Did I Miss Something?

[Jan Reimers]

We've strengthened every area of our team--at least to some extent--except for kickoff returns. Rogers, thankfully, is gone, but unless I missed it, we really haven't come up with a true KO returner.

[WG]

Re: Did I Miss Something?

Originally posted by Jan Reimers
We've strengthened every area of our team--at least to some extent--except for kickoff returns. Rogers, thankfully, is gone, but unless I missed it, we really haven't come up with a true KO returner.

How do you figure?

OL will be the same w/ less depth if we don't sign someone soon. The starters will have another year of play together under their belts which will be big, so that may qualify your statement there.

On Lindell v. Hollis, I think many would take issue w/ that. Hollis has a better and longer track record, while Lindell's biggest, and likely only positive over Hollis is a slightly deeper kick. Accuracy goes to Hollis however.

QB is the same.

RB is the same.

WRs, we lost Price, which most seem to think is a loss, although I'll say that it's a wash w/ Reed. Either way, we don't have the depth we had last season at WR, at least not yet.

TE, we have Moore, but we had him last year too only now we don't have JR.

FBs, ehh, a wash probably. We swapped out receiving FB for blocking ones. Different systems...

On D, our secondary is identical. Reese isn't going to upgrade anything.

Posey for Newman, the jury's out there for sure until Posey puts up something for the second season in his 7 year career.

Spikes is really the biggest upgrade and will be huge. But other than that, I'm just not sharing the notion that somehow we've "upgraded" everywhere. There are changes for sure, but "upgrades", we heard the same about Robinson and he was a significant downgrade. If Posey's the same, it will hurt us.

Adams, I see too many people looking at the Adams of '99 instead of the Adams of last season. Sure, he'll be an upgrade at what our biggest defensive issue was last year, our rushing D. But he's a plug and that's it. He has no pass rush, or nothing significant. He's clearly slower than he was in '99 by a fair margin for anyone who actually watched him in particular play last year.

And our hopes for an upgrade at the "other DE position" are linked to either Jones being completely healthy amidst rumors of retirement now and/or McKenzie all of a sudden playing like he did 4, 5, and 6 seasons ago, also after overcoming an injury following two seasons of limited playing time and subpar performances.

So Spikes, yes.
Adams, yes given our lack of a DT last year.
Posey, maybe, jury's out.

Other than that, we haven't really "upgraded" anywhere. DT and LBs, that's it.

STs, we'll see. But remember when we signed Watson? I questioned that move then and he sucked! As a returner, which is why we brought him here, and especially as a DB.

So I'll be a believer when it all happens.

I still see us at 12-4 if managed properly, as bad as 9-7 if not. If we were to have more than one injury to our OL, I can easily see us at 7-8 or 8-8 coupled w/ some coaching errors/general bumbling.

But we've taken serious hits to our depth at WR, OL, and possibly even TE which could very seriously impact our bid for the division and conference titles.

With all the bucks we have on the books, I'd like to have seen a decent OL depth signing or an OL draftee in rounds 2 or 3. I don't think the DE situation is as dire as we may think b/c there are 3 or 4 options that we're hoping for to work out.

Irons, Jones, McKenzie, and/or Kelsay or Denney although my hopes for Jones are dimishing barring the infusion of some good news regarding Jones' progress in healing his injury of which there's been none. Instead, we're hearing rumors of his retiring, which I can see given the very blatant lack of good news regarding his progress. I.e., the talk is starting to at least make some sense although the news isn't particularly good. I'm also not big on Kelsay or Denney as you know. McK, he may be an average DE but I wouldn't expect more out of him. He may fit the scheme better than CA did simply due to his speed style instead of CA's muscle style.

But anyway, to say that we've improved everywhere is a bit much, don't you think?

Other than Spikes and Adams, we signed no marquee or even close to name players. Jett is and always has been a 3rd WR who's entire performance has been based on speed. If this latest injury of his, combined w/ his age, 32/33 this season, is not a factor, then he'll be lucky. At that age, speed players begin to slow down. Since that's what his success has been predicated on, it would hinder his utility to us as a team and limit his effectiveness. That's why I thought WRs like Q. Ismael or Stokes would have been better. They know how to run routes and do other things that flat out burn and their skillsets are not tied to one thing and one thing only, namely speed which deteriorates w/ age/injury.

[Earthquake Enyart]

Thanks Jan.

I think they are counting on Shaw, Aiken, or maybe even Simonton.

[WG]

Yeah, I'm sure we'll find a decent returner in the bunch. That's one thing I'm hopeful of, but we've gotten burned in the past few years w/ the same types of signings that turn out to be busts.

One of the things that concerns me is all the players coming off of injuries or who have significant injury histories who are expected to make this team:

McKenzie
Jones
Reese
Jett
Gary
Sydney

When you consider that we may likely count on 3 or 4 of them for significant contributions, it does raise an eyebrow. 5 or all 6 may be "next in line" to start given injuries to their respective starters and 3 or 4 may vie for starting spots seriously.

[Patrick76777]

Actually, I think all 6 of those players could not play a down and we really wouldn’t miss a beat.

[Patrick76777]

Well, Maybe a little.

[WG]

Originally posted by Patrick76777
Actually, I think all 6 of those players could not play a down and we really wouldn’t miss a beat.

I agree! So why then is there all this hype about Jones and McKenzie?? and Jett?

[Patrick76777]

I hope Jones can be something. I'm hoping for him. The other two are just garbage. Although I'd love to see Jett fill a sort of James Lofton roll on this team, but I don't see it happening.

[Patrick76777]

McKenzie is just Chidi with better hair.

[WG]

BTW 76,

Why didn't we bring in Doug Brzezinski? Do ya think he may have played backup G for us instead of for the Panthers! Gee!

Oh wait, I think I know why we didn't look at him; he's never missed a game in his career. That's it! Sorry...

How about Dave Wohlabaugh? Did we show any interest in him? Nahhhh, too many starts under his belt at the age of 31/32.

How about Dave Fiore? Did we ask him to come for a visit?

Heath Irwin?

Tom Nutten?

Ben Lynch?

Has Floyd Wedderburn been signed? I have no idea what he's done.

Anyway, there were plenty of reasonably priced options out there and we didn't seem to even look at them. Given our situation, I'd say that borders on neglect.

[WG]

Instead, we gotta rely on 5th and 7th round draft pick and undrafted rookies or 2nd year guys who haven't taken a snap in the pros!

Not to mention, the guys above mostly don't qualify b/c they haven't been injured either ever or recently.

[Patrick76777]

Maybe the forgot!

[WG]

Yeah, maybe...

LOL

Maybe he somehow knows thru extrasensory skills that we are going to have an injury free season on the OL too.

[Jan Reimers]

Wys, I do think we've upgraded many areas - Gash at FB, Gary at RB, Campbell as a blocking TE. We've tried to compensate for the loss of Price with Shaw, Jett, Aiken to battle for spots behind Reed.

Besides TKO, Posey, and Adams, we've added veteran depth on D with Sydney and Reese. We've stockpiled DEs in the hope that at least one will emerge.

STs should generally be better, as Shaw is a seasoned punt returner, McGhee was good in college, and Crowell and Haggan may help coverage.

My point was we've at least tried to improve those areas most in need of improvement, but seemed to have ignored kick returner, which is so vital to good field position.

[Patrick76777]

I think we'll be fine at O-line.