St. PJ
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This would be my plan this "offseason". Lets face it, the salary cap has changed due to the collective bargaining agreement currently in place, and it will be very hard to get any top tier player becuase teams can afford to place the franchise tag on players even if they aren't elite players. In other words, the only perennial probowl type players still in their prime available are going to be Briggs and Samuels, and only becuase they agreed to be franchised last year under the condition that the tag would not be used again this year. What that leaves are players with injury concerns, high cap figures combined with age, character issues, or mediocre talent.
What this means is that once again, the way to build our team has to be primarily through the draft. However, it is a waste of words to talk about the draft before free agency is completed since we may not have the same needs after free agency. We need to make the best out of free agency becuase we have a good list of needs: CB, S, OLB, ILB, DT, WR, TE, and depth on the offensive line and a probable need for offensive line starters. Free agency offers us the potential to upgrade at a handful of these positions without breaking the bank. I will start with what I feel are the easiest positions to fill.
WR and TE. Other than Colston, WR is open for major improvement. We don't know what we have in Meechum, but I do not see this as a negative as of yet. Patten was serviceable, but is old and an injury concern. Everyone else has had the chance to step up the past two years and have been inconsistent at best. We should target guys like Ernest Wilford who really came on this year with a QB who could get him the ball and a new WR coach to help get the most out of him, or a guy like Kelly Washington, who has overcome injuries and done really well on special teams but was buried on the Pats and Bengals roster by a plethora of talent. Washington has a roster bonus that the Pats will not pick up, so either they restructure or he will be cut and become a free agent very soon. He likes New England, but he may very well like money more and is very talented and I feel ready to break out. At TE, I say we resign Johnson. He was servicable and had more catches than drops, although there was one game he definately hurt us. I would also make a run at Crumpler and Bubba Franks, although it could be costly because according to his agent, 11 teams are interested in Crumpler. What makes him worth the money is he is possibly the best dual threat in terms of blocking and still having speed and the athletic ability to hurt defenses in the passing game. Ben Troupe and Ben Utecht may also be solid options.
Concerning Saftey, I like Roman Harper. Alot. But KK has reached his ceiling in terms of potential, and Bullocks reminds me of Tebucky Jones. I don't care what kind of ability you have if you do not have great play recognition and are constantly out of position and looking confused in the passing game. Most of the horrible plays had on David and Thomas resulted from the lack of contribution from our safeties. By no means do David and Thomas get excused, but the lack of safety help compounded the problem as well as the defensive scheme we run, which I'll get to later. I say we target Madieu Williams from Cincinatti or Ken Hamlin, neither have been franchised, and Cinci already used their tag. Williams is one of the best safeties you never heard of, like Gibril Wilson, also a free agent from the Giants. Any one of these guys would immediately make us better on defense and would make more sense than signing another Kevin Kaesvahorn who is nothing more then depth on a good team.
At defensive tackle, I admire Brian Young's motor and Hollis Thomas' prescence, but each of these have reached their potential, and neither cut it. Hollis would be great to keep for depth if his weight doesn't balloon and make him ineffective enough to not garner a doubleteam, and Young, although quick and with a nonstop motor, just isn't big enough or strong enough to cause anyone problems consistantly. I would keep Clancy, but cut at least one of the others depending on who we could get via free agency or the draft. Heading the list of free agents is Rod Coleman, whom we can go after now since he was cut. He has had 30 sacks the last 4 years for the Falcons; I don't think all of our DT's combined have had that over the same period. This is one of the most important positions we need to address becuase I don't care who you have at CB, if we don't get inside pressure on the QB, he can step up to avoid Smith and Grant and pick apart our secondary. Just ask Champ Bailey and Dre Bly, arguably the best tandem in the league. A solid DT demands double teams, gets interior pressure, allows DE's to beat just one man, and frees up LB's to make plays at the LOS in the run game and get to the QB unabated on three step drops before he can make the hot read, kind of like when Baltimore plays us and Drew can't get it out quick enough when he is notorious at having a quick release and making quick decisions. IF YOU ASK ME, UPGRADING DT IS JUST AS IMPORTANT, IF NOT MORE SO, THAN UPGRADING AT CB. DT play is integral to every level of our defense, and if we are not solid there, even the best LB's and CB's will be exploited. This is why, if you ask any great GM or coach, the best teams are built from the inside out-- from the defensive lines and offensive lines first to skill players later. Without great big uglies, skill players don't have the oppurtunities or time to make plays. I am not sure who else not being franchised can significantly upgrade us in free agentcy, so if we do not grab a difference maker, I hope we trade up to get Ellis or Dorsey in the draft.
At linebacker, I would without a doubt break the bank for Lance Briggs. I would welcome the addition of Zach Thomas or Dan Morgan, considering there were injury clauses in their contracts, but neither are guys we can build on; they are both tentavily serviceable for a few years. Briggs, however, is in his prime. The cost of paying a top tier LB is much less than a CB. Fujita is our only consitant player, and we have definate need of an athletic, sideline to sideline tackling machine. If it weren't for Briggs, we would have played Seattle in the Championship game. That is the difference he makes. I would definately put all my eggs in a basket for a known commodity that will fit in any 4-3 defense. Boss Bailey and the other free agents may start for us, but with the talent level we have at LB, it isn't hard to upgrade. The fact is, Briggs is a sure thing and we better make the highest offer. I can understand if we make the highest offer and he goes to the Patriots instead for less money, but I can't understand if we don't even make an attempt becuase of a philosphy of getting players that fit our system at a low or reasonable cost and building through the draft. THAT IS ONLY A GREAT PHILOSOPHY WHEN YOU HAVE TALENT AT THE CRUCIAL POSITIONS ALREADY IN PLACE. We don't. Even the Patriots have shelled out the dough on great LB's in years past like Thomas last year and Colvin years before. Unless we get a bonafide starter at DT in free agency, I am against taking a LB in the first round, unless of course there is no way we can get Ellis or Dorsey and we failed in free agency. Fact is though, every year there are very good linebackers available in round two, like David Harris last year and DeMico Ryans the year before.
This leads to corner, our most obvious area of need. Many may make my same argument for getting Briggs to get Samuels, who will be the only sure thing in free agency at that position. As mentioned above, without help or solid contributions from safety, without interior pressure from DT, and without linebackers with great range and presence, it will not matter who we have at CB. We have to fix the other problems before our CB's can be successful consistantly. For the price of Samuels, we can sign Briggs, we can sign Coleman, and still have room for an up and coming safety and WR. Simply put, it would hurt us more than help us to sign Samuels. We aren't Dallas going after Deion, we don't have everything but corner. Add to that Samuels isn't a man to man cover corner. His strengths lie in zone coverage, and the best man to man cover corner available was just franchised by Oakland. Mike McKenzie was great at press coverage and has finally adjusted to the rule change made after the Pats/Colts championship game a few years ago. I am not saying we are locked into man coverage schematically, but due to the overall talent we had at each position the last few years, this was the only scheme we could run, it CB was the only position it left exposed. Had we run more zone or cover 2, we would have been more exposed on every level becuase we didn't have the peices to do that.
I don't think are coaches try to fit a square peg in a round hole, just that we have too many needs defensively. I believe they got the most out of the talent they had to work with, but with the need to upgrade at every level, I do believe we can still pursue any 4-3 player, and with enough newly talent aqquired, run a different style of 4-3. However, signing Samuels does not make sense becuase it would hinder our ability to get the additional players need to switch to a more zone oriented defense and would also not fare well for Mike McKenzie's strengths of skill. That said, we need to rely on our coaches abilities to groom a young player, our scouts abilities to identify players that will fit into whatever scheme we will run with our new free agents additions and existing talent. Maybe if we can upgrade significantly at S, DT, and LB, Young can step in and not have too many growing pains. Ty Law would buy us some time if we could offer more than New England. This is one position we need to build in the draft, but I would not pass up on Dorsey, Ellis, Rivers, both Longs, or Ghouston for a CB, even if we signt Coleman and Briggs.
Concerning upgrading the offensive line, we need to get more physical. We need road graders strong enough to open holes and athletic enough to pull and combat quick defenders. We can not break the bank for Fenaca or Starks for the same reason we can't go after Samuels-- it will restrict our ability to upgrade other, more pressing needs. The best we can get in free agency is depth and maybe someone good enough to challenge Stinch, Faine, or our LG. The draft is a great place to get quality linemen at later rounds, and if I know anything about our scouts under Loomis and Payton, it is that they are good at evaluating 2nd day offensive linemen.
Again, it is almost useless speculating on the draft before free agentcy, and my only wish is that whoever is in our scouting department relies more on watching film that combine numbers.
What this means is that once again, the way to build our team has to be primarily through the draft. However, it is a waste of words to talk about the draft before free agency is completed since we may not have the same needs after free agency. We need to make the best out of free agency becuase we have a good list of needs: CB, S, OLB, ILB, DT, WR, TE, and depth on the offensive line and a probable need for offensive line starters. Free agency offers us the potential to upgrade at a handful of these positions without breaking the bank. I will start with what I feel are the easiest positions to fill.
WR and TE. Other than Colston, WR is open for major improvement. We don't know what we have in Meechum, but I do not see this as a negative as of yet. Patten was serviceable, but is old and an injury concern. Everyone else has had the chance to step up the past two years and have been inconsistent at best. We should target guys like Ernest Wilford who really came on this year with a QB who could get him the ball and a new WR coach to help get the most out of him, or a guy like Kelly Washington, who has overcome injuries and done really well on special teams but was buried on the Pats and Bengals roster by a plethora of talent. Washington has a roster bonus that the Pats will not pick up, so either they restructure or he will be cut and become a free agent very soon. He likes New England, but he may very well like money more and is very talented and I feel ready to break out. At TE, I say we resign Johnson. He was servicable and had more catches than drops, although there was one game he definately hurt us. I would also make a run at Crumpler and Bubba Franks, although it could be costly because according to his agent, 11 teams are interested in Crumpler. What makes him worth the money is he is possibly the best dual threat in terms of blocking and still having speed and the athletic ability to hurt defenses in the passing game. Ben Troupe and Ben Utecht may also be solid options.
Concerning Saftey, I like Roman Harper. Alot. But KK has reached his ceiling in terms of potential, and Bullocks reminds me of Tebucky Jones. I don't care what kind of ability you have if you do not have great play recognition and are constantly out of position and looking confused in the passing game. Most of the horrible plays had on David and Thomas resulted from the lack of contribution from our safeties. By no means do David and Thomas get excused, but the lack of safety help compounded the problem as well as the defensive scheme we run, which I'll get to later. I say we target Madieu Williams from Cincinatti or Ken Hamlin, neither have been franchised, and Cinci already used their tag. Williams is one of the best safeties you never heard of, like Gibril Wilson, also a free agent from the Giants. Any one of these guys would immediately make us better on defense and would make more sense than signing another Kevin Kaesvahorn who is nothing more then depth on a good team.
At defensive tackle, I admire Brian Young's motor and Hollis Thomas' prescence, but each of these have reached their potential, and neither cut it. Hollis would be great to keep for depth if his weight doesn't balloon and make him ineffective enough to not garner a doubleteam, and Young, although quick and with a nonstop motor, just isn't big enough or strong enough to cause anyone problems consistantly. I would keep Clancy, but cut at least one of the others depending on who we could get via free agency or the draft. Heading the list of free agents is Rod Coleman, whom we can go after now since he was cut. He has had 30 sacks the last 4 years for the Falcons; I don't think all of our DT's combined have had that over the same period. This is one of the most important positions we need to address becuase I don't care who you have at CB, if we don't get inside pressure on the QB, he can step up to avoid Smith and Grant and pick apart our secondary. Just ask Champ Bailey and Dre Bly, arguably the best tandem in the league. A solid DT demands double teams, gets interior pressure, allows DE's to beat just one man, and frees up LB's to make plays at the LOS in the run game and get to the QB unabated on three step drops before he can make the hot read, kind of like when Baltimore plays us and Drew can't get it out quick enough when he is notorious at having a quick release and making quick decisions. IF YOU ASK ME, UPGRADING DT IS JUST AS IMPORTANT, IF NOT MORE SO, THAN UPGRADING AT CB. DT play is integral to every level of our defense, and if we are not solid there, even the best LB's and CB's will be exploited. This is why, if you ask any great GM or coach, the best teams are built from the inside out-- from the defensive lines and offensive lines first to skill players later. Without great big uglies, skill players don't have the oppurtunities or time to make plays. I am not sure who else not being franchised can significantly upgrade us in free agentcy, so if we do not grab a difference maker, I hope we trade up to get Ellis or Dorsey in the draft.
At linebacker, I would without a doubt break the bank for Lance Briggs. I would welcome the addition of Zach Thomas or Dan Morgan, considering there were injury clauses in their contracts, but neither are guys we can build on; they are both tentavily serviceable for a few years. Briggs, however, is in his prime. The cost of paying a top tier LB is much less than a CB. Fujita is our only consitant player, and we have definate need of an athletic, sideline to sideline tackling machine. If it weren't for Briggs, we would have played Seattle in the Championship game. That is the difference he makes. I would definately put all my eggs in a basket for a known commodity that will fit in any 4-3 defense. Boss Bailey and the other free agents may start for us, but with the talent level we have at LB, it isn't hard to upgrade. The fact is, Briggs is a sure thing and we better make the highest offer. I can understand if we make the highest offer and he goes to the Patriots instead for less money, but I can't understand if we don't even make an attempt becuase of a philosphy of getting players that fit our system at a low or reasonable cost and building through the draft. THAT IS ONLY A GREAT PHILOSOPHY WHEN YOU HAVE TALENT AT THE CRUCIAL POSITIONS ALREADY IN PLACE. We don't. Even the Patriots have shelled out the dough on great LB's in years past like Thomas last year and Colvin years before. Unless we get a bonafide starter at DT in free agency, I am against taking a LB in the first round, unless of course there is no way we can get Ellis or Dorsey and we failed in free agency. Fact is though, every year there are very good linebackers available in round two, like David Harris last year and DeMico Ryans the year before.
This leads to corner, our most obvious area of need. Many may make my same argument for getting Briggs to get Samuels, who will be the only sure thing in free agency at that position. As mentioned above, without help or solid contributions from safety, without interior pressure from DT, and without linebackers with great range and presence, it will not matter who we have at CB. We have to fix the other problems before our CB's can be successful consistantly. For the price of Samuels, we can sign Briggs, we can sign Coleman, and still have room for an up and coming safety and WR. Simply put, it would hurt us more than help us to sign Samuels. We aren't Dallas going after Deion, we don't have everything but corner. Add to that Samuels isn't a man to man cover corner. His strengths lie in zone coverage, and the best man to man cover corner available was just franchised by Oakland. Mike McKenzie was great at press coverage and has finally adjusted to the rule change made after the Pats/Colts championship game a few years ago. I am not saying we are locked into man coverage schematically, but due to the overall talent we had at each position the last few years, this was the only scheme we could run, it CB was the only position it left exposed. Had we run more zone or cover 2, we would have been more exposed on every level becuase we didn't have the peices to do that.
I don't think are coaches try to fit a square peg in a round hole, just that we have too many needs defensively. I believe they got the most out of the talent they had to work with, but with the need to upgrade at every level, I do believe we can still pursue any 4-3 player, and with enough newly talent aqquired, run a different style of 4-3. However, signing Samuels does not make sense becuase it would hinder our ability to get the additional players need to switch to a more zone oriented defense and would also not fare well for Mike McKenzie's strengths of skill. That said, we need to rely on our coaches abilities to groom a young player, our scouts abilities to identify players that will fit into whatever scheme we will run with our new free agents additions and existing talent. Maybe if we can upgrade significantly at S, DT, and LB, Young can step in and not have too many growing pains. Ty Law would buy us some time if we could offer more than New England. This is one position we need to build in the draft, but I would not pass up on Dorsey, Ellis, Rivers, both Longs, or Ghouston for a CB, even if we signt Coleman and Briggs.
Concerning upgrading the offensive line, we need to get more physical. We need road graders strong enough to open holes and athletic enough to pull and combat quick defenders. We can not break the bank for Fenaca or Starks for the same reason we can't go after Samuels-- it will restrict our ability to upgrade other, more pressing needs. The best we can get in free agency is depth and maybe someone good enough to challenge Stinch, Faine, or our LG. The draft is a great place to get quality linemen at later rounds, and if I know anything about our scouts under Loomis and Payton, it is that they are good at evaluating 2nd day offensive linemen.
Again, it is almost useless speculating on the draft before free agentcy, and my only wish is that whoever is in our scouting department relies more on watching film that combine numbers.