Maine-iac

McKenzie shows the difference between a track star and lets say Kupp or Beasley. When it comes to playing the slot a track star is not the most valuable trait. Finding holes in the zone and catching stuff thrown at you in weird positions make the difference. When you consider the drop off from 80 catches with Beasley to 40 with McKenzie you have to consider that Allen didn't trust McKenzie to read the defense and get open quick enough to catch the same passes that Beasley would have had thrown at him. I'm making some assumptions there but I feel fairly safe in assuming those things.

I've thought about this and I like the thought. Go 3-4 with Jones at NT and Oliver and Groot at ends with Miller your rush LB? While Frazier was here the defensive formations were seemingly set in stone. Lots of adjustments and post snap movement but little change to the formations.

I think Phillips also can still play but as we saw last year injuries can play a part. Everyone was injured last year and if that happened again it would be hard to imagine an outcome much different but I think everyone is hoping we have less injuries than last year. If Miller and Groot are healthy I think we can still pass rush and if Oliver and Jones or Phillips are healthy we can still play alright in the interior. They've all had injuries but they've also all put together seasons healthy. If everyone stays healthy I think Oliver can put together a respectable stat line and make Beane look good. He isn't Donald or JJ Watt (in his prime), he's not going to change a game by himself.

Oliver is better with Jones beside him. Oliver actually kind of reminds me of Kyle in that he gets decent penetration and is disruptive but not necessarily a wall. Kyle was better with Dareus beside him. Both are good on their own but but when Dareus left the run defense went with him and Jones the same thing. Signing someone with Oliver's ability always costs more than signing a run stuffer. We paid for Star and then Jones but not what you'd pay for a pass rushing DT which is what we are hoping Oliver can be (I'm assuming). If the pieces stay healthy having Groot, Miller, Jones, and Oliver is really good on paper. When injures start happening is when things break down.

So we signed Rapp from the Rams and his stunt double.

Reading a few Steelers articles it sounds like he had another very Levi Wallace type year. The Steelers tried playing two guys in front of him and within a few games he was starting. People still throw at him because he's frequently the best option to throw at but he doesn't make it easy. He only gave up a few TD's (to four picks) and was far better against the run than the two guys they played before him. If you asked me who'd I'd start first Dane or Levi it would be Levi just because of Levi's size. I'm betting the Steelers keep him anyways.

Everywhere he goes they try to start other players and yet every team he has played for, by the end of the season, he's starting. I would hope Elam and Benford are on track to compete for a starting spot and I hope White is back to himself and has the other starting outside spot locked up. As we've seen though, by the end of the season you might need a guy like Wallace. Just because of his size I'd rather have Wallace starting outside than Dane in an injury situation.

I think the bigger question is who will be 3rd. I might have to go with Shakir and then Knox and Kincaid. If Shakir takes over the old Beasley stuff plus plays outside for Davis and Diggs on occasion I think he could see a lot of targets. If Knox and Kincaid both catch between 40 and 60 balls I'd consider that a win compared to Knox and Morris/Sweeney. If Kincaid catches 40 balls I'll be happy. Sixty or more and I'll start listening to talk about him being the next Kelce or something of that ilk.

We were a top 5 offense with Morris and Sweeney. I'm pretty sure Kincaid makes the offense better even if he doesn't put up Kyle PItts numbers.

You're assuming that we played McKenzie 100 percent of the time then? I didn't quantify reps. I simply agreed that Kincaid would have McKenzie like numbers and that Shakir would also put up McKenzie like numbers. I'll stick by that. I think there are plent of snaps in a game for both Kincaid and Shakir to have 40 catches even if they aren't on the field at the same time.

Let me argue the flip side of agreeing with him. Say he does only put up McKenzie numbers and Knox puts up the same as last year. That would still give us 30 more catches than Knox and Morris. If Shakir puts up McKenzie numbers (an easy feat) than overall our offense could see 30 more catches overall. I don't see how that wouldn't be a positive for what's already a top offense both regular season and playoffs.

When you start making playoff predictions before a game has even been played and rosters even finalized I have to think you're jumping the gun a little.

You don't have to be super twitchy to run a good slant. Gordon was a beast. He even flashed with the Pats before he got caught again.

Speaking of Higgins that is why the Bengals took that kid from Princeton because they will have a hard time paying Higgins pretty soon. I was really hoping we'd take Iosivas but given the time we spent with Shorter they must really like what they've seen.

His 3 cone was not good but all in all his 20 yard was faster than gabe and his 40 and 10 yard splits were virtually identical. If he's running routes Gabe runs his 3 cone isn't as important as just timing and running a good route. As long as they aren't asking him to do water bug things. I guess we'll see though.

I'm borrowing the name but if Kincaid is in fact Swole Beasley than it benefits the quick pass, keeping coverage honest on our wide outs, and the running game.

i think as a team we are pretty good at evaluating WR's. We used a late round pick on Gabe and it turned out well. Hodgins and Shakir seem to be on track to be decent players. Hopefully they can keep going to that draft pick well and Shorter sees the field a lot.

That was the maddening thing last year. We didn't need to develop the run. We could run ........... we just didn't. Up 2 scores in some games and we are running called QB runs.

At the same time they were gashing us with the run because Oliver is not a run stopper and Phillips was gutting it out with one arm. Fazier annoys me as well but I'm not sure with the totality of our injuries McDermott would have done that much better.

If Shorter shows he can do Gave Davis type things it would be a real cost savings as Davis hits the end of his contract. I like Davis but he has enough stats to demand a decent contract. Money we might not have.

Take away Frank Clark and I doubt the Chiefs win. Take away Frank Clark, Chris Jones, and most of their secondary and I guarantee the Chiefs don't win that game.

The offense is loaded but I don't think our offense was the limiting factor at any point the last two years. They fell on their faces a little in the Bengals game but the defense wasn't making any stops to get them the ball back which leads to I think the big question. Can we stop the run and effect the QB? Injuries I think effected both our pass rush and our coverage ability so we might (barring injuries again) have that fixed just with people being healthy. The large question I have is can we stop the run? The Bengals ran the ball at will which might also be a product of injuries (Jones being hurt) but it's something that has happened several times a season (sometimes more). Will the players we have (with McDermott's coaching) be able to stop the run. The Pats and the Jets will probably still come out running against us.

My fear isn't that this guy can't catch or that he drops passes. That doesn't seem to be the case. My fear is that he doesn't have the quickness or agility to get away from NFL cb's and that leaves him being a contested catch guy and reports are that for his size he's not great at contested catches. That said I take everything I read on the internet with a grain of salt, he may come out and have a great feel for zones and be a smooth route runner and just find ways to get open. It's as much on the OC as it is receivers sometimes. I don't mind the pick. The team had met with him and felt comfortable with him and they seem to be pretty decent at evaluating WR's. I'll "trust the process".

Garner is going to end up at safety. He's a big DB.

Hope they bring in Bryce Ford Wheaton and Mekhi Garner.