Alphadawg7

Good interview here and some footage of the workouts between him and Shakir. Love to see a young player who wants to reach their potential and putting in the work. Kid needs to earn his role on this team still, nothing will be handed to him, but I do remain optimistic on him and his upside. I love Moulds approach here on how he handled identifying the areas to work on and the things that were already working for him. Man...this just brings back memories too of how shafted Moulds got in terms of the QB's a lot of his career got wasted on. As good as he was, he would have been even better had he gotten a better luck of the draw on QB's during his career. I have no doubt he would have HOF credentials had he gotten to play with say Allen his whole career.

All fair points, and agree, the player does need to want it and make that commitment. I have no frame of reference on Harty's commitment to this, but I would just assume if Beane brought him in they felt like he had the right attitude and work ethic to be here. But again, that is just an assumption based on what Beane and McD seem to typically look for in their players. If he can stay healthy, I think he could be dangerous weapon with Allens arm, but if he does go down, I think there is enough talent to make up for it to still put pressure on defenses at all 3 levels. Diggs and Davis still are deep threats in their own right, and Kincaid should be able to put pressure and stretch the seem. At least the news out of camp so far has been pretty positive in terms of Harty, so hoping the change of scenery, facilities, and staff help him find better ways to keep his body up and him on the field.

And draft coverage showed they were high on him all offseason and he had won them over big time with his dedication to being better and his notebook he had on all his mistakes and areas to improve. This notion we "panicked" to take him is not rooted in the reality of what went down. Like Kincaid, he was the last player with a first round grade on their board, which is pretty typical when you draft late that there are few to no players left with a first round grade.

He was a backup safety, not like they just cut a starter, so his roster spot should not be seen as a lock by any means. That being said, I think he will likely make the team. If memory serves me, at the time he was hurt, he was the leading the team in tackles during his time starting or something like that. Not a great guy in coverage, but was still developing. The way this team is built, the love the players have for him, I can easily see some other fringe guy getting cut before him. At least this season. BUT...if he is cut, I don't think the backlash would be that bad. Again, he was a depth player only playing due to other injuries, so any expectation that he was a lock to be on the roster would be unreasonable from a football perspective. Then there is still the mental aspect of the game, is he even ready to play at his best is a legitimate questions, and if he is not, then putting him out there is a liability both from a risk of getting hurt and a football level. Still - I think that his presence is good for the overall roster morale, and that in itself has a lot of value for a team looking to get over the mental lapses to advance to the Super Bowl, so I think he would have to really struggle to be a cut candidate THIS year.

Yeah, its a legit concern for sure. The one thing I would say that he might benefit from our state of the art facilities and staff. Other injury prone guys have held up better here than previous stops, so hopefully that happens with him too.

This was not an easy catch by any means and I have seen all of our WR's, including Diggs drop much easier ones. Shakir gets way too much flack for this one drop everyone always brings up IMHO. This is legit, I have been telling people all offseason that Sherfield and Harty and better than people think, although the injury concern with Harty is also significant. But they will have roles on this team, and Kincaid is going to as well. So even if Shakir is kind of the default slot guy like McKenzie was last year, he will still need to make plays to be involved with any consistency. Reports on him are conflicting...seems some think he has been solid others seem to think he has struggled. I think the real evaluation will come with preseason because he will get a lot of opportunities to play given they are going to sit Diggs and Davis a lot of the preseason. I still think he is a promising player, I was high on him coming out of college, he was projected as high as the 2nd round, and multiple GM's did not like he slipped to us in the 5th round either. But he had limited reps last year and involvement in the offense, so he still has to get comfortable and work his way in. Its on him to earn his reps though, they won't be handed to him, there are a lot of mouths to feed on this offense now.

Way too much over reaction going on to some camp practices with unreliable reports where people don't have the luxury of NFL game coverage to see the angles of what really happened. Like did the defender deflect the ball first, knock the ball away, etc. He still has to earn his role, but to write him off over some tweets by people who we have no idea if they can even see everything happening on each play is premature IMHO.

Yeah and lets not forget both the offense and defense have essentially been amongst the best units in the NFL respectively the past 3 seasons too. So they both should have their good days and bad days vs another top end unit.

Don't disagree that guys like Harty, Sherfield and Kincaid are going to likely earn a decent amount of targets. In fact I keep saying Harty and Sherfield are better than people think and will play more than people think, well assuming Harty stays healthy. So yeah, as far as Shakir goes, I am not expecting a Cole Beasley level role for him, too many mouths to feed. But he will likely be top of depth chart for slot with Kincaid taking a good share of snaps away from the slot spot either by 2 TE sets or Kincaid flat out lining up in the slot. Harty was brought in to take the top off defenses, not to start at slot. His durability issues are not suited for a heavy starting role, he is here to do all the things McKenzie couldn't do which just about all aspects of playing WR, but especially a deep threat who stretches the defense. Sherfield is here to backup on the outside, not play slot. Can those guys move into the slot when needed, sure, but that was not why they were brought here. Shakir is the starting slot heading into camp...maybe someone like Isabella can revive his career and challenge him for the slot spot, but his primary reason for being signed was the Hines injury and needing to look at more options for returners. Kincaid won't be the starting slot WR, but he will absolutely get a lot of slot reps this year for sure which will certainly cap the reps and targets for whoever enters week 1 as the top slot WR.

I don’t think he will need to play ST to make the team, he’s gonna likely be the starting slot WR. That being said, Shakir already does bring ST experience to the team as a returner. His roster spot is not in jeopardy IMHO

I still think Shakir has upside to be a good player. No guarantees, and he will have to earn it on the field, but I think its too early to write him off. Not a surprise that all eyes and attention are on Kincaid coming in as a first round pick, but I think Shakir still can carve out a good role on this team.

I don't disagree with that, and I certainly want to hit on every early pick as much as anyone. But sometimes people tend focus on a specific early miss too much while overlooking some of the better value they found overall through a draft that actually made the roster better. So for me, I think the draft needs to be looked at more as a whole, not which specific picks hit or miss. Did the roster improve via the draft or not is the bigger questions, and by how much, which is the point of the draft. But going back to my actual comment, I was more referencing that draft slot won't matter in the CB battle, just need one of the 3 to earn the job and prove to be a good player opposite Tre. I certainly hope its Elam like most, he definitely has the higher upside. And I was just saying I am not too concerned about who gets what snaps today, there is a lot of football left and guys will have to win their battles and earn their spot. Elam has a lot of time still to do that, and given he was a first round pick for a reason, you know the staff would like to see him step up too and will given him an opportunity to compete. But ultimately its on Elam cuz Benford and Dane are no slouches themselves and will give him stiff competition.

Way too early for this I would say...they are not going to hand Elam the job, so not a surprise he didn't enter camp as the default guy opposite Tre. Lot of football left before they decide who starts and doesn't. This time of year all kinds of guys can look great or look behind, but it all changes when the real football begins to shape everyone out. I still think Elam has a good shot to win the job, but he is going to need to earn it because Dane and Benford are no slouch. And once you are drafted, your draft slot means nothing, its all about what you do on the field. Doesn't matter if the best players comes from an UDFA or a first round pick, just matters who is playing the best and most ready to help us win games.

Im not concerned about Cook landing in the AFCE either...but I don't know I would say its just because he is a RB and that RB's are of no concern for a team that has given up 8 TD's and 140 yards per game to RB's in our last 8 playoff games. But as far as Cook goes, it would be more of a concern if one of the AFCE teams had a hole at RB and needed him as maybe a final piece. But none of them do, they all have good to very good RB's right now, so adding Cook won't move the needle much for any of them.

I don't disagree with this, and that is the heart of the problem, consistency in how they call games. This wasn't the only ref impact though, for example, throughout the game there were calls the Eagles should have gotten but didn't that the Chiefs got away with. Again, totally happens every game, and like most games there is usually a team that felt like they the better end of the stick with how the refs called the game overall, and for me that was the Chiefs that game.

Lets be honest, any homer whose team won is gonna think the refs did a good job, thats true for the fans of every team in the league. As someone who has no ill will towards KC, who had no agenda on who won, and only cared about winning his SB squares...I can say from an unbiased point of view that the Chiefs benefited from some calls...lets say "questionable" calls that many would call "bad" calls. But hey, that is true for most games, where normally one team benefits more from how the refs called that game vs the other team. It also doesn't hurt to have a face of the league type player at QB either, ask Brady and the Pats.

Hahaha, while we are honored to be nominated, I don't even think that would even register on the TSW feud meter, heck, we didn't even disagree on everything 😂 just some silly banter in a couple threads. However, there are some real doozy's around here whose clinical obsession with certain posters or each other border on needing therapeutic intervention 😂

Good thread...I have to say I think IMHO the overall MVP of the offseason has been @HappyDays. Happy filled the biggest void we had, and did very well at that, in really stepping up in the absence of Yolo to keep us informed all offseason with news, developments, etc. Lots of great contributions and insights from a lot of the usual suspects, but for me @HappyDaysis the one person I can look at and say they really elevated themselves this offseason in way that had significant impact on the rest of the posters experience on TSW by getting information to us consistently and fast to discuss. So kudos to you @HappyDayson stepping up in the absence of a key contributor!

That is a bummer. He took a pay cut to stay and had a lot of value as a returner and potential backup receiving weapon at RB. Good dude, wish him all the best in his recovery.

I was begging us to draft AJ Dillon on draft night. He had all the tools to be a player in the style of a Bettis, Henry, etc in terms of being a bruising runner who also is quick and is a good receiver out of the backfield too. Dillon has proven to be a very good back in the NFL playing along side another very good RB in Jones. He has low miles because of that compared to guys like Henry, and I would take Dillon in a heartbeat. If we could land Dillion that would be amazing addition IMHO, especially when the weather gets bad. That being said, this doesn’t seem like it is something that would happen. So not putting too much stock into this until I hear something more substantial.

If the NFL drafted today, he would more often than not be drafted 2nd overall behind Mahomes. Some would (foolishly) take Burrow, but more would take Allen after Mahomes. Its crazy to me the amount of crap Allen gets despite being universally recognized as one of the top 5 QB's in the league, even by his detractors. I am not sure I have never seen a top 5 QB get so much flack for basically not being ranked #1. And the reality is, Allen has mostly been as good as Mahomes has while working with less on offense. It wasn't Allens fault the ST and Defense mailed it in over those 13 seconds, otherwise he might already have his SB ring. But even with the D and ST letting him down, Allen is still 2-1 vs Mahomes the last 2 years, all in KC too. This is unfortunately true, and it is why some say Burrow is better when Allen literally obliterates Burrows playoff stats as a QB. But Burrow reaching a SB after the 13 second debacle cost us our shot the week before against KC and the Bengals taking advantage of a flat Bills team makes people rank Burrow ahead of Allen even though Burrow has statistically been dwarfed by Allen in the playoffs as a QB. This. 1000 times over...this.

Yeah Mahomes has always been a pretty good dude...his wife and brother have at times (especially his brother) hurt his perception by some people, but ultimately Mahomes has always come across as a class act.

Also not true. KC the Super Bowl champs are using JAGs at WR…Ravens ignored WR most of Lamar’s career and their big splash was to sign an end of his career OBJ. Bengals had Jamar Chase fall in their lap after Burrow missed a season. Miami went and paid Hill because they had a rookie contract at QB and needed to make a major move to try and be relevant. You act like every AFC contender has been drafting first round WRs every year until they had multiple pro bowlers. Meanwhile, Bills have twice invested a first and 4th to go get a receiving weapon for Josh over the last 3 years. That’s MORE than any other contender has.

Also not true. He used a 1st and 4th to get Diggs, then used a first and 4th this year to get a hybrid TE that essentially is going to be a big slot wide receiver. It’s not in any way you want to spin it true to say he has spent more on RBs than WRs.

Huh? What RBs did he over pay? This doesn’t even make sense. I mean none of our RBs have been given expensive contracts by Beane. Hines was given to him by Colts and then Hines took a pay cut this year to stay. Nothing you said is correct. He traded a first and fourth for Diggs and then paid him twice now. We just used another first round pick on a TE to basically play as a big slot WR too. We have spent more on WRs than RBs