colin

The new coaches they brought in make me think McDermott is making changes within his scheme. I know baby babich is the DC, but unless I see something entirely different in a more than occasional basis, I'm saying this d is still McD's

I was a Cole booster out of college, he had a really sheet rookie year. For us to win it this year, he'll have to improve a ton and fast. He's got the athletic ability to be a top SS, but it all has to come together. I think he had no confidence in coverage and the d we ran was too much for him to get comfortable with after his pre season injury. He, Coleman, Carter, and all of our rookie selections this year will have to have much better development than what we saw last season. We are pivoting to a younger faster and more athletically gifted team.

The td rate of our o, along w the insane lack of toxic plays is the story. Our wrs are not good, but our talent at OL, RB, TE, and QB as a collective is better than any other team in the NFL IMO. Allen carries a lot of that, but two yoked up yetis at OT and some other big mean uglies gave out coaches the (over) confidence to just run a simple QB sneak to the left in nearly every short yardage situation, and it only failed in the chip game vs KC on a horrible call from the blind refs.

I'm not happy about this, but he, ogun, and Hoyt are all on this team so that we don't have Jordan Phillips and Solomon and two street free agents taking late game snaps vs the ravens and chiefs late in the game because Oliver Groot and even AJ are dog tired after being out there for 70% of the plays on long sustained drives in the playoffs. Mcds ideal d is capable of playing the pass with waves of d linemen causing team based pressure and playing the run with penetration all in front of smart cover lbs and a nickel secondary that erased the deep ball and forces bad passes. When more than one part of that fails the d is a house of cards that gets trucked slowly all game. Our lack of depth and talent killed us in every playoff loss. Short of adding a Myles Garrett, the build we have now is about perfect for what McD wants to do. It of course is possible the picks and free agents are all pumpkins and we do the same crap in the post season, but young, agile, mobile, and hostile is a pretty solid formula for football, so I like our chances

These drugs basically all stopped getting real development in the 80s (some small operations have found different delivery mechanisms mainly to beat testing, but only recently have big pharma companies done work in the area). The chemistry and applications are very well understood and documented. Drug testing, especially the lax NFL protocols, is essentially IQ testing. Guys who knows what they are doing get away with it, or get cought rarely (von Miller, Brian cushing) but their performance stays (until injuries and father time show up, anyhow). Big time sports is an industry of bending and breaking rules and false representation, it always has been. College football/basketball had paid players and guys who literally couldn't read graduating from top level colleges, players committing various crimes including sexual assault and it getting swept under the rug, and the criminal proclivities of NFL athletes are well known. The idea that these guys wouldn't use drugs that make them better because it's "cheating" or that coaches would be too worried about ethics or player health is Pollyanna bull hickey.

This year I feel better about the bills than I have since the start of the season following 13 seconds, and I like this team more. The moves may well not workout, and it might be the same bitter tears in January, but but the theme of our losses has been lack of athletic ability and talent/depth on dealing with open book play calling on d in the playoffs. They brought in new coaches who do some different things, they got the fastest corner, a pretty elite looking interior pass rusher, bosa Hoyt and ogunjobi, pass rusher Jackson, that science experiment in the 4th, and two real athletes who play utility (seems like the two of them can be depth in slot, out side CB, and safety) db stuff well. We extended our better talent, and we signed palmer. The only place we didn't get better was rb and lb, but we some horses there. The biggest risk is injury (what else is new) and cook deciding he's gonna hold out. Throw in a very easy schedule (extra home game year, Cincinnati Baltimore iggles and KC are all at home) and we have our best shot ever at the 1 seed and some actual NFL talent on the dline and secondary for the playoffs. A team with Jordan Phillips and that other street guy we signed last year, with the ghost of von, getting a lot of reps on the line, and Hamlin, washed Douglas and Elam plus raw rookie bishop in the secondary in the conference chip game is just so much easier to play against than the same team with actual NFL talent all over the shop. Can't wait

I think the margin is super slim, but sadly we've just been on the (barely) short side of it. Basham, Elam, and AJ were top 50-60 picks that were total busts or at best barley ok, and we gave a monster contract to von who hasn't been an even above average player for us in a single playoff game, and gave big extensions to Milano, Knox, and diggs who got hurt or just fell off and become malcontents. That's 7 players who were expected to start and play well, 5 on d, who just didn't perform. Milano came back but is no longer at his all pro level, and last year we had Elam, a washed Douglas (is he in a team now?), TJ on his worst form, raw bishop and flipping clone (I forget his name) at safety. We need this draft (and our top 3 picks from last draft who have basically sucked so far) to ball out and look like the KC 2022 draft for us. The rest of the team is in place

If we borrow a page out of the lorax days, and I think you are right that we will, it's a 5 2 4 with lots of matchup and gamed alignments up front. One of the down lineman will be in a LB position, but won't really be playing a 4-3 olb position post snap. If we think about it, taron plays LB on a lot of our downs, especially when they are reading the run. I think most of the time we will just be in a 4 2 5, but if we can play man over and zone under in the back end it creates wrinkles that we didn't have last season. I'm being an off season homer but I expect massive 3rd down and pass rush improvements.

Need a fingers crossed emoji

Is that true? It kinda makes sense, 4 of 22 regular starters (ignores special teams, but let's presume a similar portion play special teams as start on O/D) are DL, so about 11/12 of 53 (as dl rotate out more than OL, QB, CB, LB) Interdasting

Every secondary slot is up for grabs except benford's (well, tbh his is too, but there are about 3 or 4 players in the NFL who have a shot at winning it). I think they like bishop and he will work out, and I think rapp is a steady hand, so it will take something impressive to unseat him. Taron Johnson has fallen off and if this kid outplays him he will take his spot, and while mad max is the favorite to win CB2, it will be a fight. After next season youth and cheapness will beat out vets if the race is a tie.

I think this is doubling down on our power running, it lets us run the same stuff with either Anderson or this guy lined up in the smashing machine role. Also, I think they let Knox walk away and keep him to get younger and cheaper next season.

I think this is a sign that our defensive scheme (not philosophy) is changed. They brought in new coaches, signed steroid monsters up front (two who got popped) and drafted 5 top level athletes on D (they KY DT is limit size, I count that maybe even above RAS in his case). No more Hamlin and washed Miller and Douglas and Elam and Jordan Phillips getting tons of burn in chip games. No more Oliver pulls a hammy and we can barely rush the Houston QB who is behind the woat oline. I admit it might not work out, and I've been a devout McD hater because I felt like his scheme put us in losing position if everything wasn't going right, but this is a case of "I know what recipe I'm cooking, so get me the right groceries". Outside of benford and maybe Bernard, every single position on D has youth and talent competing for time and could potentially dethrone the incumbent. We now actually have the depth and breadth in the dline that mcd needs for his scheme, and instead of Addison and other past it jags holding on, these are young guys on rook contracts and one year deal vets (bosa, AJ, DT from Pittsburgh) along w some long term extended picks (Groot, Oliver, Bernard, benford). Guys like Milano, taron Johnson, Carter, bishop and Dorian Williams won't be given the long leash they might have been given in the past (Williams IMO will ball out and take over the other lb slot over Milano, but the point is everyone is on notice). We obviously lack 1tech depth and talent, and simply don't have enough lbs on the roster to play much outside of nickel base (or even done) but we now have the horses to cover and rush the passer, and the run d will continue to be shooting gaps and hoping for stuffs. I came into this off-season thinking we were gonna just ride with how mcd had done things for years, so I figured Garrett and draft a CB and it was our only chance. I like what we have now much better. Some of these guys are gonna bust out hard, but with this many pure athletes along w proven vets I think the days of Elam and Hamlin getting touched behind a zero pass rush are behind us.

Benford and Bishop are the only two dbs that played last year who we can be certain will be on the roster next year. This is getting ready for a house cleaning

Another limit athlete. They want young cheap athletic freaks and that's what they are stacking on d. They don't want a washed Douglas and Elam getting torched in the playoffs again, and I'm here for it.

Guy prolly washes out, but if he doesn't then there is a real chance he's Marcus Stroud part two. Stroud was a wrecking ball before injuries did him in. Between him, sanders, Jackson, and Groot, we can take away the short passing game with an all shot blocker package.

As a team we still have a big hole at outside wr, we really lack speed and speration ability. On d we really need Carter and Bishop to look way way better than they did in their rook seasons, on O we need Coleman and kinkaid to show a ton of improve. What is clear is how the FO wants to build their team. They want the most athletically dominant group near the ball, and they want the secondary to compliment it. Jackson, sanders, Hoyt, bosa, Oliver, and Groot are all plus athletes, the only one of them who is undersized in all honesty is Oliver. We don't have a 320# dancing bear in the gut (yet, I guess we could draft one today) but end to end the front is far from small. They are going for a team that can pressure and cover and winning third down (my gosh we need that so bad) and will continue to play the run with unstoppable force instead of immovable objects (I'll judge it as successful if we can be top level past d while mid pack on run d). On the other side, Dawkins and brown are monsters at OT, Cyrus is a true dancing bear, and rg and c are at or above replacement. Assuming kinkaid can get back to form, he and Knox round out the front with athletic traits, and we being in Anderson to be a strong heavy jumbo front a lot too. Our outside wr is just lacking, and our slot guys have depth and some real ability but are not dominant. The backfield is where we have our horsepower. Allen is a creature and the lifeblood of the team, and even if cook holds out we have backs who can run and catch and power through.

I think the direction we are seeing is that our d is going with the pat Reilly model: a bunch of talented hybrids. Hoyt at the dt from pittz, bosa and Groot, Oliver and Sanders and the razorback de we got in the 3rd. With the ability to play man behind it, I think we are going to see more formations and overloads and stunts upfront. We don't have an giant monsters in the gut (kinda ironic considering how huge and physical the ok is) but the combined size and athletics of the front 4 is something. Groot/bosa/razorback/AJ at de and Oliver/sanders/Jones/Carter/ at Dt and Hoyt wherever they put him is a lot of chess pieces if they can be creative with it.

Speed and coverage skills on this guy look pretty crazy. SEC corners have a real history of walking into the NFL and being pro ready. Being small and not in any way shape or form a thumper is a downside, which is why a 4.2 fluid corner makes it out of the top 12 tbh. Adding Hoyt and bosa and drafting this guy, along w some of the play calls last year and new d corches brought in this off-season makes me think (hope) MCD and CO want to make a pretty meaningful way the team defends the pass schematically and they are trying to bring in guys to execute that. We have tended to be super vanilla and exploited horribly in the playoffs because we couldn't really cause any confusion. Having wild card pieces up front and pure coverage in the back is what we need to have success in post season situational football. We'll need our new additions to ball out to do that, but I like the cohesive direction this is pointing in.

I don't disagree but as of last season our biggest issue was pass d. You often point out how bad we were if you eliminate the turnovers, well we got those turnovers more vs the pass game. The d was a tire fire for real. I say we trade up for a top flight CB because that's the single position that will make the biggest impact --, rook CBs can ball out the box, big men tend to take more time. I do think we need a lot more talent on the d line too tho, I'm hoping for 2 cbs and 2 or 3 dl taken, with at least 1 cb and 2 DL taken in our first 4 picks

Miller shoulda been travelling to medical clinics getting better peds and stem cells and the like for his knee. Sad!

I think there is a chance he falls a bit and then mayyyybe we can trade up and get him around like 10 or so. Being a guy who can play wr and cb could hurt him w NFL gms who are scared of someone who doesn't fit into a box (trubisky went before mahomes and Watson, that big LSU back went before McCafferty, Josh Rosen went a mile before Lamar Jackson).

they have the opposite issue we have, tons of top tier blue chip talent and a weak qb.

that's a fair concern. i disagree on 1 tech tho. a starting quality cb is worth so much more than a 25-50% of snaps 1 tech. we need a 1 tech, but if he's not a guy who can be a top 10 at his position player, an average starting cb does so much more for the team. bosa hoyt oliver and groot in whatever mix the put them in can be a nasty pass rush package. if williams or bernard can make some plays on passing downs as kind of wildcard/joker types our 3rd and long pass d could be way way better, we were just about the bottom in the nfl last season. just getting that up will lead to more punts in money games, and a starting quality cb2 gets us a long way there along w the boys we got in the trench.

if he can get his contract worked out for us, and didn't cost to much i'd do it. he would make the team better or the same at every position (assuming we get a starting cb and DT in the draft) than what we were last season, including having two real outside threats at WR. i think this is more smoke than fire tho.