EJW's (see what i did there?) 2013 Offseaon Projection : Final (1 Viewer)

It took me some time to warm up but im trying to be very logical here. Bushrod is likely gone..and Brown is an UNRESTRICTED FA next year. What better way to prepare for that by Drafting a tackle @ that spot. The draft is deep with passrushers so its plausible that u can find one later in the draft. Since we are switchiing to the 3-4 it gives us flexibility in looking for PASSRUSHERS and not just a 4-3 style DE. Difference is passrushers come in all shapes and sizes and we don't have our hands tied behind our backs anymore.

Yep, drafting a LT does three things:

1) It gives us depth at the position we do NOT have at all

2) Provides a way to make Brown step up via competition

3) Allows us to fill the position (one of the highest paid positions in the NFL) for cheap and a marginal drop-off in talent level
 
Here is the kicker....the 49ers run a scheme very similar to what Georgia does on the back end in coverage. Not sure about the fronts though. As far as Ray Horton...there is two of them? I thought he went to the browns?

I think that you know that I meant a coordinator similar to Horton. And seriously, we can't compare a mediocre (no offence) college coach to a disciple of an NFL legend coordinator like Dick Lebeau.

Anyhow....releasing smith would just create a hole that you u have to project another player into. Be it Hicks or a FA or draft pick. .
Somehow, Im still not seeing a problem with releasing him.

I have no problem projecting a player like Josh Boyd into his former spot.



I see him as more of a scout QB team QB that can offer direct competition to Cadet as a KR. Again im thinking strategical. Here is another kicker.

Denard Robinson is a LEFT HANED QB ala Sean Canfield and you know how Sean loves to have left handed throwers because they put a different spin on the ball.

To me it all fits but im taking Sean Payton seriously when he said he doesn't know enough about the read option. This would just be another tool to help him learn and no one currently on the team would be a better look than Robinson to give us a scout look @the read option.
I don't know. Have we ever drafted a scout team prospect in the Sean Payton era?

We might draft a receiver but we have like 6udfa from last year still on the roster Saleem Hakim is another name to keep an eye on.
We have offensive tackles and D-linemen on injured reserve and on the practice squad too but I doubt that will qualify as any legitimate excuse not to upgrade a position as important as receiver is with a quality draftee.



http://www.georgiadogs.com/sports/m-footbl/stats/2012-2013/teamcume.html

Georgia allowed 19pts per game and allowed under 170 passing yds per game. Playing against teams that run the read option. Chip Kelly/read option is the next big thing. If kelly says hes looking for a coach with shutoutability and then tries to hire Todd Granthem then he must have tremendous respect for this guy.

In a perfect scenario Rob Ryan doesn't get a Dcoordinator job and is forced to take a lower level position.


We hire Grantham as DC and allow him to bring his DB coach with him for the above reasons. Allow vitt to continue to coach the LB's(ikr??but he can only teach what hes told to teach so?) and hire Rob Ryan as our d-line coach. Less face time but we could use a personality like his coaching the Dline. I want these guys to be nasty and aggressive.
Georgia also had the 6th best defense in the Conference and Grantham also had the 80th worst run defense nationally, as well as the 27th best overall.

Unit Breakdown: Georgia Defense > Capital One Bowl


why not at least take Alabama's coordinator, Kirby Smart? His Unit was #1?
2012-13 NCAA FBS Team Total Defense - USATODAY.com



Seems like he brought his habit of fielding terrible run defenses with him from the NFL to the College ranks.
 
I think that you know that I meant a coordinator similar to Horton. And seriously, we can't compare a mediocre (no offense) college coach to a disciple of an NFL legend coordinator like Dick Lebeau.

Somehow, Im still not seeing a problem with releasing him.

I have no problem projecting a player like Josh Boyd into his former spot.



I don't know. Have we ever drafted a scout team prospect in the Shawn Payton era?

We have offensive tackles and D-linemen on injured reserve and on the practice squad too but doubt that's will qualify as any legitimate excuse not to upgrade a position as important as receiver is with a quality draftee.



Georgia also had the 6th best defense in the Conference and Grantham also had the 80th worst run defense nationally, as well as the 27th best overall.

Unit Breakdown: Georgia Defense > Capital One Bowl


why not Alabama's coordinator, Kirby Smart? His Unit was #1?
2012-13 NCAA FBS Team Total Defense - USATODAY.com



Seems like he brought his habit of fielding terrible run defenses with him from the NFL to the College ranks.



No...i really had no clue i thought u were insisting on Horton. Mistakes happen i didn't mind when u called me out about not reading my own information on Grantham.

Im also not comparing. I just have a preference for Grantham because he is coming from the college rank where an influx of these players are coming from and where this new craze the read option is coming from. With several QB'sin the league that run this we need to be able to defend it.

Im fine with Tomsula as well but i just have a personal preference for Grantham..same as i have a preference for Wilson in the middle instead of Hawthorne.


As far as the run defense...i can couter that argument in that we weren't ranked that well against the run our SB year either...we did however force turnovers and hold teams to low scoring and QB ratings against us were low.

Georgias defense excelled in all those areas. Im not comparing coaches just taking into the thought process that if ur players that are being productive in these new offensive schemes are being brought in from college then it makes some sense to bring in a college coach that has had success stopping these offenses.

There are atleast 6 QB's in the league running some form of the read option. Geno Smith might be another QB. Eagles are about to be another team and Cam is in our own division. I think its borderline smart to bring in a coach with experience in defending it....much like the eagles though it would be smart to bring in a coach who had experience running it.

As far as Will Smith...like CantonLegend always says u don't release good players unless u have someone to replace them with....and again u want to make this switch with as much of the current roster as possible. Im not saying it isn't possible that we cut him...but if we cut him i see a resign @ a lesser price. I think he will be part of this team come September.


By the way what i bolded i would have a problem with as a coach/gm. No way id project a virtual uknown like that to beable to fill the shoes of a former probowler. Thats 2 much of a reach in my opinion. Restructuring or a sign and cut would be a better option to maintain depth and leadership another year. Especially with a short amount of draft picks and limited cash. I only wasted a single pick and that was on a NT because we don't really have a true one on the roster. The rest of the front 7 is pretty stable with the exception of my projection of Wilson to ILB. Thats what i would want as a GM to at least be as stable as possible. Josh Boyd has NO experience in the 3-4 and is a green Defensive lineman in general. At least Will Smith has some knowledge of concepts of the 3-4

I can make a case for cutting Will.....as ive cut him in a few of my other drafts but @ this point i think its smarter to keep him.
 
As far as the run defense...i can couter that argument in that we weren't ranked that well against the run our SB year either...we did however force turnovers and hold teams to low scoring and QB ratings against us were low.
Then why not bring back Gregg williams if our goal is not to improve our front seven? He was top 5 in 3rd down% his last two years and was even 11th against the run in 2011.

But, I'll stop there. I see that he's your man and you're sticking to him for better or worse.

I just respectfully differ.

As far as Will Smith...like CantonLegend always says u don't release good players unless u have someone to replace them with....and again u want to make this switch with as much of the current roster as possible. Im not saying it isn't possible that we cut him...but if we cut him i see a resign @ a lesser price. I think he will be part of this team come September.
Im not sure if you know who is the best person to be be drawing roster selection wisdom from. I don't think that it is a stretch to think that if he had his way, fred thomas, colby buckwoldt, and Josh bullocks would still be our starters.:hihi:

(Just clowing, CL!!!).
 
Well, you put a lot of work into that. But I really hope none of that happens. I don't see an OT in the first. I do see a trade down two to three spots and pick up a second. Also, we don't need to keep under performing players because we can let them go and sign a FA to fill their spot for less money so I don't necessarily agree that money is the limiting factor that you do. Drafting a QB is a waste of a pick in my opinion and I'd rather get rid of an undependable kicker in Hartley and pick up the Tulane kicker in the 6th or 7th. We have done extremely well picking O-Linemen in the 4th to 6th rounds as well. We DESPERATELY need an impact LB and D-Lineman in this draft and I feel that we can get one of each especially if we make that trade down a few spots that I mentioned earlier. As for Ingram, I seriously hope the Saints don't think he is the answer that you and others seem to think he is because 3.25 ypc seriously doesn't impress me, and Ingram couldn't carry Deuce's jock, absolutely NO COMPARRISON. We will be extremely sorry if we put our faith in Ingram to be our workhorse RB, mark my words, and if we let Ivory go we will be very, very sorry we did. I'm not sitting here saying that I think I know what we're gonna do but I sure hope it isn't what you've outlined because I believe that would set us back 5 years at least.
 
Well, you put a lot of work into that. But I really hope none of that happens. I don't see an OT in the first. I do see a trade down two to three spots and pick up a second. Also, we don't need to keep under performing players because we can let them go and sign a FA to fill their spot for less money so I don't necessarily agree that money is the limiting factor that you do. Drafting a QB is a waste of a pick in my opinion and I'd rather get rid of an undependable kicker in Hartley and pick up the Tulane kicker in the 6th or 7th. We have done extremely well picking O-Linemen in the 4th to 6th rounds as well. We DESPERATELY need an impact LB and D-Lineman in this draft and I feel that we can get one of each especially if we make that trade down a few spots that I mentioned earlier. As for Ingram, I seriously hope the Saints don't think he is the answer that you and others seem to think he is because 3.25 ypc seriously doesn't impress me, and Ingram couldn't carry Deuce's jock, absolutely NO COMPARRISON. We will be extremely sorry if we put our faith in Ingram to be our workhorse RB, mark my words, and if we let Ivory go we will be very, very sorry we did. I'm not sitting here saying that I think I know what we're gonna do but I sure hope it isn't what you've outlined because I believe that would set us back 5 years at least.


**I can respect your opinion and i agree with you on that we should trade down if possible to get more picks because we need to. Especially if we cut some guys. With that being said predicting trade backs is a headache so i purposely left them out.


**Drafting a QB/WR/KR in denard robinson is a waste of a pick if all you see him as is a QB. I see him as direct competition @ KR for Travaris Cadet as i don't see Roby returning. Also again i must stress that this pick is based on Strategy. Who on our team can give us a good scout on the read option?

The answer No one. The read option is a problem..and we have a QB that runs it right here in our division. The performance of your D depends on the scout team. You know why we looked overmatched against Newton/Panthers last year? We had no one to simulate that speed. Robinson would be perfect for this. Like i said Sean Payton said he didn't know enough about the read option and it SCARED HIM.

What better way to get good looks@ it in practice then getting a guy like Denard Robinson to run it. Just another tool in Payton getting a more direct/inhouse look@the read option.



**I also believe i hit on a impact player in the front 7 but drafting Taylor. The last thing i want as a GM is having to predict how a player will fit. Smith/Bunkley/Hicks/Jordan all have experiece in a 3-4. Thats 3 starters and depth @ NT and both DE spots because hicks can play all of them. Why give that up to push a guy like Tom Johnson/Jay Richardson/Tyrunn Walker 2nd in the rotation if you don't know how they project by cutting Will Smith when you can just restructure him? He was overpaid as a 4-3 RE. Have him restructure and pay him like a starting 3-4 end for a year and everybody is all good. The only projecting i really did was Moving Martez to ILB..which isn't that far of a stretch as he played MLB in college..and signing Bryan Thomas OLB.


** on Ingram. I see people keep bring up his YPC but listen. How high do you expect his YPC to be when his role the last 2 years has been Short ydg back. (which he is quite good @) He comes in the game...teams know run they stack 8 in the box. Sometimes he makes a play..more often than not he gets 2 yrds. Its understandable when your presence keys the defense to run....

People will say...well Adrian Peterson can do it...well Ingram isn't adrian peterson. He was however valued enough by Coach Payton that they traded up to get him so they must have saw him as a fit in the system. Ill defer to Sean Payton and the comment "The only thing keeping Mark Ingram from rookie of the year is me" I pay attention to things like that. Gives really good insigt into a persons thought process. Ingram was/is being brought around slow...i expect this year he will be given the chance to shine.

Listen...has Mark Ingram been given the chance to be the lead back yet? No so until he proves he CANT be the lead back i think people should stop saying he can't. Hes never been given the chance to prove he can be. Hes been nothing but a humble young man awaiting his opportunity to show what he can do. Sharing touches with guys his a hard thing to do and having to do it with Pierre and Sproles is hard enough. When Payton drafted him they had a vision...i see the vision and it was to bring him along slowly because ther was no need for a feature back.

WE didn't knwo if Deuce would have been a feature back either so we traded Williams and gave him the rock...he rewarded us. Ingram was a 1st round pick just like Deuce. This organization is rather loyal to its players. Ingram is in his 3rd year and Ill bet my little toe that he will be given the chance to show what he can do this year by carrying the majority of the load.

If he doesn't perform THEN you say trade him etc etc


However, what i saw from Ingram late in the season when he was actually kept in the game and the defenses weren't keying in on him...i saw a productive RB with wiggle to make guys miss. HE doesn't have top end speed but we have sproles for that and he doesn't passblock as well but we have Thomas for that. Keeping Ivory again this year would just crowd the backfield again and end up with SOMEONE being disgruntled. You don't trade up for a guy in the 1st round then try to trade him 3 years later. Thats a loss in value. You can however take an undrafted guy like Ivory who is a good runner but is the worst passblocker(which is rediculously important in this offense) on the team and trade him for a 5th. Thats value.


Wanna know a bigger mistake than letting Ivory go...

Trying to distribute 20 touches a game between 5 RB's!!
 
Then why not bring back Gregg williams if our goal is not to improve our front seven? He was top 5 in 3rd down% his last two years and was even 11th against the run in 2011.

But, I'll stop there. I see that he's your man and you're sticking to him for better or worse.

I just respectfully differ.


Im not sure if you know who is the best person to be be drawing roster selection wisdom from. I don't think that it is a stretch to think that if he had his way, fred thomas, colby buckwoldt, and Josh bullocks would still be our starters.:hihi:

(Just clowing, CL!!!).

Gregg Williams wasn't retained because he didn't mesh with Payton and obviously there were some other issues...it wasn't because he wasn't a good coach. He may have been blitz happy....but we held teams to about 20pts per game on average all 3 years he was here. He helped win us a SB i dont see why people just refuse to give the man his props. Grantham held opposing teams to 19.pts per game. IF we can get a Coordinator that can get us anywhere in the lower 20's ill be happy.

YDs allowed are a poor indicator of stats..even Belichik doesn't agree with it. ITs all about Scoring Defense and 3rd down stops. I don't care if we give up 400 yds a game. If they only score 22 points im cool with that because our offense is capable of putting up 21points in a half.


B4 anyone says well if yds don't matter then how can u hold spags to the worst defense in history title.


Easy spags was giving up 28pts per game. Thats a TD more a game than we gave up under any of the 3 years under gregg. Add that too the 400yds or so per game and u see the worst part. We were giving up yds that kept our Offense off the field longer and when they got back on the field it was usually after a TD rather than a 3rd down stop or something.

Like Chip Kelly said...i want someone with shutout ability. Holding a team to 19 points IS like a shutout with our offense.
 
I would be very unhappy with that off season, hope you are wrong.

Too each his own. However when i see comments like this i think about how happy everyone was last season after landing spags etc etc and how unhappy i was in thinking he was the wrong hire and it proved to be true.

I also got that same thing in my previous thread when i said fire spags. "dont see it happening" "worst thread ever" " hope that doesn't happen" then it happens and its all good and it suddenly made sense...when it made sense to me all along so. Shrugs

Thanks for ur thoughts though
 
A couple things. First, how will Will Smith restructure (I'm assuming you mean massive pay cut) his contract if he already did it last year? As per the CBA players can't do it 2 years in a row.

Tom Johnson is much less of a projection at 5-tech than Hicks given his 2 years of success in the NFL. One of which he played in GW's multi front defense which is the same reason you are saying Will Smith can play 5-tech. Even Walker played DE in Tulsa's 3-4 before they switched to the 4-3 his senior year. We have much better depth at DE than you probably realize.

Also, Loomis has a long history of filling needs in FA. Why would he depart from this strategy with the most important position after QB? I just see no way we go into the draft with just a tackle who has looked like a bust since being drafted. Loomis has never done that in his history and I see no way we start now.
 
A couple things. First, how will Will Smith restructure (I'm assuming you mean massive pay cut) his contract if he already did it last year? As per the CBA players can't do it 2 years in a row.

Tom Johnson is much less of a projection at 5-tech than Hicks given his 2 years of success in the NFL. One of which he played in GW's multi front defense which is the same reason you are saying Will Smith can play 5-tech. Even Walker played DE in Tulsa's 3-4 before they switched to the 4-3 his senior year. We have much better depth at DE than you probably realize.

Also, Loomis has a long history of filling needs in FA. Why would he depart from this strategy with the most important position after QB? I just see no way we go into the draft with just a tackle who has looked like a bust since being drafted. Loomis has never done that in his history and I see no way we start now.

See I wasn't sure about the Restructuring rule. CitySaint mentioned it but i didn't know how true that is. If thats the case then u can still cut/resign will smith.

You make a good point with Tom Johnson...id still be iffy about Tyrunn Walker making the transition. With that being said it can't hurt to have Will Smith still in the rotation so i would indeed keep him IF possible. If not then Johnson/Walker are very much plausible so ill stay neutral on the Will Smith front. Im fine with him staying/leaving.

As far as the OT position.... In the draft B4 this i considered signing a guy like Winston Justice in FA. This would be another direct way to provide competition for Charles Brown. Jermon Bushrod was an uknown and got some of the same treatment i see Charles Brown getting. Then we won the SB with him. Now everyone is questioning what we r going to do now that hes leaving.

Just like Ingram i say...give Charles Brown a chance much like we had to give the kid from Townsend a chance 1 day. He looked much improved last year...he just was unable to stay health.

Drafting an OT considering how i approached FA was a must. We get the 3rd ranked tackle in the draft/direct competition for charles brown and if Charles Brown doesn't beat him out well then...we have our starting Tackle of the future.

I do agree that we could go LT in Free Agency but the wavelength my mind was on for this mock was to not do any major trades in the draft...(otherwise id trade back and pick up a passrusher then draft a LT like Oday Oboushi in the 2nd to go along with the Winston Justice Signing. That way we'd have a Vet/2nd rounder/and then a 3rd round developmental.


A former 2nd round LT and a 1st round LT and maybe an older Vet is pretty solid. Considering we went from Jammal Brown to Bushrod in 1 offseaons and he was an unknown. Id be comfortable with the above if it were to happen. This staff has proven they know how to develop offensive lineman.

Running the ball more would protect everyone on the line...including Charles Brown if he ended up starting.
 
I like most of it. I also think we should cut Hawthorn since him and Lofton would be a bad pairing in the 3-4. I also like the idea of drafting an OT (but maybe not in the 1st). I think it helps the team a lot....even if we resign Bushrod. You could have the rookie play RT for a year.

However, I don't like the idea of restructuring a bunch of contracts. The reason is that restructuring over and over is the reason why we are where we are. No cap space and a bunch of holes to fill. Restructuring guys like Harper, Smith (if possible), Greer and other would allow us to free up a little cap space this year but we would be in the exact same situation over and over in the next couple years. It could make sense if the FO is convinced that we are playing for a SB next year but I would find this very short-sighted. The last thing I want is to restructure a bunch of contracts this year (and as a result having average players having even bigger cap hits in the next 2-3 years) to free up a little cap space in order to sign more average/good guys with back loaded contracts like we did last year.

IMO, this season will be (most likely) a transition year. I do not expect a smooth transition on D like Houston had (we don't have near the same amount of talent), and I think we have more work on offense than people realize.

What I would do is really try to clean up the roster and our payroll as much as possible, even if it means not being as good as possible for this season. Harper is a good example. I am not a Harper hater but I think he is just an average/barely above average player paid like a top 10-top 5 guy. If the goal is to win it all next year, we probably have a better chance with Harper than with someone else but the question is "do we see Harper as our SS for the next 3 years"? If not, we might as well cut it now IMO. Same with guys like Greer or Smith.

Like many other fans, I think that what we need more than anything else is 1-2 stars on D. We might get lucky and find them in the draft but if not, I want to have the cap space (and eventually the draft picks) to trade or sign one in the next few years.
 
Devin Taylor is best suited as a 5-tech in the NFL. He's a good overall athlete for how big he is but just doesn't have the explosiveness or quickness to be a great OLB.

Still like the pick of course with the Saints in need of players at the 5-tech. And he's certainly a versatile guy who could do some different things, but I think he will - and should - end up with his hand on the ground.
 
I have to agree with your choice of putting Tez at ILB. After watching his college highlights and some of the games this year, he seems to get the best push coming up the middle. He's got range, speed to close in space, and he looks to be a sound tackler.
 

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