Steve102
Any Man Who Must Say I Am The King Is No True King
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I would say the only issues with this is I would not count on McCourty and Chung going forward. Same with High.I can't reply in the Post-Game thread because of the overwhelming tide of negativity. There are calls for BB to step down as GM or to revamp scouting or to do something different than what he's done over the last 20 years.
Folks, this is a transition. We've seen this before.
2005. 2010. & now 2020.
Chill out. BB hasn't shown you he knows how to build a roster? How much more does he need to show you? Only difference between 2005 & 2010 & 2020 is Tom Brady. But that doesn't mean 2021 can't be like 2006 or 2011 or 2012 if we get a more competent QB.
The only thing BB needs to do for me is get an NFL good quality starting QB. That's it. Or maybe actually a TE too. The WRs will take care of themselves after that.
Because I'm confident in all these aspects of the team:
1. The RBs with Damien Harris & Taylor, Michel if he's still around, and James White as backup. Jakob Johnson opening holes.
2. The OL has been spectacular. Opening huge running lanes when Ds know they are running it. Protecting Cam--he has all day to throw. All the sacks are on him. Look at that OL: Wynn, Thuney, Andrews, Mason, Onwenu, Herron backing it up. Great OL.
3. DBs: JC Jackson, Gilmore (he'll be back because of his contract, or he'll be a holdout), D McCourty, J Jones, Myles Bryant, JJ Williams. We have great depth there.
4. Back 7 big safeties and LBs who can cover RBs and TEs: Dugger, Uche, Chung. Hoping Terez Hall can pick up on that end as well.
These are fantastic building blocks, which leads me point #...:
5. We have a ton of salary cap space. A ton. We are going to be buying while other teams are jettisoning solid veteran talent on big contracts. It's going to happen. It has to happen. And because everyone will be up against the cap, the FA market is not going to command huge contracts (which is why I feel confident about retaining Gilmore and Thuney).
6. Yes, we need help at DL (hopefully Jennings will develop), and TE, and WR, and even LB (we need more speed there), but this is what FA and the draft are for.
This is going to be a classic Belichick revamp and I fully expect we'll compete for the division next year & also make the playoffs.
Getting a competent QB is of course crucial to that, but I think Belichick can do that. My only real concern other than QB is TE because unlike the WR position, good TEs aren't abundant. It will take luck to find someone to man that position.
We're OK. BB the GM knows how to build a team. He has shown this repeatedly. We already have a lot of good pieces who are either young or mid career (Wynn, Thuney, Andrews, Mason, Onwenu, Herron, Taylor, Harris, Myers, maybe Byrd, Jennings, Uche, Dugger, T Hall, JC Jackson, JJ Jones, Phillips, JJ Williams, M Bryant, Bailey). BB can build on the 20 players who are already here.
Jeez, it's one losing season out of 20, and we have the greatest coach and talent assembler of all time.
The closest rebuild I would compare this to is the 2001 off season. There's a lot of holes, as there was on that team. Bill filled those holes much faster than expected and we know the outcome. With the availability of cap space, I am confident he will bring in the right pieces to fill the majority of holes. The main issue is the QB position. Cam is horrible, the receivers are horrible. Need at least one of each.