Vrabel: “I don’t think we have a very deep team”

[stcjones]

I don’t disagree with him, especially in regards to the offensive line… And a few other key positions… But what do we do now to address that is the question… Hopefully we can pick up some additional offensive line help during team cut downs…..


After the game last night during his post game interview Vrabel shocked everyone by saying the following:


One area in particular he seems to be concerned about is his team’s depth. He didn’t sugar-coat his feelings either.
“I don’t think we have a very deep team,” Vrabel said when asked about personnel usage in the upcoming preseason finale versus the Browns.
“We have to make sure that we’re preparing our football team and that we’re doing everything that we can that we keep our best players available. If that means playing Thursday as part of preparation, then that’s what we’ll do. I have not made that decision yet, but I would say that that’s something that I’m confident in with where we’re set up currently.”

 

[Uptown]

Easy fix…we’ll just allocate one of our 37 receivers to different positions of need on the roster. Suddenly, we’re deeper than the Mariana Trench.

 

[Thelonious]

One of Vrabel's strengths, maybe his main one, is unflinching honesty. His comment on teh depth is an example. The bottom ... half? ... of the roster has been looking worrisomely weak. It seemed to me (haven't checked any numbers) that we were quite lucky last year in the injury department. If we do not have similar luck this year, against a significantly stronger schedule, it could be a disappointing season. The team has definitely gotten better in the Vrabel years at the top of the roster in most areas, but below that, no one can honestly say that "the rebuild is complete." Depth could become more of a problem once a greater portion of cap goes to such players as Drake, Gonzo, and so on. I am not pressing any panic button, but this is an issue.

The only broad takeaway, in my mind, is that we MUST continue in draft-and-develop mode to keep the prospects coming and to keep overall salaries under control. The corollary to this is that we must resist the temptation to expend resources snatching at shiny, expensive "sure thing" (short term) objects, as I feel we did in the case of AJ Brown. We are not, and may never be, given shifting resources, in "one player away" mode. Trying to buy your way out of problems with splashy acquisitions is toxic JeteThink: no thanks.

 

[n1997y]

I think it’s true, but maybe not as true as popular wisdom has it despite Vrabel’s comments fueling that view.

I think Vrabes knows we have a lot of young unproven players and he is turning up the heat on them, putting them under pressure to see who steps up and who wilts.

Of course he wants more and better depth. What HC doesn’t want his backup DL to be able to manhandle the Eagle’s starting OL? He just saw we’re not there yet. But remember during the season hopefully when we see our backups playing it will be one of them surrounded by starters, not an entire lineup of backups. So things are not as dire as they may seem. Vrabel’s comments have to be viewed in context. He’s not throwing in the towel on every backup that played last night.