Shive

There's, for whatever reason, a group of fans that always want to put Smith at RG even though he's proven to be a top RT when healthy. I just ignore that noise. Agreed though. Getting Smith back for a playoff push would be huge. 100%! He's got the athleticism, but his lack of strength has always been the biggest concern. He'll need a couple of years in an NFL S&C program to build the needed strength and, like you said, work on the technique, but absolutely a solid backup in the meantime.

Jones fell because he lacks high-end physical traits. He's not an athletic freak and has an average athletic profile, but he allowed the lowest completion rate of any CB in college (I can't remember the stat off hand, but it was a ridiculous figure). Point is, he's not a high upside guy, but he's got a very high floor. I've seen it from a lot of people so this isn't just aimed at you, but Jones for most of the season graded out as the top rookie CB and I can't understand how someone looks at how he played as a rookie and says "yea he's back-up at best". He has locked down really good WRs for entire games (he's gotten beat a couple of times, but it was usually a play where you were sure if it was the safety's responsibility or his). If in the 1st, a CB is far and away BPA, sure let's do it, but I definitely wouldn't prioritize the position. Like you mentioned though, you listed a few SCBs, which I think we could definitely use depth there.

I don't think its fair to compare the two. Raimann was viewed as a potential 1st round prospect (NFL.com & PFF were very high on him to name a few) that fell due to medical concerns (a number of teams reportedly failed him medically and took him off their boards), age, and a rough Senior Bowl week. Freeland was viewed way more as a developmental prospect. We drafted Raimann way below where he was projected and took Freeland a bit earlier than projected, and I think the difference between the two on the field as rookies shows that. I think Raimann is also a bit of the exception than the expectation.

He looked solid when a TE chipped first, but 1v1, absolutely not.

I'm not ready to say that yet....lol

Don't love having Downs returning punts, but I guess if McKenzie is inactive, he's our best bet there.

Kick off isn't until 4:30. Solid chance this is over by then.

It isn't up to the Steelers though. He had to get cleared through an independent neurologist.

He said the same thing last week when asked about Taylor's availability. I think it's just his way of sidestepping an injury question that he has no intention of answering.

Brents and Flowers have been injured, Jones has been phenomenal, and Baker Jr. has been getting torched. I blame injuries causing Baker Jr to have to start and Gus' extremely soft coverage scheme for how many passing yards we give up. That's literally a product of his scheme though. Give up passes underneath to make sure you don't get beat deep. To me, you evaluate the need to address the CB position more on individual performance instead of macro statistics. Brents looked awesome when he played and Jones, again, has looked very good. Both of them should be even better next season. You have to allow rookies time to develop, otherwise, you end up wasting valuable draft capital on players that don't necessarily make you much better, if at all. It's not being scared of being elite and being ok with being average. It's about building your roster with a long-term vision in mind and not overreacting to the outlier performances. There are limited resources in roster construction, so anything you spend on CB takes away from what could be used to address other more pressing positions. I can agree that we need better CB depth, but I think our starters for the foreseeable future are Brents and Jones. You'd like to draft someone to take Jones' spot and make us better. Considering he's one of the highest rated rookie CBs this season, what more could he do to cement his position as a starter?

Jones has graded out as one of the best rookie corners this season. After one rough game against one of the best WRs in the game, you don't just write him off. I'm all for improving the roster, but Jones has been outstanding this season and there's no reason to think his play wouldn't just get better with more experience under his belt. I think Jones and Brents are our starters next season. We may sign a FA or 2 and draft a player, but I don't see us spending significant capital on that position this offseason. He was suspended for 6 games for a PED violation and immediately announced his retirement. Since he didn't serve that suspension as part of an active roster, I wonder if that suspension would kick in now?

This was my concern too. A comment EJ Speed made during one of his interviews last week was WAY too cocky and had me worried they were getting overconfident. Yep..... I like Gus as a man, but I'm definitely leaning towards wanting him gone after this season. I've said it a few times, but I think he is the opposite of Steichen when it comes to talent utilization. Steichen adjusts his scheme to what his players do best and Gus makes players fit into his scheme. We need a much more innovative scheme and imaginative playcalling. If we decided to go the route of guys that have no NFL DC experience: - DJ Eliot, Eagles LB coach - A lot of college experience, Steichen has familiarity with him. -Mike Rothenberg, Jets LB coach - Would bring Saleh's creative scheme, has a lot of college and solid pro experience. Was also the DC for the National team in the 22 Senior Bowl. Assuming he doesn't get a HC position this go around, Ejiro Every could be an option, especially since he spent a lot of time interviewing with our team and there's some familiarity of what his defensive vision is.

I really don't either. You see glimpses of strong playcalling, but all too often it's just uninspiring. I see Gus as the antithesis of Steichen. He's generally rigid in his scheme and forces players to conform to it vs playing to the strengths of the players. Steichen is the complete opposite. If we move on from Gus after this season, I'd love to bring in someone more innovative and is able to use the scheme to get the best out of our players. Ameer Speed* Otherwise I don't disagree.

Screens are specifically designed to beat the blitz from a schematic perspective and the more guys you have rushing the QB, the more are pulled out of the play, and the more likely the screen is to be successful. Never has more blitzing been the answer to a strong screen game.

I think with Minshew at QB, sometimes some great playcalling goes by the wayside. We constantly have open receivers that he just doesn't see. I definitely agree with needing to get Downs more involved again.

I don't think that's the reason at all. Browning had a very low TTT, so our pass rush didn't have a chance.

My dad is a huge Vikings fan and was telling me about some of the great schematic stuff Flores has been doing. Apparently when he was with Pittsburgh last season, since Pitt shares their field, he started chatting with their D-coordinator and picked up some innovative things that he's incorporated in his Vikings defense. That's the kind of stuff I'd like to see from a DC, not playing the same old stuff that we've seen for the past couple of decades. That's been a huge part of the problem for us offesnsively.

I wasn't a fan of that assessment and it's proven to be completely incorrect. He panics constantly, which leads to a breakdown of all fundamentals, and just bad decisions.

There's a big difference in technique between CB and S. In no way would I be comfortable having Cross play outside corner all of a sudden. I'd much rather play the CB behind Baker over an out of position safety like Cross. Hopefully Brents is back next week and we don't have to worry about it again.

I said it earlier, but I was worried the team started getting a little too much confidence and it feels like they came into this game thinking they'd be stomping a back-up QB led Bengals. It's a 3 possession game. You have to at least try for it.

That's literally not correct at all. We came back and tied it up after being down. They just came out after the half, punched us in the mouth, and we've been on the ropes ever since.

I don't think anyone has disagreed with that.

1. How do you know that that that didn't happen? 2. It's on Speed to have awareness of where the kick is and that it's going to be a fair catch, so he doesn't need to block the guy.

Harrison

None of that was on McKenzie. Speed backed up into him as he was trying to catch it.