Needs?

[07dleigh]

Welcome to the offseason! (earlier than I'd like, but let's look forward)

 

I'm curious as to how our needs are ranked amongst our fanbase. It seems to be slightly more difficult for me to rank compared to other years.

 

Is it:

QB - Rivers was good down the stretch, but he's not dynamic enough, exciting enough, or young enough to compete with Josh Allen, Lamar, and Mahomes

OL - Castanzo replacement? Depth?

DE - We need to improve to get even more out of Buck

WR - T.Y is getting old, Campbell gets hurt

CB - this is weird, we have a packed CB room, but we still don't have a stud level guy

RB - probably not a HUGE need, but if we don't retain Marlon, are we good with just JT and Nyhiem?

Head Coach - Not a need.... stop it lol

 

I think we're a pretty complete football team, but where do we go in the draft/FA and when? I think the only place we're SOLID solid is our LB core and safeties.

[07dleigh]

Forgot TE! 

[DaColts85]

1 hour ago, 07dleigh said:

Welcome to the offseason! (earlier than I'd like, but let's look forward)

 

I'm curious as to how our needs are ranked amongst our fanbase. It seems to be slightly more difficult for me to rank compared to other years.

 

Is it:

QB - Rivers was good down the stretch, but he's not dynamic enough, exciting enough, or young enough to compete with Josh Allen, Lamar, and Mahomes

OL - Castanzo replacement? Depth?

DE - We need to improve to get even more out of Buck

WR - T.Y is getting old, Campbell gets hurt

CB - this is weird, we have a packed CB room, but we still don't have a stud level guy

RB - probably not a HUGE need, but if we don't retain Marlon, are we good with just JT and Nyhiem?

Head Coach - Not a need.... stop it lol

 

I think we're a pretty complete football team, but where do we go in the draft/FA and when? I think the only place we're SOLID solid is our LB core and safeties.

First I will say Rivers doesn’t have to compete with Mahomes and Allen. Our Defense does. Rivers played well and play calling hurt us. 

 

Ballard has preached the trenches so without AC we need a LT. I assume we take one early. 

 

Apparently everyone is stuck on one stat and not having a DE with 12+ sacks makes us bad? Our D line was solid. Our scheme is not for blitzing. It relies on a four man rush and yet we still close the pocket a lot. Buckner was huge for us for sure but Houston, Autry, AQM, and Grove did a great job. 
 

WR I assume gets addressed, especially if they don’t resign TY. I am assume they do. 
 

CB is going to depend on who we keep. Will Rhodes try and get that last big contract? Not sure what loyalties he has to us versus getting money. He is slower now so our scheme helps him. I see us grabbing one in the draft(3-4 round)

 

I would say Leonard is solid and not going anywhere. You hope Okereke improves this off-season but I doubt Walker is back which means our LB’s need help. They are not solid. If they resign Hooker for cheap then I would say our Safeties are strong. If not we need something via FA or later in the draft. I’d rather a vet with that spot. 

The big thing this off-season is with the cap shrinking a lot of teams will have issues. It will be an interesting FA for sure. 

 

[BProland85]

With Castonzo retiring, LT is easily priority #1. Would love a guy like Christian Darrisaw round 1 or Liam Eichenberg round 2. 

 

QB is also a priority if Ballard and this staff don't believe Eason is the future. Would love a Trey Lance on this team. 

[07dleigh]

2 hours ago, DaColts85 said:

First I will say Rivers doesn’t have to compete with Mahomes and Allen. Our Defense does. Rivers played well and play calling hurt us. 

 

Ballard has preached the trenches so without AC we need a LT. I assume we take one early. 

 

Apparently everyone is stuck on one stat and not having a DE with 12+ sacks makes us bad? Our D line was solid. Our scheme is not for blitzing. It relies on a four man rush and yet we still close the pocket a lot. Buckner was huge for us for sure but Houston, Autry, AQM, and Grove did a great job. 
 

WR I assume gets addressed, especially if they don’t resign TY. I am assume they do. 
 

CB is going to depend on who we keep. Will Rhodes try and get that last big contract? Not sure what loyalties he has to us versus getting money. He is slower now so our scheme helps him. I see us grabbing one in the draft(3-4 round)

 

I would say Leonard is solid and not going anywhere. You hope Okereke improves this off-season but I doubt Walker is back which means our LB’s need help. They are not solid. If they resign Hooker for cheap then I would say our Safeties are strong. If not we need something via FA or later in the draft. I’d rather a vet with that spot. 

The big thing this off-season is with the cap shrinking a lot of teams will have issues. It will be an interesting FA for sure. 

 

 

Maybe we feel differently on Bobby O. I think he's been good. I think any 2 of your 3 LB's being Leonard and Bobby O is a solid core.

 

Also, I thought our defense was good enough to beat those guys, but I'm coming to the realization that NO defense is good enough to beat those guys. The formula of having a solid D and run heavy/Time of possession is clearly not enough alone. We have some killers in our conference that can pick apart even the best defenses. We need a guy that at least has the constant deep ball threat. imo.

 

Also, Houston is a FA after this year, no?

[DaColts85]

5 minutes ago, 07dleigh said:

 

Maybe we feel differently on Bobby O. I think he's been good. I think any 2 of your 3 LB's being Leonard and Bobby O is a solid core.

 

Also, I thought our defense was good enough to beat those guys, but I'm coming to the realization that NO defense is good enough to beat those guys. The formula of having a solid D and run heavy/Time of possession is clearly not enough alone. We have some killers in our conference that can pick apart even the best defenses. We need a guy that at least has the constant deep ball threat. imo.

 

Also, Houston is a FA after this year, no?

Don’t get me wrong I like Okereke but he struggled this year. I hope he can improve because those are our only two. We need someone else to make that core a little stronger IMO. Houston is yes. Autry and AQM are as well. 
 

as far as the game. We could have won that game but we shot ourselves in the foot with dumb plays and terrible play calling. But we should have won that game. 

[indyman411]

5 hours ago, BProland85 said:

With Castonzo retiring, LT is easily priority #1. Would love a guy like Christian Darrisaw round 1 or Liam Eichenberg round 2. 

 

QB is also a priority if Ballard and this staff don't believe Eason is the future. Would love a Trey Lance on this team. 

Actually, just did a mock draft i think you'd like, regardless of the reality of it happening.

R1P21 QB Trey Lance NDSU

R2P22 OT Jalen Mayfield Michigan

R3P20 EDGE Osa Odighizuwa UCLA

R4P22 OT Liam Eichenberg Notre Dame

R5P21 CB Israel Mukuamu South Carolina

R6P21 S Jamien Sherwood Auburn

R7P21 LB Skaka Toney PSU 

 

[07dleigh]

13 hours ago, indyman411 said:

Actually, just did a mock draft i think you'd like, regardless of the reality of it happening.

R1P21 QB Trey Lance NDSU

R2P22 OT Jalen Mayfield Michigan

R3P20 EDGE Osa Odighizuwa UCLA

R4P22 OT Liam Eichenberg Notre Dame

R5P21 CB Israel Mukuamu South Carolina

R6P21 S Jamien Sherwood Auburn

R7P21 LB Skaka Toney PSU 

 

 

I would like this! Snagging Lance without having to trade up would be awesome. Mayfield is probably good value at pick 55; I haven't seen much of him honestly, but I heard he shut out Chase Young last year. 

 

I wonder if we go the FA route to entirely address any of these top needs. Probably not.