And as far as the offense being "loaded" is concerned:
Don't like ANY of the RBs after Stevenson & Henderson;
The TE position is a Complete unknown after Double-H;
We still haven't found an answer for the Slot position;
And of course, there are the two Yuge question marks at LT and now at Center, which are, like, you know, only two of the three two Most Important positions along the OL..
I guess it's depressing that our 3rd-4th options at RB aren't all-pros. I do like having a legit FB in Reggie Gilliam, and count that as an improvement -- sort of our latter-day Heath Evans. You know, the only name anybody remembers in our RB room in 04 after Dillon and Faulk. Wait don't tell me, you think Mike Cloud was the intangible unsung "it" factor that year.
We liked a blocking TE who we lost, time to see what we drafted.
As far as a third WR upgrade, after Doubs and AJB, but this one in the slot position, that would be lovely. Douglas and Hollins have lower YPC. Boutte has a great YPC but to date, but almost strictly on the outside. So yeah, a 1000 yard, 10 TD slot receiver would be a great addition. How many of those are there? Or should we start throwing more to, e.g., Brown in the slot? Is it just definitionally important to you to have a lot of yards and scores from the slot? Can you name me a slot receiver, even an unavailable one, that would be an "answer," including the breakdown of snaps he lined up in the slot? (Some people still call JSN, for example, a slot receiver, but he's now almost always on the outside.) What do we need out of the slot before we consider the position "answered"?
Oline got a lot better -- point taken at Center. LT, a little less. We have more bodies to throw into the breach in the event of another injury. I'm assuming we'll be playing an LT with both legs working. That's an improvement right there. Not world-beating, but 2025-beating, the benchmark for improvement.
Interestingly, AJB, in his candid storytelling about the day he came onboard, referenced Vrabes really lighting into Campbell (in addition to Maye taking over a meeting from Josh.) Actually, for the few words he spoke, he low-key called out two guys on his first day while explicitly attempting to be humble and respectful.
I think the question is really whether we get more out of this crew, and how
much more. Secondly, is there anybody we just
can't score on? And the equivalent questions on the defensive side of the ball.
Loaded? I dunno, loaded for
us. In 2025, DM amassed 4394 passing yards, 31 TDs, 8 int.s, 72% completion rate and drumroll... 47 sacks taken.
- Does Drake get another little bit of time through O-line improvement?
- Can Drake break bad habits and get a little bit of time through discipline (not patting the ball, deciding to throw it away faster where needed)?
If he's getting time for throws everywhere to develop, those numbers improve from an already good base, and I'm high on that improvement being more than marginal. I think the Doubs and AJB pickups are behind a lot of descriptions like "loaded," but the upside can be pretty intoxicating. What if we're looking at a 40+ TD, 4500+ Yard, still 70+% year, holding int.s steady at 8?
That's not out of the real of possibility, just with the pickups we have made.
Of course, everybody could play worse too, or... "but the schedule."
