My end of season thoughts always drift towards the construction of next year's roster. I really liked this team, thought we had something special on defense through half the season. We did have a great secondary and some versatile players. I think that teams that are really dedicated to a power running game like Ravens and Titans created some mismatches against us. Chiefs had an advantage against us with Kelce for sure as Chung's play went downhill as the season wore on possibly related to his health and age. Covering backs out of backfield and TEs over the middle was difficult. Miami ran a ton of pick plays and play action and picked on our S/LB in coverage as well as having a good matchup against Gilmore with Davante Parker.
So, mind drifting to next year based on players currently under contract:
CB Stephon Gilmore, J.C. Jackson, Jonathan Jones, Joejuan Williams, Jason McCourty, D’Angelo Ross
* Good deep group. Joejuan Williams has the height to cover tall receivers and possibly TEs as long depending on his strength. McCourty may be a cap casualty regardless of Devin's decision on retirement.
S Patrick Chung, Duron Harmon, Terrence Brooks, Malik Gant
* An older group. A cohesive group. Devin McCourty can still play, but he doesn't make you younger. Expect a few additions here. A safety who can both cover TEs and provide run support dropping into the box. Some intimidation in this group without crossing the line with contact out-of-bounds or after the whistle or to the head of defenseless receivers.
LB Dont’a Hightower, Ja’Whuan Bentley
* Hightower is near the end. Bentley needs to keep improving. Need some speed here. Need coverage skills at this position.
DT Lawrence Guy, Adam Butler (RFA), Byron Cowart
* I consider RFA's to be part of the team, especially Butler based on his play and his draft status (UDFA). They have to give him at least a 2nd round tender to protect themselves and that will dissuade other teams. Need more at this position. We miss what Wilfork used to bring, but those guys are pretty rare. We've gotten by with players like Alan Branch, Vincent Valentine. This position needs a few additions.
DE/EDGE John Simon, Chase Winovich, Derek Rivers, Deatrich Wise, Keionta Davis (ERFA)
* Winovich needs to make a big stride from first to second year. Simon was OK. Wise had issue with penalties, especially hands to the face probably because he's so tall and plays upright. Rivers and Davis probably don't make the team. Need a few players here as well. Unclear if 2020 is a good year to flip the balance from 4-3 to 3-4 but this position and DT have to be developed as a unit that is capable of playing multiple schemes.
QB Jarrett Stidham, Cody Kessler
* I really want to believe the Stidham hype, but if Brady doesn't re-sign with the team then our approach at other positions changes and we let go more veterans to commit to more youth.
T Isaiah Wynn, Marcus Cannon, Korey Cunningham, Yodny Cajuste
* Cannon is under contract for two more years and played hurt and with sever flue one game. He's at least our swing tackle for the next two years. Wynn has only played 8 games in 2 years. This is like his year 1-2 transition so hopefully he makes a big stride too. Cunningham and Cajuste are unknowns to me, but the team knows what they have. I expect the team to prioritize offensive line regardless of whether Brady returns, you must have an above average offensive line to execute consistently.
G Shaq Mason, Hjalte Forholdt, Jermaine Eluemunor (RFA)
* Thuney will be a big loss, though I hope they offer him good money. If they were going to offer him $10 million and could cut some other replaceable veterans to up their offer another $3-4 million a year he is one of the teams few All-Pros. Put me down as in favor of extending ourselves for Joe Thuney.
C David Andrews
* Can't believe that I consider James Ferentz a priority to re-sign. Karras too if you can do it cheaply. We need to have at least 3 players on the roster able to start at center. Not sure if Froholdt can be counted on as the third layer of depth, but drafting a player like Tyler Biadasz, Wisconsin would make me feel better.
TE Matt LaCosse, Ryan Izzo
* Wow. No mismatches in the passing game. No dominant run blockers. Would be better off with an extra tackle. Hope we can add multiple players at this position.
WR Julian Edelman, Mohamed Sanu, N’Keal Harry, Jakobi Meyers
* Edelman is a warrior, but he takes a ton of abuse and it added up this year. Meyers has potential. Harry flashed a few times and needs to take a big stride, the Chiefs game where he scored a TD only to be ruled out-of-bounds was an eye popping play. He can be a powerful receiver. Sanu had an ankle sprain and was dropped into a complicated offense mid-season. I am not ruling him out either. That said, a true #1 receiver is the straw that stirs the drink. They don't grow on trees. You either have to reserve cap space for an acquisition like Odell Beckham and then put up with him, or you need to consider trading up in the draft to get an impact player. This year it's a tossup between Jerry Jeudy, Alambama and CeeDee Lamb, Oklahoma for first receiver off the board. And after that there are still a lot of great WRs with 1st round grades. I want one that has great speed and good route running. Honestly, who on the above list can get deep? Chiefs have Tyreek Hill and Mecole Hardman, we need at least one receiver with elite speed.
RB James White, Sony Michel, Rex Burkhead, Brandon Bolden, Damien Harris
* Honestly not a bad group overall. I think that lack of a FB and lack of blocking TEs, and offensive line injuries led to inconsistent execution.
FB James Develin, Jakob Johnson
* Who knows. Everyone wants them to come back healthy, but they are officially comeback players and fans don't have access to medical information. We need a FB. We may be all set.
ST Justin Bethel, Brandon King
* Really good start here. Add in Bolden too. Maybe Slater and Ebner get re-signed. This could be an area where we give an opportunity to an UDFA to free up some cap dollars for Thuney.
Specialists
K - Stephen Gostkowski, P - Jake Bailey, LS - Joe Cardona, PR - Gunner Olszewski
* Kicker position in 2019 was like drummers for Spinal Tap. They kept exploding in a cloud of dust. It's Gostkowski, Nugent, Forbath, Folk - twice with an emergency appendectomy in between. Maybe Folk is the guy. Maybe Gostkowski can return to form. Punter was OK, a little shaky in the playoffs possibly nerves. LS is awesome. PR must be durable enough and also would be best if he could play a position, can Gunner be a WR too?
