We Aren't Blowing It Up, So What Now?
With the Kamara signing, it's obvious we aren't planning to blow this team up and rebuild in the off-season. That doesn't necessarily mean Dennis Allen will be retained, but there's probably a better-than-even chance he is.
With the roster, though, I think we can expect Derek Carr to be the starting QB again next year. If we had plans to dump him and his salary, we wouldn't be signing Kamara for the next two years just to create a black hole at the most important position. Honestly, I'm not mad about that. Carr is our best QB by far, he's on a team-friendly deal, and he's shown he can win when we have some semblance of an OL in front of him.
Since we aren't blowing it up, that makes getting under the cap a little simpler. We are going to simply do a series of restructures like always that will push the cap issues into 2026 and 2027.
So with that said, what do we do to fix this team? Booting Allen is the obvious answer, but player-wise, what do we need to fix this run defense? Can we build real depth in the offseason to avoid the issues we had this year? Those are the big questions heading into 2025.
While I am not really a DA fan I don't think he gets the boot and is here next yr unless we just fall apart and here is why.
1st and foremost INJURIES, INJURIES , INJURIES. NO other team has had more amount of injuries and to key players as we have had. That's not up for debate it's just a fact
2nd We have shown what we are capable when healthy in the 1st 2 games. and don't give me that crap about bad teams, yes Car. is a bad team but Dallas is 3-3
and not bad just mediocre. We demolished both teams . If it was KC or Buffalo or Det. no one would be saying " yeah but they beat bad teams"
3, The only player on our roster that has really downgraded due to age is Cam, and this is probably his last yr. DD is the same as he was last yr. Honey Badger was and still is a ball hawk S, he never was a run support guy
4,we are 3, maybe 4 good starters and a bit better depth away from being a contender for a SB and we can fill those needs in next yrs draft and maybe 1 or 2 FA's
5, Myself nor anyone else anywhere can say for sure how good or bad we are going to be when we get everyone healthy again. Yes we lost Shaheed and Adebo , Shaheed is hard to replace but Adebo is not. It would be RIDICULOUS to make any decisions until we know that
6, Let's say we fire DA in season or even after it to go full teardown is not gonna happen overnight which is what any good HC candidate is going to want. Ben Johnson looked at the HC vacancies last yr and said nope, I'll just wait. Also let's say we hire an offensive-minded HC, KK is gone and he shows too much promise to let him go so soon.
It would be unproductive to fire DA mid-season and not find out just what this team is when mostly healthy. I would love to have better HC than DA but we have to see where this team is after 14 games and healthy not 7 and decimated by injuries