all in the mix here. Sam is my personal favorite of that group and I know many others feel the same. They all have their niche they could fill. This spots really needs to be watched more as the back up to the starters he could become hugely important.
CB - Overall this has been a good and compertive spot. Unlike LB there are a bunch of guys who will be in the mix for key spots but they are showing well right now. Gilmore is making the probowl this year. Mark it down now. I was hesitant when I say the contract. Now I think he is worth every penny. Possibly more. Whatever inconsistency he had has been fixed and in the last 8 game and into camp he has been playing like a top 5 CB. Dawson hopefully will adjust to the NFL and take the nickle spot. He was drafted to be a plug and play guy week 1. I'm not worried he doesn't look the part yet. Few rookies do this early, even play and play guys. Give him a few preseason games to get his feet under him. J. Jones is probably the next safest to make the team if he comes back healthy as he is a good emergency option and great special team. The kind of guy you pencil in for the 5th or 6th spot. The other spots seem to be open. McCourty, Jackson, Rowe and Crossen have all either shown well or have the experience you like. Everyone else including Cyrus Jones is probably well on the outside looking in at this point. The question is do they keep 5 or 6 guys. This for me personally is the most fun spots to watch. I think McCourty ultimately does enough to get the starter spot but I wouldn't be willing to bet on it.
S - Nothing new or interesting here. McCourty, Chung, Harmon all stick and rotate. Ebner makes it for STs and Richards AGAIN MAKES THE ROSTER. He is one BB's guys. As much as we all hate it. So he will keep him over a promising young player to the despair of all of us. That or he stole the pics Jake Bequette used to blackmail him for years. Maybe they are handed down from player to player once they get board and decide to leave?
And at this point i've written way more than i originally planned to. Which won't surprise anyone whose ever read a post of mine and is well aware of my tendency to be a long winded sociopath