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When I look at the team, I think that our starting players are not that bad but we lack two or three key players on each side of the ball.
The inury crisis we have had has been borderline ridiculous but our depth has often held up as well as could be expected with even our depth having to be replaced
Defence
The secondary is clearly the strength. I think McGee, Florence, Byrd and Whitner would make most rosters whilst so would McKelvin. Scott and Wilson are the equal of any reserve safeties whilst Corner and Youboty match up with any 4th and 5th CB on any depth chart.
At LB, Mitchell is an acceptable WLB if he could actually play there, whilst Posluzny would be better and more effective as a SLB, meaning what we really need is a MLB.
On the line Schobel has been as reliable as any while Stroud and Williams are a decent tandem and Spencer Johnson a great guy to have in the rotation.
Left Defensive End however has been poor and needs upgrading. Unfortunately Ellis has not yet stepped up or been given the opportunity whilst Maybin is likely to only ever be a Right End
Offense
I see two needs here. QB and LT.
The rest of the line has the potential to be very decent and we've developed a little depth. Butler-Wood-Hangartner-Levitre are 80% of a talented line with only LT missing. We also have depth in Scott, Meredith and Bell
A Owens/Evans pairing with support provided by Hardy and Reed is as good as any whilst Nelson is developing nicely.
Finally the ground attack of Fred-x and Lynch is as good as any pairing but I think Lynch could be replaced with little or no fall off here.
So the two problem positions are getting the ball to our talented offensive players and keeping the guy safe while he does this.
In my opinion therefore we have four key positions to fill, which might be possible to achieve in one draft, but no more than two.
They are:
QB
LT
LE
MLB
With even an average GM, I can see this being achieved in one draft, two at most, and despite finishing in all likelihood 5-11, we can easily turn that into 11-5 next season.
My personal solution is to trade our R1 next year and move back into R1 of this years draft. We draft for Sam Bradford and give him Bruce Campbell or Bryan Bulaga as a bodyguard. Due to injuries it is quite possible that Arthur Jones T/E and Sean Lee MLB will fall to us in the 3rd and 4th respectively.
If we trade Lynch for a 2nd in 2011, we will have a two 2nds in 2011 which might allow us to move up into R1 in that draft. Even if we don't, a load like Alex Wujciak MLB should be around in R2, as well as a LE like Ryan Kerrigan. With so many teams going 3-4, a traditional 4-3 end like Kerrigan could be there for us.
Rounds 4-7 in each draft should allow us to get 4-5 players who can provide missing depth like at LB, RB, QB (Second stringer - 2011 draft) DL and C/G
A decent GM and Coach should be able to mastermine turnarounds like Miami and Atlanta achieved in 2008 especially if we sort the offence out first. Fitzpatrick was awful today against the Chiefs and his replacement has rapidly become the No1 priority.
The inury crisis we have had has been borderline ridiculous but our depth has often held up as well as could be expected with even our depth having to be replaced
Defence
The secondary is clearly the strength. I think McGee, Florence, Byrd and Whitner would make most rosters whilst so would McKelvin. Scott and Wilson are the equal of any reserve safeties whilst Corner and Youboty match up with any 4th and 5th CB on any depth chart.
At LB, Mitchell is an acceptable WLB if he could actually play there, whilst Posluzny would be better and more effective as a SLB, meaning what we really need is a MLB.
On the line Schobel has been as reliable as any while Stroud and Williams are a decent tandem and Spencer Johnson a great guy to have in the rotation.
Left Defensive End however has been poor and needs upgrading. Unfortunately Ellis has not yet stepped up or been given the opportunity whilst Maybin is likely to only ever be a Right End
Offense
I see two needs here. QB and LT.
The rest of the line has the potential to be very decent and we've developed a little depth. Butler-Wood-Hangartner-Levitre are 80% of a talented line with only LT missing. We also have depth in Scott, Meredith and Bell
A Owens/Evans pairing with support provided by Hardy and Reed is as good as any whilst Nelson is developing nicely.
Finally the ground attack of Fred-x and Lynch is as good as any pairing but I think Lynch could be replaced with little or no fall off here.
So the two problem positions are getting the ball to our talented offensive players and keeping the guy safe while he does this.
In my opinion therefore we have four key positions to fill, which might be possible to achieve in one draft, but no more than two.
They are:
QB
LT
LE
MLB
With even an average GM, I can see this being achieved in one draft, two at most, and despite finishing in all likelihood 5-11, we can easily turn that into 11-5 next season.
My personal solution is to trade our R1 next year and move back into R1 of this years draft. We draft for Sam Bradford and give him Bruce Campbell or Bryan Bulaga as a bodyguard. Due to injuries it is quite possible that Arthur Jones T/E and Sean Lee MLB will fall to us in the 3rd and 4th respectively.
If we trade Lynch for a 2nd in 2011, we will have a two 2nds in 2011 which might allow us to move up into R1 in that draft. Even if we don't, a load like Alex Wujciak MLB should be around in R2, as well as a LE like Ryan Kerrigan. With so many teams going 3-4, a traditional 4-3 end like Kerrigan could be there for us.
Rounds 4-7 in each draft should allow us to get 4-5 players who can provide missing depth like at LB, RB, QB (Second stringer - 2011 draft) DL and C/G
A decent GM and Coach should be able to mastermine turnarounds like Miami and Atlanta achieved in 2008 especially if we sort the offence out first. Fitzpatrick was awful today against the Chiefs and his replacement has rapidly become the No1 priority.
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