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"The Superbowl Blueprint "


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these are the moves that will put us over the top in the draft and free agency..Moves are contingent on each other in terms of urgency..

DRAFT
Round 2-1a....Gabe Jackson G-Mississippi State, 1b-Stanley Jean-Baptiste CB-Nebraska
Round 3-1a.....Shane Skov ILB-Stanford, 1b-Donte' Moncrief WR-Ole Miss
Round 5-1a....Max Bullough ILB-Michigan State, 1b-Cody Latimer WR-Indiana
Round 6-1a....George Uko DL-USC, 1b-Ty Zimmerman S-Kansas State
Round 7-1a....DeAnthony Thomas RB-Oregon, 1b-Storm Johnson RB-UCF
CUTS
Samson Satele, Greg Toler, RJF

Resign
Vontae Davis-4 YR 28 Mil
Vinatieri-1 YR 3 Mil
Pat McAfee-4 YR 12 Mil
Josh Gordy-3 YR 6 Mil

Top Priority Free Agents
Alex Mack C-5 YR 40 Mil, We need to spend $ here!
Charles Tillman CB-2 YR 9 Mil, Stop gap till we sign or develop #2 CB.
Brandon Spikes ILB-3 YR 9 mil, Run Stuffer we need good value.
T.J. Ward S- 5 YR 32.5 Mil, Big Hitting Pro Bowl caliber Safety for years to come...
Dexter McCluster RB -3YR 7 mil, Offensive weapon to replace Brown, and the return man we've never had...
Julian Edelman WR-3 YR 12 Mil, Solid durable receiver as insurance in case Reggie isn't the same or injury..
Shaun Philips-1 YR 3 Mil, Solid pro for depth and leadership..

I REALIZE we can't sign all these guys this is just a rough blueprint depending on the way the chips fall....Let the criticism commence.

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2.Gabe Jackson-I like, Baptiste-Rather have DaQuan Jones or Jeremiah Attaochu-Georgia Tech......Maybe Will Sutton if he can get back to the 315 range and be as dominant as he was in 2012....Im open to Smallwood

 

3.Rather have Moncrief over Skov, Prefer Dion Bailey-FS USC or Kenny Ladler-Vanderbilt or Chris Borland-Wisconsin, E.J. Gaines-Missouri, Adrian Hubbard-Alabama

 

5.Rather have Preston Brown-Louisville, Deandre Coleman-California, Cody Hoffman-Brigham Young, Jerick Mckinnon-Georgia Southern, L'Damian Washington-Missouri, Aaron Colvin-Oklahoma

 

6.Have not watched any of Uko or Zimmerman

 

7.Love those picks, Though I think Johnson is more of an every down back more so then Thomas, Plus the few times I have seen Johnson he puts the ball on the ground, I like his running style though, Not a jump cutter-I hate that jump cutting crap but I realize some runners can do it and not lose speed or causes them to come to a complete stop....many it does....Richardson is an example

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Most of the things in this offseason plan, I agree with. Of course we can't sign every free agent on the market, nor would I want to. I'd like to make a small dip in FA rather than the big cannonball of the offseason. FA should add the finishing pieces to the edges of the puzzle, not make up the middle to build off of. Those finishing pieces in free agency shold be a center, an ILB even though I'd love to get Skov, because we could get another pass rusher in this deep class, maybe even a LEO to replace Walden. Forr now, my favorites for that spot, preferably in the third round, are Michael Sam and Demarcus Lawrence, both played a majority of their snaps off of the right tackle, and even occasionaly dropped into covverage. And lastly, for good chemistry that leads to sccess, we need to hold as many key places together as possible, so I would definitely keep players that users on here are high on cutting, such as Toler and RJF.

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You know, signing Charles Tillman on a cheap 1year deal may not be a bad idea. Cut Toler, Sign Tillman, then draft Baptiste. I would like to think we could get Swanson in the second, Baptiste in the third, and Deandre Coleman in the 5th. If we draft Swanson we wouldn't have a lot of cash tied up in the O Line, and have more to spend on defense.

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That's....actually not bad.

 

I think it's terrible. Why draft a G in the second round, and why draft two ILBs in the 3rd and the 5th, both lacking in range and coverage ability? Why cut RJF? 

 

How on earth do we sign all those guys to all that money? Why TJ Ward, when we have Landry, and how does that improve our coverage on the back end? How do you get Spikes for $3m/year?

 

JMO

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I think it's terrible. Why draft a G in the second round, and why draft two ILBs in the 3rd and the 5th, both lacking in range and coverage ability? Why cut RJF?

How on earth do we sign all those guys to all that money? Why TJ Ward, when we have Landry, and how does that improve our coverage on the back end? How do you get Spikes for $3m/year?

JMO

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If we draft an ilb in 3rd we wouldn't in the 5th I gave 2 options each round depending on who we draft or sign in free agency..Why is drafting a Guard in 2nd. Bad if he can be a great player?

 

I just think we should take a different strategy entirely. This is your mock, so your strategy is up to you. But we have a young guard in Thornton, and we have Donald Thomas, so I wouldn't expect a 2nd rounder to have very much impact right away. We could draft a player at a different position, one that would impact our ability to win games right away.

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I think it's terrible. Why draft a G in the second round, and why draft two ILBs in the 3rd and the 5th, both lacking in range and coverage ability? Why cut RJF? 

 

How on earth do we sign all those guys to all that money? Why TJ Ward, when we have Landry, and how does that improve our coverage on the back end? How do you get Spikes for $3m/year?

 

JMO

 

I must have been reading that wrong. I though that Bollough was taken in case Skov wasn't available at our 2nd rounder?

 

TJ Ward is great in coverage. He plays a decent amount of time in the box, but he plays great as a single high. Plus, since both Bethea and Landry played an almost equal amount of time in the box, you'd pick a guy who has the ability to do both effectively (Ward).

 

As for Spikes, I believe he is coming off of a knee injury? Might drive down his price a little, but i agree it will be over $3MM.

 

As for the guard, we can't trust Thomas to be healthy and Thornton is pure potential at this point. Neither of them are going to stop Grigs from taking a guy he thinks can anchor our line. 

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I must have been reading that wrong. I though that Bollough was taken in case Skov wasn't available at our 2nd rounder?

 

TJ Ward is great in coverage. He plays a decent amount of time in the box, but he plays great as a single high. Plus, since both Bethea and Landry played an almost equal amount of time in the box, you'd pick a guy who has the ability to do both effectively (Ward).

 

As for Spikes, I believe he is coming off of a knee injury? Might drive down his price a little, but i agree it will be over $3MM.

 

As for the guard, we can't trust Thomas to be healthy and Thornton is pure potential at this point. Neither of them are going to stop Grigs from taking a guy he thinks can anchor our line. 

 

I agree about the situation at guard. I'm a big believer in the whole dominating in the trenches wins games. I think good players up front on both sides of the ball and a good QB are the recipe to win games in the NFL. An improved O-line would revamp our running game. Pep's offense is built around being able to run the football, and we couldn't do it consistently enough last year. Not only will it help the run, a nice side bonus is that Luck's production will go up and odds of injury will go down. Look at what the improvement of San Diego's line did for Philip Rivers this year: his passing yards per game increased by 54.5, he threw 5 less interceptions, and he was sacked 19 less times which cut his fumble total down from 13 to 1.

 

Ideally we'd pick up a guy who is good enough to be a quality starter to mix it up with Thornton and Thomas depending on production and health. And preferably it would be someone who could swing out to tackle if we were desperate, because although we're good at starting tackle we don't really have depth there either.

 

If we don't draft this sort of a player maybe we can find one as a free agent? The 2 guys I think that would fit the bill, although they both could be re-signed by their current teams, are Rodger Saffold and Travelle Wharton. But there are a couple options in the draft too. 

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I agree about the situation at guard. I'm a big believer in the whole dominating in the trenches wins games. I think good players up front on both sides of the ball and a good QB are the recipe to win games in the NFL. An improved O-line would revamp our running game. Pep's offense is built around being able to run the football, and we couldn't do it consistently enough last year. Not only will it help the run, a nice side bonus is that Luck's production will go up and odds of injury will go down. Look at what the improvement of San Diego's line did for Philip Rivers this year: his passing yards per game increased by 54.5, he threw 5 less interceptions, and he was sacked 19 less times which cut his fumble total down from 13 to 1.

 

Ideally we'd pick up a guy who is good enough to be a quality starter to mix it up with Thornton and Thomas depending on production and health. And preferably it would be someone who could swing out to tackle if we were desperate, because although we're good at starting tackle we don't really have depth there either.

 

If we don't draft this sort of a player maybe we can find one as a free agent? The 2 guys I think that would fit the bill, although they both could be re-signed by their current teams, are Rodger Saffold and Travelle Wharton. But there are a couple options in the draft too. 

 

I agree with a lot of that. I don't think we should draft a guard, but I do think we should sign a Vet/Mid Tier FA for depth. Wharton would be my pick, but guys like Lauvao, Colon, and Rinehart would be good options too.

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Solid blueprint but i think the Browns will franchise Ward . I like Gabe Jackson but i think CB will be a huge need especially if we cut Toler. Tillman is a cover 2 CB and i know he can play some man but that's not what he's great at. Keith Mcgill CB out of Utah would be a good option in the 2nd. 

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Tillman has been a zone much of his career hasn't he? Not sure he is a fit.

3m per seems a little rich for Gordy and MacAfee

Went over-kill on MLB. Sign one in FA and draft two? No thanks

If you want a big corner in the 2nd, take McGill

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I must have been reading that wrong. I though that Bollough was taken in case Skov wasn't available at our 2nd rounder?

 

TJ Ward is great in coverage. He plays a decent amount of time in the box, but he plays great as a single high. Plus, since both Bethea and Landry played an almost equal amount of time in the box, you'd pick a guy who has the ability to do both effectively (Ward).

 

As for Spikes, I believe he is coming off of a knee injury? Might drive down his price a little, but i agree it will be over $3MM.

 

As for the guard, we can't trust Thomas to be healthy and Thornton is pure potential at this point. Neither of them are going to stop Grigs from taking a guy he thinks can anchor our line. 

 

On the ILBs, I guess that makes more sense, after reading his explanation. I personally don't want either of them, but whatever.

 

Not a fan of TJ Ward in coverage. Maybe I'm a victim of how he's been labeled. He'll probably be tagged anyways.

 

Spikes had a PCL injury, and was placed on IR under questionable circumstances. No surgery required. I'm not sure his value will be eroded, and even if it is, $3m/year is too low, and he wouldn't sign a three year deal under those circumstances. And if we signed Spikes, why draft Skov or Borland? Where's the coverage ability at ILB going to come from?

 

I didn't mention Edelman for $4m/year (LOL), or signing Tillman, a zone-based corner to a man coverage secondary, at 32 years old. I'd love to have Mack, but not for $8m/year.

 

We definitely have injury and experience issues at G. I think we need a contingency plan for Thomas, but it should be a proven commodity who can play right away. This is a completely different strategy, but I'd rather sign a stopgap veteran G than draft a G in the second round.

 

I guess I just think we should take a completely different draft/FA strategy. And we don't have the cap space to do all of this.

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I agree with a lot of that. I don't think we should draft a guard, but I do think we should sign a Vet/Mid Tier FA for depth. Wharton would be my pick, but guys like Lauvao, Colon, and Rinehart would be good options too.

 

Yeah I would be happy with Wharton, he fits the bill. And there's a decent chance he walks because of the Panthers' cap situation. I think we could get him on a 2 year deal. If we sign him and a new C I think our run game will pick up (and we'll have better depth).

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Yeah I would be happy with Wharton, he fits the bill. And there's a decent chance he walks because of the Panthers' cap situation. I think we could get him on a 2 year deal. If we sign him and a new C I think our run game will pick up (and we'll have better depth).

 

The Panthers are fine, cap wise. I don't know if that means they'll re-sign Wharton, but if he's going to sign a reasonable two year deal, they'll be able to afford him.

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The Panthers are fine, cap wise. I don't know if that means they'll re-sign Wharton, but if he's going to sign a reasonable two year deal, they'll be able to afford him.

 

Oh I was under the (I guess false) impression they didn't have that much cap room, that's what they seem to be acting like on the Panthers' forums. A lot of them seemed like they weren't sure what was going to happen with Wharton one way or another, but the majority seemed to hope he'd be resigned.

 

I'm not sure how many other FA guys would be worth signing.

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On the ILBs, I guess that makes more sense, after reading his explanation. I personally don't want either of them, but whatever.

 

Not a fan of TJ Ward in coverage. Maybe I'm a victim of how he's been labeled. He'll probably be tagged anyways.

 

Spikes had a PCL injury, and was placed on IR under questionable circumstances. No surgery required. I'm not sure his value will be eroded, and even if it is, $3m/year is too low, and he wouldn't sign a three year deal under those circumstances. And if we signed Spikes, why draft Skov or Borland? Where's the coverage ability at ILB going to come from?

 

I didn't mention Edelman for $4m/year (LOL), or signing Tillman, a zone-based corner to a man coverage secondary, at 32 years old. I'd love to have Mack, but not for $8m/year.

 

We definitely have injury and experience issues at G. I think we need a contingency plan for Thomas, but it should be a proven commodity who can play right away. This is a completely different strategy, but I'd rather sign a stopgap veteran G than draft a G in the second round.

 

I guess I just think we should take a completely different draft/FA strategy. And we don't have the cap space to do all of this.

I still think at 8 mill per we can afford Mack on a 5-6 year deal and be just fine cap wise long term

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Oh I was under the (I guess false) impression they didn't have that much cap room, that's what they seem to be acting like on the Panthers' forums. A lot of them seemed like they weren't sure what was going to happen with Wharton one way or another, but the majority seemed to hope he'd be resigned.

 

I'm not sure how many other FA guys would be worth signing.

 

http://www.spotrac.com/nfl/carolina-panthers/cap-hit/

 

According to that, they have $15m in projected space for next season. Their forum is probably upset because they have $17m in dead money, and because they have quite a few notable FAs this year. Maybe that's what the issue is: Jordan Gross and Greg Hardy are really good players hitting FA, plus Wharton, LaFell, etc. And they can officially start working on a new deal for Newton, sooo.... 

 

Maybe Wharton will be a cap casualty.

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If we choose to play premium money to Mack, we can do it. I just don't think it's smart to do so. I'd rather pay $5-6m/year for EDS or BdlP.

I like Smith but he is a signifcant drop off I think from Mack at only 2 mill separation, Again I'd be good with Smith. After watching Satele I'd be fine with just about anything (yes I know a bit extreme and not really true),

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Just because Tillman has played cover 2 in Chicago doesn't mean he can't play our scheme..He is a great player and turnover machine which we need.

I'D take him with a smile on my face all day ..Ward and Mack are the 2 most important in my opinion ...As far as drafting a guard Jackson could be BPA and it takes linemen a few years to develop and he would be added quality depth..If not we need to get 1 in FA Wharton, Suffold, Incognito, whoever all would be significant upgrades and insurance in case Thomas doesn't come back as strong ..

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More than likely Ward is going to be tagged by the Browns, I've been hearing that a lot lately due to the cap hit of tagging a Safety being much more cap friendly.  I personally would like to see EDS or Brian De la  Puente playing Center instead of Mack mostly due to the cap hit Mack is going to command if he even hits the free agent market.  I read somewhere just today that with Lombardi out in Cleveland that the chances of Mack resigning there have actually gone up. 

 

I know it may sound 100% insane but I'd be okay with picking up someone like EDS or Brian De la Puente to play Center, tossing in someone like Geoff Schwartz to compete for a Guard spot and picking up Gabe Carimi to bring into camp and see what he could bring to the table.  Carimi was just released by the Bucs and while he's not lit it up in his first couple of seasons, he is versatile in being able to play both Tackle spots as well as both Guard positions. 

 

At one time Carimi was considered one of the best prospects coming out but he had a season ending knee injury with the Bears and has had 3 different Offensive Coordinators coupled with missing his first year.  Given the fact that he's not really had a ton of consistency and it does take O linemen some time to develop he could be a hidden gem just sitting out there waiting.  In addition, if he were to show something in camp he'd provide at the very minimum good depth with his versatility to play 4 different positions and having bounced around his first couple of years and not really showing anything could come on the cheap overall. 

 

I don't believe that Toler is the answer at CB opposite Davis and agree with his being cut along with Satele.  Honestly, Satele looks lazy on the field and I can't wait to see the news that he's been released and Toler is just injured far to much for my comfort level.  CB is an area of concern for sure, we need someone to compliment Davis.  I don't believe that Tillman is the answer.  The fact that he's played mostly in a zone scheme is definitely a concern to me.  We need a more physical corner (I personally like Baptise) who can play in our man up schemes, as much as we need a Safety who can play single high with decent coverage and ball hawk  ability. (although I would not be shocked to see Bethea coming back.)

 

Although I'd like to see a move to address ILB, I believe we are seeing those moves now with the addition of Muamba and I fully anticipate seeing McNary getting time there as well.  Who knows just how the ILB situation is going to unfold but whoever it is needs to have some wheels on them to turn and play coverage as much as hitting the gaps to shut down the run.  I'm one of the old school guys who believes you build from the trenches out.  Some serious effort needs to be placed into the O line and D lines overall this year.  The addition of one ILB is not going to automatically fix a run defense that had more holes than a piece of swiss cheese. 

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