Simpelton
In the Starting Line-Up
- Joined
- Feb 12, 2017
- Messages
- 3,868
- Reaction score
- 5,265
Let's assume for the moment that we get unlucky in each of the big player retention issues we're talking about in the offseason
Namely, we lose Lewis and Burkhead, Gronk swans off to fame and fortune in pro wrestling, another team puts money down on Dola and beats our best offer, etc.
Since none of these things would prevent this team from being, at least, a playoff contender anyway, is there any thought to how you think the team should move forward?
Personally I think that while each of these offensive pieces would be a blow to lose, the offense as a whole would be in reasonable shape. Our top 3 receivers are Edelman, Cooks and Hogan.That doesn't change. What changes is that instead of Captain Clutch at WR4, we have Phillip Dorsett... not ideal, but I think the guy can play.
The running attack takes a big hit, but White and Gillislee give us something to work with. We'd probably be looking to add a new running back, but if we make a good choice there, the RBs can carry their weight.
Big blow would be at Tight End -- obviously. People don't like Allen because he's a blocking TE and he tends to make plays happen for other people rather than making plays himself, but that doesn't mean he isn't a playmaker. I watched him create a lot of holes for Lewis over the last year, it's there if you're looking for it. What he does is sometimes a bit subtle and hard to spot, and he's not ideal as a TE1 because he's not a big receiver, but I actually think we'd be OK with a TE tandem of Allen, Bennett and someone like Hollister or another roleplaying TE3. TE would go from being a major strength of the franchise to simply being a functional part of the machine, but we'd probably get by.
This is basically my longwinded way of saying that the offense is pretty deep, and this team's offense is designed with "next man up" in mind. Gronk is the big X factor, our offense currently relies on him a great deal, but if he's gone, it's not that hard to imagine the team finding a way to work around this and keep the offense strong without him.
Namely, we lose Lewis and Burkhead, Gronk swans off to fame and fortune in pro wrestling, another team puts money down on Dola and beats our best offer, etc.
Since none of these things would prevent this team from being, at least, a playoff contender anyway, is there any thought to how you think the team should move forward?
Personally I think that while each of these offensive pieces would be a blow to lose, the offense as a whole would be in reasonable shape. Our top 3 receivers are Edelman, Cooks and Hogan.That doesn't change. What changes is that instead of Captain Clutch at WR4, we have Phillip Dorsett... not ideal, but I think the guy can play.
The running attack takes a big hit, but White and Gillislee give us something to work with. We'd probably be looking to add a new running back, but if we make a good choice there, the RBs can carry their weight.
Big blow would be at Tight End -- obviously. People don't like Allen because he's a blocking TE and he tends to make plays happen for other people rather than making plays himself, but that doesn't mean he isn't a playmaker. I watched him create a lot of holes for Lewis over the last year, it's there if you're looking for it. What he does is sometimes a bit subtle and hard to spot, and he's not ideal as a TE1 because he's not a big receiver, but I actually think we'd be OK with a TE tandem of Allen, Bennett and someone like Hollister or another roleplaying TE3. TE would go from being a major strength of the franchise to simply being a functional part of the machine, but we'd probably get by.
This is basically my longwinded way of saying that the offense is pretty deep, and this team's offense is designed with "next man up" in mind. Gronk is the big X factor, our offense currently relies on him a great deal, but if he's gone, it's not that hard to imagine the team finding a way to work around this and keep the offense strong without him.