I'm not naive enough to take NFL GMs at their word. Wolf can say whatever he wants about the players and coaches they added but it's fairly obvious they didn't really love those guys. They settled for what they could get and took some gambles on guys they thought could project well out of the bargain bin. It is what it is. This entire offseason seemed predicated on the idea that even without splurging on half-solutions, they'd be able to do enough this year to path some things up and make this a more attractive place to play next year to where they can get some better pieces in here without having to pay stupid money for who don't even really address things fully.
My issue so far is that there isn't really any evidence that any of that is addressed. The OL seems in even worse shape. David Andrews suffered an injury that might push him to early retirement so now a new hole is opened next year. Onwenu seems to have gained weight and is now a worse RT than he was last year, where he's still playing. Wallace and Robinson haven't been day 1 hits in the draft. Lowe maybe has improved to where he's solidified himself as an NFL caliber talent even if only a backup level player, but in the grand scheme of things that doesn't really change our standing.
At WR, Thornton and Boutte I guess did well enough in camp to win starting and roster spots, respectively, but once again not at a consequential level as Thornton SHOULDN'T be a starter and Boutte is still just a fringe roster player. Baker has been a day 1 dud and early returns on Polk don't look spectacular. Those guys have full careers ahead of them but if the goal was to have this looking like a better situation next year then they haven't shown signs of being a part of that so far.
At QB, because of the above situation being so bad, he's not even out there to show potential and inspire hope on anyone. Most people knew we'd take him fairly early on in the draft process and right now there's little to make any coach or player more excited about teaming up with him now than there was coming out of college.
We're only 1/4 of the way through the season so things can change, but so far it's looking like this might just be a totally wasted year. There's nothing I can point to that looks to be trending positively from last year to inspire hope. I see zero reason to think any of their targets next year will want to come here more than they did this past year. So they'll have to decide again to just punt on the year again or bite the bullet and spend lots of money on guys who you still probably want to upgrade from but at least they give you a semblance of respectability to allow others around them to grow.
