HappyDays

I don't see Lance as an upgrade over Kyle Allen. He has been awful pretty much every time he's been on the field for San Francisco. Anyways he has a $9.3 million cap hit. That makes us trading for him a non-starter.

Yeah his next test will be facing off against slot CBs and safeties, and that is how teams are going to defend him. The nice thing is if we're in 12 personnel and the opponent puts a slot CB out there that gives us an advantage in the run game. And I think Kincaid's hip fluidity will still give him a good chance to break open against DBs. Biggest thing I want to see is how he fares when jammed at the line, it's the one lingering question about his game. Having two high level TEs is a cheat code, especially when their skill sets complement each other as well as Kincaid and Knox. It's exceedingly rare for teams to find that kind of ideal combination. I am sure the advantages of that system will far outweigh any kinks Kincaid has to work out of his game in his rookie year.

Kelce is smooth. That is who Kincaid's movement and understanding of leverage reminds me of. A big part of Kelce's greatness is that he and Mahomes are always on the same page. We know how good the offense looked when Allen and Beasley were always on the same page. Now add 8 inches and 65 pounds to that player. I think the kid is a natural football player. The main knock on him I've seen is that most TEs take a year or two to acclimate to the pros. I just think he is an exception. For someone that started playing football later in life he has elite instincts as far as making himself available to his QB. His ability to find the gap in zone coverage, catch the ball, then immediately turn his hips and start running in the most efficient direction while still securing the catch is something I've only ever seen from Kelce.

He dropped because of a back injury he suffered near the end of his senior year which kept him sidelined throughout the offseason - he didn't participate at his pro day or the combine. His talent as a player was undeniable. There was once another TE that fell in the draft because of a back injury. He ended up having a pretty decent career.

I listen to Simms and Florio all the time. Simms in particular flat out overrates the Dolphins roster. Their OL is way too messy to say they are a top 3 roster.

I'm no scout, I leave that up to the experts like @GunnerBill. All I know is that when I watched some of his college tape it was plainly obvious to me that he was going to be successful in the NFL. The fluidity of his routes, the fluidity of his run after catch, the catching ability, the instincts to find gaps in zone defense. For the life of me I couldn't find a single reason to think he would fail in the NFL, as long as he stays healthy. Never thought he would drop to us. Couldn't be happier we got him.

He will, but he is losing out on reps and Isabella can be the beneficiary of that.

Shakir suffering a broken rib has given Isabella a golden opportunity to prove that he deserves a roster spot over him. Personally I think Isabella has shown more.

A couple updates from today's practice:

Two plays that he was not on his preferred side, one of which his face mask was blatantly grabbed and pulled down.

So you haven't watched him take a single snap at LT then?

You can take meaningful things away from preseason reps. I don't think Joe Marino was trying to say that Josh is a problem, he was just saying some of the criticism of the OTs was overblown. Later in the podcast he said that he still felt Spencer Brown looked "vulnerable" out there. The coaching staff kept Dawkins and Brown out there after the other starters were pulled so that tells you what they thought.

A guard and a center shouldn't enter the conversation when you're talking about a proven elite pass rusher. Other than Jones they have no one in their front 4 that offenses have to game plan around. I guess if they want to win all out shootouts that's one strategy but they tried that in 2018 and they fell short of the ultimate goal.

No communication. Interesting. I have no clue why the Chiefs are playing chicken with the most important player on their defense but I'll take it.

Lions/Chiefs to open the season could be a true shootout. Both very well coached and highly talented offenses. Neither defense will have a true difference maker on the field.

Well that's nonsense. They wouldn't have won either of their Super Bowls without Chris Jones. They wouldn't have even made it to this past Super Bowl without him wreaking havoc against the Bengals. Him sitting out until week 8 won't completely derail their season but they need that difference maker on their defense to make it all the way.

Of course we play them week 14... But maybe him sitting out costs them a couple extra games and the #1 seed becomes more attainable.

You're not the first person I've seen bring up this idea, but that article you linked says he has only shown proficiency on the left side and when the Cardinals tried him at RT in 2021 it was a failed experiment. He also only played LT in college. So probably not a swing tackle option. I would rather stick with the cheaper, not in a contract year, longer time in the system option in Ryan Van Demark for the backup LT if that's all we're getting out of the player. We are fairly deep at guard right now so maybe we can find a team that's our inverse - weak at guard depth / strong at tackle depth - and swing a player for player trade with them? I've seen people praise Anderson's and Broeker's performances in the preseason games. We already have Bates ready to step in at all 3 interior spots. Maybe that makes David Edwards expendable to find a legit swing tackle?

Sorry I just realized I typed the wrong name. SHAKIR has the broken rib, not Elam. I had a brain fart.

MLB is not just a position of concern though. CB is a position of concern. LT and RT are positions of concern. We don't necessarily have ideal starters at those roles but they are starting caliber players. MLB on the other hand is a gaping hole without even a known replacement level player. I don't know of any other contender that has that kind of vulnerability at a full time starting position.

I don't know where else to post this, so I'll put it here - Elam has a broken rib per my usual source. It apparently won't be a major issue for the regular season though. EDIT: I meant to say Shakir, not Elam.

Yeah the tackle play was not bad as I thought after my first watch. I am still worried about Dawkins' conditioning though. I don't expect our OL to be elite, I am just hoping for middle of the pack. Allen has not looked that quick to leave the pocket since his rookie year. I don't believe he has suddenly regressed, I think it was drilled into his head that his first priority was to not take any hits in a meaningless preseason game so it affected his play. I also think once he watches the tape and sees that he can trust his interior to hold up and handle stunts, unlike last year, he will be more willing to step up in the pocket and deliver. It was a good podcast, thank you for posting it.

I say let's see how the offense looks in real games before drawing conclusions about Allen's willingness to take easier completions. He was doing it last year right up until he busted his UCL which I believe forced him and Dorsey to cut back on some of those shorter routes that put stress on the elbow. His accuracy noticeably dipped after the injury and the kinds of throws you're talking about require precision. In the limited reps he had against the Steelers I can tell his elbow is back to regular function and his accuracy has returned to normal.