PBF81

BTW, the number of all but useless and mostly overpriced players from Carolina brought here is hardly hyperbole.

Here's the thing, this is a bind that we're in because of prior drafting, or NOT prior drafting (OL), etc., and poor draft value in general. We may have to take an IOL that would be slated for the early 2nd then, because by the late 2nd they won't be around either, and we end up making the same argument. Then, using the same logic, we go all the way through days 1 & 2 w/o an OL pick. Beane's gotta come up with some IOL-men somewhere, and possibly even a RT. Where he gets them is his job and responsibility. The fact that we have such needs going into his 6th Draft, is on him. I have absolutely no idea why there's a single argument against that. I mean who else's fault is it. The one thing that we do know is that his approach to stocking the OL has been one of dumpster-diving as someone put it, signing a bunch of low-demand 1-2 year signees that has led us to where we are now, and which hasn't cut it. What he does is on him and he'll likely sink or swim on this Draft, not me saying that, but many in the national and regional media despite the fact that I agree. We drafted Cordy Glenn in 2012 nine picks into the 2nd Round, 41st overall. That's the only other OL-man besides Cyrus Kouandjio that we've drafted in round 2 since Wood and before McD showed up. I'll gladly take a Cordy Glenn with the 27th overall. We should be so lucky. And let's be honest here, for the handful of times that Beane's told us how one of his picks "should've gone higher," ... And in 2012 the left side of our line was Glenn OT, Levitre LG, and Wood C. Imagine had we started building a line three seasons ago.

Well, Beane's pretty big. wouldn't you say. The original argument there is that the best possible candidate for GM came from Carolina, and you can research their FO moves prior to that time, as I did before becoming unimpressed. On the coaching side, I have no idea, but Al Holcomb and Ken Dorsey are two, after that does it matter. I know that there have been others but those at the moment are the two biggest. It all flows downhill from them. How many of the other 18 really contribute to ... for example, "13 Seconds" tactics. (rhetorical) I was being partially facetious, I'm pretty sure you know that, but let's wait and see who else comes from there. That well must be close to dry by now. Also I'm pretty sure that the number of people in our organization that came from the Panthers, who've been anything but impressive since 2011 when McD began working there. .... 8 of 12 losing seasons, three times getting ousted early in the playoffs, ... at least McD's consistent in coaching his teams in the playoffs, and one loss in the Super Bowl in a season in which they posted the 6th scoring D on a relatively soft schedule of ranked offenses. Seems as if we got exactly what Carolina was, a team incapable of performing in the playoffs ... and that's with Allen at QB. It's hardly as if we went to KC after they won the SB twice to pilfer staff. It's the opposite. It's a sign of McD not being able to step out of his comfort zone. .... not good.

The jury seems to be out on who was really calling the defensive shots, could've been McD. Was too his top-5 D, maybe the perception of our D would be a little better if come playoff time it didn't play like a bottom-5 D. As to disrespect, right or wrong, it sort of comes with the territory. But if someone wants to pay me as much as he's gotten over that six year period and disrespect me, I'm good with it. Also, those are some huge If's.

We'll the joke's on us. Keep looking over that Carolina coaching staff and front office, that or serious OJT guys are the pattern here. I'm not sure we've ever seen anything like it to this extent.

Maybe that's what happened to this dude, ... kind of. Maybe he had a bit too much to drink, went into the wrong type of bar, got a "little disoriented," ... and well, now there's some confusion and he has an aversion to milk.

I know I am very interested in the thought processes of people however.

I think I partially did miss your intent. Also, I did take some liberties re: your "top-3" comment. I appreciate the back-n-forth. Your point seems to be defending McD & Beane. Am I off? As to your points, ... Kelly was a better passer simply because he knew how to take advantage of, and did, the high-percentage passing game, which is what propels all QBs to greatness in this league. Allen was much better at it last season, this season he took an injury and we're told by a "doctor" that his injury prevents him from doing that. So if true, is that his fault? But if anything, that is the shortcoming in his game and why there's any doubt that he may not be as good as Mahomes or Burrow as a passer. As to your comments on Elway, Young, Vick, and "today's game" vs. yesteryear's game, the difference to the QBs was not in how the pressure got to QBs generally speaking, it's been in what those defenders could/could-not do to the QB once they got past their respective OL counterparts. There's an important difference as it relates to what we're talking about here. IOW, the OL is still of paramount importance in the mix. Put Kelly on this team and he's running for his life like he, literally, never knew. The difference in our OLs today vs. '90-'93 is pronounced. The same can be said althought not as extremely, between today's OL of ours and pretty much any of our OLs since then. I mean is anyone really going to positively compare Ballard, Ritcher, Hull, and Woolford to Dawkins, Bates, Morse, Boettger, and Brown? Hardly. I would quickly add it's the same for the rosters otherwise also similarly. We've pretty much always had better RBs than we've had now. Knox is nothing special and comparable to past TEs. Some of our defenses, I pointed one out specifically the other day, were worlds better than then one we have now. There was above-average talent in most positions, not merely in a few spots. Kelly didn't have Allen's escapability either. He was far from immobile, but if he had to run for his life like Allen regularly does, no way he performs well like he did. Kelly also had massive support from a running game featuring Thurman, Davis, and several different bruiser FBs that could get the short yardage when necessary, something that this team doesn't have apart from Allen. Completely disagree on Vick BTW. Vick wasn't any better than Taylor. In the few seasons that both started, Taylor outplayed Vick in passing and didn't turn the ball over nearly as much either. A great exercise on this BTW, would be to put up the rosters throughout the years and compare them. I think it would clear things up considerably. I've already done that informally and keep saying to myself, that if Allen had even the OL of Wood, Levitre, and Glenn for example, better than any three we have now by a long shot. Some continuity as well which Allen has zero of. In fact, I'll do that for one year below for the OLs and defense. Anyway, if you're point was that without Allen we win only 6 or 7 games a season, I'm in full agreement with that. But at the same time, if we're comparing teams, to take say an average QB, and presumably we can agree that for example David Carr or Andy Dalton are pretty average QBs, if we were to replace Allen with Dalton or Carr, we still wouldn't win more than 6/7 games and we'd be in the AFCE basement. How would we win them? If however, KC or Cinci had to go with Carr or Dalton from Mahomes and Burrow, I still see them being competitive, despite not winning 14 or 12 games, I still see them winning 9, 10, or 11 games and making the playoffs. Cinci already did it with Dalton. Why? Because they're better coached than we are, plain and simple. That's the McD part of it. They also have more talent elsewhere on the team that steps up, particularly in the big playoff games. That's the Beane part of it. IMO McD has run his course, so has Beane. Could I be wrong? Of course. We'll see what this Draft brings, but given the results to date, the odds of one of our rookies stepping up to make a difference is nonexistent. It would be a first for Beane. As to McD, he won't have nearly to work with what he's had to date. White may be finished after his surgery, he certainly wasn't good when he returned this year. Poyer gone. Even drafting a WR at 27th isn't going to cut it. There hasn't been a WR drafted after 11th in either of the last two drafts that has put up starting #2 numbers or even close. Cinci's improving, KC's still KC, Miami and the Jets are breathing down our necks and each took one from us this past season. We can never rule NE out. Lawrence and Jax seem to be coming on and we couldn't beat them last time we played them when they sucked. But the elephant sitting in the kitchen sink is that come playoff time none of our players steps up. Diggs our moneyman has been terrible the past two seasons in the playoffs and hasn't had a playoff TD in our last five playoff games. Against Cinci and KC he posted a combined 7 grabs for 42 yards this and last season, and he's our money guy. Everyone's complaining about Davis, but at least he shows up come playoff time as our best overall WR in the last two season's playoffs. Singletary and Cook haven't done anything. Defensively we don't have anything even approaching a Bruce Smith, Aaron Schobel, or Kyle Williams. In his 8 total playoff games Oliver's had 2 total sacks and 4 TFL. That's ridiculous for a 9th overall pick. What does one even say about a secondary that permits nearly twice the passing yardage against Cinci than Baltimore did, and nearly a hundred yards more than KC with its 19th ranked yardage passing D and 32nd ranked TD passing D. Our rushing game is below average. Our OL is average on a good day. Our WRs clearly aren't cutting it. Our TE shows up a few times a season but that's it. There's not a single impact player on our DL that shows up regularly besides Poyer and Milano neither of which Beane drafted. Our LBs, ... LOL, that should be singular, not plural, our LB, Milano, is great, but then there's nothing if Edmunds leaves. Milano's not Beane's pick. As to our secondary, if the playoffs are the indication, there's not much positive to say. OK, so per above, let's compare rosters between this past season's and that of Mularkey's first of two seasons in Buffalo, and I'll swap QBs on the roster. Tell me what you'd have expected for both teams. Mularkey's team went 9-7 that season, led by Bledsoe, missing a Wild Card by a game to the Jets (Pennington) and Denver (Plummer), hardly household names in historical QBs. Last year's unit (13-3) here was our OL: LT: Dawkins LG: Saffold C : Morse G: Bates RT: Brown 2004 (9-7): LT: Jennings LG: Ross Tucker C : Teague RG: Villareal RT: Mike Williams Last season: DL: Rousseau, Oliver, Jones, Lawson LBs: Edmunds, Milano DBs: Poyer, Jackson, Hamlin, Johnson, and White 2004: DL: Kelsay, Adams, Williams, Schobel LBs: Posey, Fletcher, Spikes DBs: McGee, Clements, Milloy, Reese (backups: Wire, Vincent, Bledsoe, who couldn't move out of his own way, had 37 sacks. Allen had 33 last season, and you've agreed that it's easier for QBs now. So switch the two. How would each team have fared? The 2004 team lost four games by an average of 3 points. Just those four games alone would have put them at 13-3. If we could have taken one from NE too we'd have won the division against Brady. Bledsoe on last season's team would have been a disaster. Which roster would you rather have with Allen, last season's, or 2004's? That's an easy one for me. IMO with that defensive roster and OL & McGahee, if we couldn't have won a Super Bowl it will never happen. With Bledsoe on this team we'd have been lucky to win 6 games. BTW, our WRs then were Moulds & Evans, the latter whom as a rookie posted almost exactly what Davis did last season but with two more TDs. Well, what will be interesting is posing this same exact poll following this upcoming season and then if necessary after the 2024 season. Somehow I see that margin flipping decisively. The question then becomes, why are people satisfied now, but not then should that end up being the case. I mean same coach. Same "Process." Same excuses for giving him more [undefined] time, what, 5 years more, 10? What will have changed in the perceptions of McD or Beane if that happens? Will they both have gotten worse than they are now and have been, mysteriously? I suspect that the outcome at that time will depend upon whether or not we make a legitimate run at winning the AFC. But right now we can't play well against the top two challenging teams requiring monumental offensive efforts to overcome our defensive failures. We struggled, at home, against a QB that won't ever start in the NFL and nearly lost to a team with the most novice and inexperienced QBs in the playoffs. I wouldn't be surprised if we do not win the division this season. Suppose that happens, say one of the following happens: A. Win the division, but lose again in the WC or D round; B. Don't win the division and if we make the playoffs but lose in the WC or D rounds; C. Don't make the playoffs How do you think the poll responses will look then? I don't know, I'm seriously asking. All I can do is guess. But we've underachieved with a better roster than we'll have this coming season. If Milano, Dawkins, or Diggs gets hurt, do you see us winning many games? These are all rhetorical, but get to the point. Even if it's for injury to Allen, that would likely befall Beane anyway, for not protecting our multi-hundred million dollar investment.

Sure, all of our teams since the Kelly era you probably could have swapped out QBs arbitrarily and have had it made no more than a 1+/- game difference season to season. I'm pretty sure that you could have taken the QBs of the Jets or Fins and interchanged them over the past 20+ years and it also wouldn't have made the kind of difference that you reference. Here's the problem that I have with people using that line of reasoning in defense of Beane or McD, that put that same QB, Allen, on pretty much any of the teams of "The Last 20 Years," and you also have a playoff contender and perhaps even a division winner during the Brady era. I mean swap Bledsoe for Allen, and we're making the playoffs and winning playoff games. We had better overall WRs, RBs, OL and even defense back then. So if we're going to use that, then let's use it entirely for the entire time of the "Last 20 Years" then too. McBeane defenders won't allow that tho.

MUCH greater! Polian >>> Beane too. In fact, IMO Beane's among the less impressive of our GMs over the years, and that's saying something. Can you imagine Allen behind the OL of Ballard, Ritcher, Hull, and Woolford?! OMG ... I even threw out the OL of Wood, Levitre, Peters, and a few others the other day. I think that this is the worst OL we've had since the pre-Kelly days.

Way to completely disregard his 6 catch for 113 Yards (67%) and a TD in the Miami playoff game. Except for him, we lose. Diggs did nada. Using that logic, how about trading Diggs then too? He's been pretty useless in the playoffs, can't even find the end zone, worse than Davis whom you want to throw overboard. Except for his Miami game he's sucked in the playoffs this and last season Knox, same there. In eight playoff games he's been entirely insignificant in five of them, average at best in two more, and has posted only one notable playoff game, our rout of New England last year when Allen and the entire offense was on fire. Look, I'm no defender of Davis, but we're not going to do better for this year in the Draft. Also, we drafted a fine WR along with Davis, two rounds later, and didn't use him. So what gives us the confidence that they'd use a rookie WR, even if they did have the performance expectations you have as rookies, which they do not, that he'd even be used properly. My confidence in that is nil. Why shouldn't it be? The only decent receiver we had is one that Beane had to go out and buy and went out and paid top-dollar for because he can't draft. The team we traded him for got an extra day-3 pick in addition and a much better and far less expensive WR. I simply think that this cascade of criticism being heaped on Davis as the scapegoat for all but the entirety of Allen's and the offense's woes is way over the top, particularly considering the options. If you think differently, great, show us the receivers drafted after 11th overall in the past two drafts that performed to standards that will make us better this season? I think we're stuck. And either way, so OK, we expend our 27th overall on a WR. Great, now what do we do for the OL? LB? I know, I know, Beane will grab some guy late in round 2 that "should've gone in round 1." LOL If we each had $20 for every time a team made that statement that failed to be true, eh.

BTW, Levy immediately went downhill after Polian was fired. Everyone knows that the reason for our success back then had far more to do with Polian than with Levy. We went to one more Super Bowl on Polian's residual talent, a roster that he himself described as a special collection of players. After that fourth Super Bowl Levy only won the division once in the next and his last four years here. In that season we lost in the Divisional round. We posted only two of four winning seasons and went 1-3 in those playoffs. We got hammered by the O'Donnell-led Steelers and lost to the Brunnell-led Jags to end our playoffs those two seasons. Levy, after going 49-15 (.766) to bring us to the Super Bowl in those four regular seasons, then went 33-31 (.516) in the next and his last four. I'm expecting a similar although not quite as drastic trend here now. Beane is nowhere close to Polian in terms of drafting. We'll see how McD does this season. Beane's rookie classes have produced next to nothing in their rookie years. Beane has said that we're not doing anything significant in free agency and we have little room to do much there. So we're essentially taking this team into next season. Will the Jets and/or Fins improve? The Pats? Will Jones make a big leap in his third season like some other QBs and like Allen did? We don't know yet. In looking at our current roster defensively, if we had to take that into this regular season without Poyer, with White having played poorly upon his return thus far, with Edmunds gone and only Milano as a starting quality LB in there, with no proven pass-rushers on the DL w/o Von Miller in the lineup, and with Von Miller unlikely to ever return to anything close to what he was, I'm more than a little concerned. I can easily see us falling well into the average range defensively, McD's forte`. It's unwise to expect much from a rookie WR drafted where we'll have access. Singletary may be gone too, and he's our best all-around RB. We'll see how Cook pans out I suppose, but our use of RBs is suspect as well. Our offense won't be "as good" if our defense doesn't play as it has. One of the quite relevant things that I haven't seen anyone discuss here is turnovers. This past season with our #2 D we had 27 Takeaways to go with out 27 Giveaways. Last season and our #1 D, we had 30 Takeaways to pair with our 22 Giveaways. In the playoffs however, this past postseason we had only 2 Takeaways, both against Miami. None against Cinci. Last year, 2021, we also had 2 Takeaways, both against NE, all four of those were INTs against Thompson and Jones. The point, we rely heavily on turnovers/takeaways, but more importantly, the defensive pressure that accompanies them, which seems to be absent against the better teams (i.e., teams with average or better QBs unlike Thompson or Jones) in the playoffs.

Given the team and leadership we now have? ... in a NY second. I could die a happy man with just one Championship. More would be great, none is unacceptable. LOL They've had 6 seasons (McD) and 5 seasons (Beane) to get us to a Super Bowl, something that our team with a notably lesser QB did four straight years, and they've failed. Now we've got a ton of holes, Miami and the Jets, of all teams, breathing up our ass and with already splitting with them with a superior team this past season, and of course the team that simply won't die, the Pats, even if they will hover around .500 and fail to make the playoffs for the foreseeable future, they're still a threat to take a regular season game. I don't know how much Pegula cares about optimizing the performance of this team given the talent that we do have, but depending upon how this coming season goes, I can envision changes in coaching and management ahead. I don't think we'll have any losing seasons in the near future, I can't even envision that with Allen at QB, but I can see us not winning the division, going in as a Wild Card, and of course our playoff performance to date raises serious questions as to whether McD is even capable of winning the three or more likely four games in the playoffs required to win it all. The failures in coaching prowess in those games have not been merely simple miscues, they've been cataclysmic oversights taht fall well into the "WTF was he thinking" category. Unless it's a trash QB, our defense doesn't even play well when we win, and we're likely losing Edmunds and Poyer and who knows who else. If we're even close to the #1 D in the regular season this forthcoming season I'll be thoroughly impressed with McD given the current lack of talent on the unit should Edmunds and Poyer leave, and barring some completely unexpected major moves on D. Those are two huge losses. I wouldn't pay huge money to keep either for reasons, but the dropoff from them to the "next man up" in both cases is sizeable. I mean who steps in for Edmunds? This talk of Bernard taking his place is laughable, and he's arguably the "best option." Fair enough, apparently not. Likewise, I never mean anything personally. Always trying to engage.

Why not simply have asked "What were your expectations for the team to date under McDermott as head coach?" A. I expected to merely regularly win the division. B. I expected to make the playoffs every season, but not to advance much in them. C. I expected us to challenge for AFC Champions regularly. D. I expected us to have won a Super Bowl/Championship by now. E. I expected an up-and-down campaign with little if any consistency or continuity. F. I had no expectations of even making the playoffs regularly. Or add in whatever other option you wanted. That would tell you exactly what peoples' expectations were from McDermott, rather than posing the question with the backdrop that McD has either fulfilled or not fulfilled them, which necessarily will give you false responses by the supporters of McD. Think about it, someone that had greater expectations, but that supports McD thinking that he's not the reason for our problems, something difficult to believe, is likely to answer in favor of McD. There are many divisions amongst fans here with some complexities. Some support McD, Beane, Dorsey, and Frasier (now gone I realize, and not likely to return ever imo). Some support McD but not Beane. Some support one or the other or both Coordinators but not McD. Some support McD but not one or both Coordinators. Some Support Beane but not McD. Anyway, the question as I posed it takes a good part of that bias from McD apologists out of the mix. I think you'd have gotten more honest and therefore accurate answers by asking the question that way. That's all I'm saying. Personally I don't care, it's not like I have an axe to grind or a dog in the fight as it were. I realize that my opinions mean nothing in the grand scheme. I'm just pissing into the wind like everyone else here. LOL It can be a fun distraction to discuss, with people that enjoy discussing. Some take this stuff way too seriously in their lives. : /

To address your "So What?" ... That then depends upon what the purpose of posing the question was. Was it merely to stir up dissent amongst posters? Because as I see it, that's about all that it's done. You're absolutely correct, ... ... which was at the root of my point. So we agree there. And yes, also at the heart of my implications is exactly what else you said .... Well, exactly, which again, feeds into my statement as well. You seem to be unintentionally validating what I said. So allow me to ask, is it reasonable to base our expectations more on "what we do in the playoffs than getting there," or not? Seems to me that for someone answering no, they're likely to be a lot more approving as to whether or not McD has met their expectations, no? Visa versa as well, for someone answering yes, that playoff performance means more, doesn't it stand to reason that they're more likely to claim that McD has not met their expectations? Unless of course being routinely outplayed and ousted in them is their specific expectation that is. I'm a little confused as to the point of your response.

My only problem with the question is that everyone's expectations are different. People simply wanting entertaining football, as some have even said as a standard, will be satisfied. Those of us that sat in the cold for the '90s playoff games walking into the games expecting to win them all, and we did, at home, have a different expectation, one that's at least as lofty as it was back then. Allen > Kelly. To whom more is given, more is expected. A better question would be, Has McDermott done what he's said he would do? McD's expectations were to have won a Championship by now as well. So were mine given Allen. In fact, I dare say, or perhaps ask, how many people responding in this poll as the beginning of the season had the expectation of winning it all this year prior to the season starting? Those people, unless they answered "fell short," aren't being honest. My question would be, ... Have McD & Beane left the team on the field this coming season consistent with their own rhetoric and narratives when they started here, or have they fallen short? If short, then why.

I smell a huge lawsuit coming up if they get rid of him. May be coming anyway.

One of the dumbest things that they could do at 27th is take a WR. The history for WRs being taken that late contributing immediately is miserable. I'm curious what people think as to what our starting LB unit looks like going into this season at the moment? The OL is dicey, but the LB core is non-existent after Milano. He goes down, LMAO, then what? Seriously.

Patrick seems like a decent guy. His brother seems like a complete douchebag unlike Allen's siblings who all seem like a fantastic family. Jackson's not doing his brother any favors PR wise. He seems to be nothing but a ball-and-chain in that regard. I couldn't help but notice that when Brittany got into her little social media dustup that Jackson was right there next to her. Instead of worrying about his social media image, Jackson should take advantage of his brother's wealth and start a business or something instead of validating the narrative of the self-entitled's.

Well, one thing's for sure, that's that we'll know more about the team leadership and coaching after if not during this upcoming season. I'm sure that will spawn some things one way or another and that some questions will be answered.

Too early, OL and now LB easily outweigh the need for a WR so high. I also wouldn't throw Davis under the bus that quickly. Sure, he's a disappointment, his career Catch% is abysmal, so he's not completely reliable. But still, that KC playoff game that I'll refrain from using the idiomatic name for that game, in the '22 playoffs, he was monster and he was one of a a few players that showed up in our playoffs this year in the Miami game. He outperformed Diggs in that game. He had the same yards on half the catches as Diggs vs. Cinci too. Does he drop the ball? He did this year. Maybe that diminishes, who knows, but I wouldn't toss him after one season of the dropsies. 35 of his 48 catches went for 1st-Downs, 2nd on the team. His 1st-Down conversion per catch rate is higher than anyone on the team. For a 4th-Round pick he's doing OK, better than average for most of our other picks. Either way he's got another year, no need to panic and reach for a WR. Besides, do we A, trust Beane to draft a WR worth of a 1st-Round pick late in Round 1? I don't. No WR drafted after 11th overall last year outperformed Davis this past season. From the 2021 Draft, only one WR drafted after 10th overall outperformed Davis over the past two seasons. Amon-Ra St. Brown. From his Draft, 2020, only one WR has more TDs, Jefferson. Only one WR drafted after him has more yards, but that WR has half the TDs. The point is that looking to go Draft for a rookie WR to help us more than Davis does, with the 28th overall pick, despite Beane being Beane on top of it, is a low-odds probability even with the perfect pick. 836 Yards, 7 TDs, and 35 1st-Downs is a lot to discard until you have bird in hand on his replacement as our only regular deep WR. I have a strong belief that he'll improve significantly this coming season. For all of the heat on Davis, he was one of Beane's better draft picks, particularly at the end of the 4th Round. If we had gotten comparable value related to our 1st and 2nd rounders on Beane's watch we wouldn't have the litany of needs that we now have. Also, the past two seasons in the playoffs, four games, he's had 18 catches for 389 Yards, 17 1st-Downs, and 6 TDs. That's a per-game average of 4.5 Catches, 97 Yards, 4 1st-Downs, and 1.5 TDs. I think we can use a player like that. In contrast, the past two seasons, Diggs has had in those same four playoff games, 17 catches for 216 Yards, 8 1st-Downs, and 0 TDs. That's a per-game average of 4 catches, 54 Yards, 2 1st-Downs, and 0 TDs. Compare those two for a moment. I'm not sure I'm willing to ditch Davis' playoff contributions in the playoffs, which are greater than any other WR on the team and probably Diggs plus the next one or two combined. Juts sayin'. Particularly when we struggle to find players to step up come playoff time. Davis is far from our biggest problem in the postseason, in fact, to the contrary. I can excuse a few drops in a relatively meaningless 13 win season otherwise. Diggs' Catch % in those four games ... 58.6%. Davis' Catch % in those four games ... 69.2%

Good catch on Risner. I have no idea why we didn't draft him over Ford back then. He was rated the top pass-protecting T at the time, at least better than Ford. I'm not sure that his career has soared to match expectations, but he's been improving in Denver and from what I've read he's a great pass-protecting G. I'd love to see him next to Dawkins, at least the left side of the line would be in relatively good hands pending on how Morse plays. We need to start looking for a C to replace Morse too. It wouldn't surprise me to see Morse retire unexpectedly. He's a good candidate to be following in Jr. Seau's shoes if he's not more careful. He should start thinking about his future more than another season or two of football. Presumably he (Risner) wouldn't cost a ton, IMO he'd be a fantastic pick-up. I'm sure we won't sign him for that reason. LOL

I'd like to see the Redskins' Hogs or our '90s OL, but that's not going to happen with this GM. It's a better exercise to piece together the OL that we'll have based upon legitimate players on the roster. So based upon who's signed for 2023 ... T: Dawkins, Brown G: Bates, Boettger C: Morse We have no significant depth. Beane said nothing significant in free agency, so nothin' there but more 1 & 2 year cheap signees. Whether we draft an OL-man in rounds 1 or 2, or both, remains to be seen, but I wouldn't bet tomorrow morning's coffee that we will. Beane's got a lot of holes to fill for reasons of his own making. Arguably the most pressing is that we only have one starting caliber LB on the entire roster. Maybe Milano's going to spend the entire offseason with Allen so that he can be the Superman LB this coming season and do on defense what Josh does on offense. Then we don't need anymore and can install our paradigm shattering 4-1-6 or 5-1-5 D. Move over '85 Bears D! LOL ... ahh, what am I thinking, maybe a 7-1-3 so that we can generate a pass rush without blitzing one of our DBs. ... hopefully. LOL

Just warming us up for the batch of 1-year signees on the OL. Don't want to give anyone a heart attack with the news of an OL pick in Round 1 or a 4-year signing of a top OT or anything.

Accurate post. I would add to the whole Von Miller acquisition thing that it was a high-risk high-reward thing, that he was brought in by Beane to cover Beane's inadequacies at producing the same type of player on his own via the Drafts, and hardly for a lack of resources and post-draft statements of assurance either. It was an enormous gamble on Beane's part. Having said that, had it worked out, we'd all have been ecstatic. Most of us would be more than happy to ride off into the sunset with a singular Championship. I know that I would be, I'm not greedy, just one is all I need. None of us are expecting a dynasty and multiple Super Bowl wins as many seem to be underlying the thread question with. It'd be nice and we shouldn't rule it out as long as we have Allen, but as expectations, that's not realistic. As with all things like that though, the Von Miller acquistition, there are benefits and risks. Unfortunately for Beane, and us, we realized the risks, not the benefits. Having said that, we realized the risks, and not the benefits, and Beane needs to be held accountable. But accountability to themselves is not something that the team leadership does well. They talk a good game, but when it comes to themselves, nada. One can only say empty things for so long before people start calling them out on it. It seems that everyone including the national media and NFL fans in general are seeing it, just not a portion of our own fans. It shouldn't have escaped anyone's notice that they're not really using the phrase "The Process" anymore. There's a reason for that. It's worn out its welcome. No one wants to hear after 6 years that they just need to trust. They can't even give us explanations that other coaching staffs do for varying things, "13 Seconds" or this postseason's nonsense as two examples. Here's the thing about this situation, what does it say when head coaches can't figure out what every casual football fan and other coach knows, namely what not to do in the last 13 Seconds of a game under those circumstances. We're not talking about Belichick-like defensive scheming here, we're talking about the simplest of things that high school coaches know. I mean what's the learning curve for that by a coach, for something that everyone knows? For a head coach of 6 seasons? That's a pretty big gap there between a "mistake" and the mountain of understanding that, apparently, needs to be climbed to achieve the team's goals at some entirely unbeknownst time in the distant future. Same for that pathetic defensive display that we got this past postseason. I mean seriously, is that coaching that's "on the cusp" or simply needs more time to learn? LOL To me it seems pretty far from basic competence, not being close to getting us to the promised land. Yet, the defense of it is pretty heavy. Also, it's a pattern. Our 2020 exit from the playoffs, KC posted their best postseason game against us. Wild-card Cleveland and their 21st ranked defense gave KC a better game than we did, with Baker Mayfield and Jarvis Landry and Rashard Higgins as their top-2 WRs. And how long do we wait? Until Allen's time here is spent, either due to his opting out, because of major injury, or otherwise being unable to do what he does due to above-and-beyond abuse that he's taken due to their failure to minimize it while having to compensate for the OL, the RBs, and the coaching. If after a couple more seasons of him having to do everything, if he hasn't paid the price due to injury, then why wouldn't he move on? He wants a Championship too, reasonably so, and he expects what some here are telling us it's unreasonable to expect. Which one of us is going to go into that locker room before this coming season and announce that it's unreasonable to expect us, them, the team, to go to the AFC Championship Game? They'd get thrown out of that locker room faster than a used kleenex into the trash. It's the pattern here coupled with the lack of official explanations that are concerning. Just like everything else, by the time it becomes obvious to enough people to intitiate a change, it'll probably be too late. That's the most unfortunate thing about it. Bickering and arguing about it here isn't going to help though. It's just a place to vent, a place to piss into the wind. LOL We'll simply have to let things play out. No other choice. Or Fouts. San Diego had one of the best offenses in league history during the late '70s and early '80s. They were incredibly entertaining to watch. But San Diego wasted Fouts', Winslow's, Jefferson's, and Joiner's talents during that time. The went to the AFC Championship Game only twice. Fouts was better than Rivers and so was the Charger offense under Fouts.