Bourne Again Christian
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Marchyes, it's February, but Tony Mazz "does not feel good" about the team. ..
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I like your optismism.Losing...
Lewis = more time for White (seemed like White was second option last year).
Burkhead = more time for Gillislee / new rookie RB. TB would be healthier.
Dola = we won't have to deal with having too much WR and who to cut during training camp.
Gronk = we've survived without him before.
Solder, Waddle, Fleming = Garcia, draft, draft sprinkled with Dante's magic.
Offense will be fine.
I agree with most of the above. I just think je11 will not be the beast we know him as for about half the season.
Just timing on acls and it takes a at least to get right and most players are still light on the shreded knee for a while.
I like your optismism.
If Lewis walks for no more than 5 mill I'd be disappointed.I anticipate a lot of roster changes this offseason, perhaps some shocking ones. Solder walks for a big payday? I'm ready for it. An indecisive Gronk gets traded? Won't be shocked. A shakeup is coming.
Offensively, a core skill position group of Cooks, Edelman, Hogan, White and Bennett is good enough to lead the team to a Super Bowl as long as the depth pieces are decent and Brady doesn't get killed.
RBs do grow on trees and there are plenty of serviceable options in FA. Lewis is a special player, but this offense does not require a special player at RB, it requires guys who catch the ball (and don't fumble).
I also think we are slightly overvaluing Solder. He played very well in 2017, but the offense can survive if the other 4 guys stay healthy and continue to gel together.
...TWO guys.Some say Ray Lewis killed a guy
Offensively, a core skill position group of Cooks, Edelman, Hogan, White and Bennett is good enough to lead the team to a Super Bowl as long as the depth pieces are decent and Brady doesn't get killed.
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.
This big blow would be losing solder since we have no idea on if Garcia will ready for 2018.
I suspect Waddle and Fleming are both capable of stepping in for Solder without much difference, but I'm a lot higher on those two and a lot lower on Solder than most here. Not that I think he's bad, just that he's nothing more than a league average left tackle.
However, left tackle is the only position beside quarterback where going any worse than average is a recipe for catastrophe, so out of fear you'll back the truck full of money up even for an average player.
The problem is we could very easily lose all three tackles in free agency.
I suspect Waddle and Fleming are both capable of stepping in for Solder without much difference, but I'm a lot higher on those two and a lot lower on Solder than most here. Not that I think he's bad, just that he's nothing more than a league average left tackle.
However, left tackle is the only position beside quarterback where going any worse than average is a recipe for catastrophe, so out of fear you'll back the truck full of money up even for an average player.
The problem is we could very easily lose all three tackles in free agency.
Waddle and/or Fleming stepping in for Solder without much difference?
What are you, f*cked?
Losing...
Lewis = more time for White (seemed like White was second option last year).
Burkhead = more time for Gillislee / new rookie RB. TB would be healthier.
Dola = we won't have to deal with having too much WR and who to cut during training camp.
Gronk = we've survived without him before.
Solder, Waddle, Fleming = Garcia, draft, draft sprinkled with Dante's magic.
Offense will be fine.