Toadofsteel
01-16-2013, 10:58 AM
I'm going to bring up positions on the roster that we're hurting at and explain why I think we have a plan in place to handle it.
DE: I think the staff has been secretly grooming Ojomo all this time. If they didn't have long-term plans for him they would have waived him at the start of the season (and someone would have picked him up off waivers). JPP, Kiwi, Ojomo, and perhaps Tuck (since they said he's not going anywhere this year) should make a decent enough combo without having to pick up any big FA or spend draft picks. I will say, however, that even if Tuck stays, he should relinquish his status as Captain to someone with a little more passion than him; it was obvious he was just going through the motions this year. I don't know if it was due to injury or just not being as hungry for a ring anymore, but we need a real leader to step up.
DT: From what I remember, we still have Canty and Joseph on the roster. Also, I don't think we're anywhere near to giving up on Markus Kuhn, who looked great in the rotational role prior to his ACL injury. Austin I don't like as much, but perhaps if he could stay healthy for long enough and produce some next year, he could still fill a role for us.
OLB: This year we got absolutely devastated by injuries. Yet we still have Boley, Rivers (if we re-sign him), and Williams. I think Williams has great potential to become a starting linebacker, IF he can stay healthy (which is his greatest problem). What we need in this position is some quality depth... Paysinger is decent, but better suited to special teams than actually playing linebacker. I wouldn't mind seeing Rivers on the strong side and Williams on the weak side.
MLB: This is probably the second biggest need after OL, and if Te'o or Ogletree fall to #19 I could see us spending our first round pick on one of them.
CB: The biggest concern is getting Hosley up to speed and finishing his pro transition (he looked pretty good in the Baltimore game) and keeping Prince healthy. Webster should be relegated to a more backup role as he is in hard decline now. Given our depth at safety, we should default to the 3 safety set whenever we need a nickel package. Rolle and Hill are both good at the slot corner position...
OL is by far our biggest need. Getting Beatty locked up for a long time should be our top priority this offseason (to the point that if we had to let either Beatty or Cruz walk, I'd keep Beatty). Boothe was okay, but not worth the money he'd be looking for. Baas, despite how terrible he is, we are stuck with him for another year, so a late pick on a C that we can groom to take over the starting role would be nice. Snee is due to go the way of Diehl any day now. And we don't have any answer on the roster for RT. Diehl has declined to the point where he shouldn't be in the NFL anymore, Brewer can't even beat out Diehl so he must be REALLY bad, and Locklear got all kinds of hurt and I don't think he'd be able to return to form.
If only we could get KC to bite on a first round tender on Cruz or Stevie. Then we could get Luke Joeckel and not have to worry about the tackle positions for a LOOOOONG time... At least I can dream.
DE: I think the staff has been secretly grooming Ojomo all this time. If they didn't have long-term plans for him they would have waived him at the start of the season (and someone would have picked him up off waivers). JPP, Kiwi, Ojomo, and perhaps Tuck (since they said he's not going anywhere this year) should make a decent enough combo without having to pick up any big FA or spend draft picks. I will say, however, that even if Tuck stays, he should relinquish his status as Captain to someone with a little more passion than him; it was obvious he was just going through the motions this year. I don't know if it was due to injury or just not being as hungry for a ring anymore, but we need a real leader to step up.
DT: From what I remember, we still have Canty and Joseph on the roster. Also, I don't think we're anywhere near to giving up on Markus Kuhn, who looked great in the rotational role prior to his ACL injury. Austin I don't like as much, but perhaps if he could stay healthy for long enough and produce some next year, he could still fill a role for us.
OLB: This year we got absolutely devastated by injuries. Yet we still have Boley, Rivers (if we re-sign him), and Williams. I think Williams has great potential to become a starting linebacker, IF he can stay healthy (which is his greatest problem). What we need in this position is some quality depth... Paysinger is decent, but better suited to special teams than actually playing linebacker. I wouldn't mind seeing Rivers on the strong side and Williams on the weak side.
MLB: This is probably the second biggest need after OL, and if Te'o or Ogletree fall to #19 I could see us spending our first round pick on one of them.
CB: The biggest concern is getting Hosley up to speed and finishing his pro transition (he looked pretty good in the Baltimore game) and keeping Prince healthy. Webster should be relegated to a more backup role as he is in hard decline now. Given our depth at safety, we should default to the 3 safety set whenever we need a nickel package. Rolle and Hill are both good at the slot corner position...
OL is by far our biggest need. Getting Beatty locked up for a long time should be our top priority this offseason (to the point that if we had to let either Beatty or Cruz walk, I'd keep Beatty). Boothe was okay, but not worth the money he'd be looking for. Baas, despite how terrible he is, we are stuck with him for another year, so a late pick on a C that we can groom to take over the starting role would be nice. Snee is due to go the way of Diehl any day now. And we don't have any answer on the roster for RT. Diehl has declined to the point where he shouldn't be in the NFL anymore, Brewer can't even beat out Diehl so he must be REALLY bad, and Locklear got all kinds of hurt and I don't think he'd be able to return to form.
If only we could get KC to bite on a first round tender on Cruz or Stevie. Then we could get Luke Joeckel and not have to worry about the tackle positions for a LOOOOONG time... At least I can dream.