PBF81

And there's room for criticism there.

The biggest takeaway implied by your post is that they need to plan for the time when Diggs is not here, not react to his departure as an afterthought once it occurs.

There's a lot of subjectivity in your two posts there. And "decent" vs. "good" needs defining of both words, I'm guessing we agree just using different words. KC did have a WR problem. As to us at 4th & 7th, I'd argue that given that we have Allen that we should consistently be in the to three in both. Debatable nonetheless.

Has there been a lot of criticism of Beane in these threads? I haven't criticized Beane at all in 2024 so far, but let's be honest, whatever situation that we're in, this has been his roster for 6 drafts going on 7 now. So if people are critical, Beane would seem to be the core person to direct their discontent, no? Since we're on the topic however, if there's one reason to consider criticizing him, wouldn't it be the WR situation? We haven't had a season yet on his watch where people here have been satisfied with our WRs as an entire unit. Now we're heading into a draft with arguably one of the weakest WR situations we've had since when, 2019? The consensus opinion here is that Diggs has lost a step and is no longer a solid #1. We have no #2, only Shakir in the slot, now Samuel and Hollins to compete with him, neither having held down a #2 spot well before. Beane hasn't drafted a WR on days 1 or 2 on his 6-year draft watch. Isn't that worthy of criticism? Not necessarily suggestive that he should be fired or anything, but certainly something that is an issue due to his management of the roster, no? Simply playing a little devil's advocate. People point out a lot of things wrong with our team, but it's never anyone's fault.

That's pretty much the point. What we've signed are more support type WRs, not anything that's going to solve the problem we have at WR. Again, not sure how we avoid being forced to take a WR with our 28th. ... barring slight trade up or down. Samuel's a decent signing, but there's the typical overreaction to it as well. As usual, nothing we do or say changes anything, we'll see how it shakes out.

Of course not, that's common sense, but the traditional premise that, as you point out, the most talented NFL-ready players are generally drafted in the first 3 rounds, and I'd bump that up to the first 2 rounds, is in play if we want to minimize our risk in finding one. Either way, I'm a step ahead of you there. I've already scoured the draft lists for the past few years. Of all the WRs drafted last year, only Nacua put up over 1,000 yards and only four put up 7+ TDs. Besides, if Beane's record for WRs that late proves anything, it's that we're not likely to find that unicorn. This is a good draft to go WR, or possibly trade down a few spots if more than one of the WRs we want are still there, in the 1st at 28th. The best NFL receiver in this draft may very well be the 4th, 5th, or 6th WR taken. My money would go on Harrison Jr. but who knows after that.

It might help, but in analyzing what Samuel is, he's a slot WR to start, or at least was in Washington. In Carolina he was a starter at times, on the outside, but the third receiver statistially. His competition for starting time wasn't exactly staunch in either Carolina or Washington after DJ Moore, which raises questions as to why he couldn't perform better. The last two seasons as Washington's second-leading receiver, he averaged 600+ yards and 4 TDs per season. In short, how much better is he than a bunch of other journeymen WRs that have come through here in recent years. Having Allen will obviously help, but not sure it answers the mail on our situation. As always, time will tell. The forum here will let you know quickly whether he's anteing up or not. LOL

Yeah, they've gotta see who's there first though. Also, that's if the Packers or another team would make a trade like that. I'm not one of those that follows what everyone is doing, so I have no idea outside of our actual moves. The first big decision will be seeing which WRs go off the board as our 28th nears. Of the teams immediately ahead of us, it seems that only Arizona, at 27th, is the only team in desperate need of a WR as well. We'll see what happens. This time of year is the worst, we have no idea what's really going on, all we can do is hope for the best. 6 more weeks. LOL

Agree, I'd rather see that than a trade up for sure. Who knows what they'll do, there's plenty of time, but with only two picks in nearly the first four rounds, they'd better either hit on a Jefferson type ringer or make the most of the two, or three (if they trade-down) picks that they have in the first three rounds. We need elite players, not merely average to above-average starters. It's time for Beane to earn some of that contract. Either way, how on earth can they possibly avoid drafting a WR barring some monumental trade or the like.

Well, maybe, as a sentimental pick, but does he really check the necessary box(es) to start. He seems like a better third WR and he's more of a slot WR anyway, which we already have in Shakir. There's a reason why he was drafted in the 5th round. From what I just read, it sounds as if he's not the best route-runner and he doesn't possess any particular speed. People here would be all over him like white on rice after his first bad game. For as humorous as that is, and oddly, that seems to be a huge part of McD's offensive philosophy.

Hence the discussions. LOL But it does elevate the need for a top, not some 2nd or 3rd rate, WR. Since we don't have the money, seemingly we'd have to draft one at 28th. I Waiting until our 60th on top of being risky, isn't wise in our situation. Either way, to your implication of what's fair, that doesn't answer the mail.

Of course, but it has nothing to do with who's earned what, it has to do with talent. Shakir's a slot WR. Right now we have no one capable opposite Diggs. I blame the play-calling and Diggs' use, but if it did happen to be true that his speed/abilities have diminished, Shakir in the slot ain't gonna come close to cuttin' it. The crying here over Davis' play, LOL, that's going to seem like a bonanza unless we get another WR in here. We need to be consistent with our analyses and discussions. IF Davis didn't cut it, and on top of that if Diggs is diminishing, we'll need at least what Davis was simply to get back to the unsatisfactory state that was the majority opinion here.

That'd be very risky however. Trading out 28th and 60th for a single WR. That would essentially relegate our draft after that to a bunch of day-3 picks. There should be a decent WR, perhaps one that in other years would have gone earlier, availalble at 28th. Then keep our 60th for an OT or C. Someone here suggested Zach Frazier from WVU at C. He seems as if he'd be a great pick at 60th in a spot of need. C/G. Not sure how we don't focus on the offense in rounds 1/2.

What "tricks" has he pulled from his bag so far? Seems as if he's merely cleaning up after himself so far. Seems to me that the single biggest need without much controversy is at WR. At present we have only one WR on the team that has put up 700+ yards at any point in his entire career. That's Diggs. Hollins and Shakir both put up over 600, once each. No WR on the team besides Diggs has ever logged more than 3 TDs in a season or even 400 yards otherwise. Many believe that Diggs' skills have diminished. If that's true and we don't do something serious, how can we expect this season to amount to much. Seems logical that no matter what, our first pick at 28th overall absolutely must be a WR. Possibly even our 60th. A WR in the late 4th isn't a good thing to bank on. Sure, Shorter or another could step up. We could also have a cadre of mediocre WRs. We have Kincaid, maybe that's the offset. The situation seems dicey at best at this point.

The expectations for this Draft appear to be a bit high by some. We have two picks in the first 3-3/4 rounds. The 28th and 60th. After that we don't pick again until late in the 4th at 128th. Those first two are really going to have to count this year. No one's going to trade us a bunch of day-3 picks for anything good.

Until we can beat something other than a wild-card team in the playoffs ...

He'll be 24 on draft day, most draftees will be 22 or 23. You raise a great point however, if You're going to draft younger than average players, it has risks. Rousseau isn't even sniffing his prime yet. He definitely has a higher ceiling. If he doesn't reach it, maybe people should be asking why not.

It's difficult to have this discussion without injecting McD's philosophy as such. Rousseau's at least a little bit of an enigma to be sure.

Reid also beat top-4 seeds three times in his first seven seasons, something that McD has yet to do. He did it with McNabb too. For those that want to compare McD to Reid, it's only fair to ask how McD would have done with McNabb instead of Allen at QB, and visa versa, how Reid would have done in Philly with Allen. It's a tough argument to suggest that McD would have had five playoff wins with McNabb. Reid also won four divisional round games and one conference game in his first seven seasons. McD's won only one divisional round game and that was against a wild-card team with an expiring QB.

His 5th team in as many seasons. Kinda spells it out.

The big question is whether you removed it in time.

It's certainly been the MO 'til now. ... grabbing low-end WRs in free agency and hoping that they do something. None have to date. Ironically, LOL, the best value we've gotten from a WR is Davis in the 4th round, who's now on Jax. Bewilderingly, Beane hasn't drafted a WR in the first three rounds yet in 6 Drafts. 4th: Davis 5th: Shakir & Shorter 6th: McCloud, Stevenson, Hodgins 7th: Proehl That's it. Shakir and Shorter are the only two still on the team. Given the increasing criticism and the heavy-handed approach in building our D and on "complimentary football," one would think that even if only for purposes of appearances, that they'd draft a WR in round 1. Our 2nd round pick isn't until 60th, late in the 2nd, which is pretty far down to find the closest thing to a guaranteed impact player and unlikely that he'd be anything close to that as a rookie. Many are saying that the draft is deep for WRs, but our 2nd pick isn't until 60th, that's pretty far down no matter the circumstances. A lot of talk about us having 11 picks too, but 7 of those are in rounds 5-7. We have the 28th and 60th. After that we slide to the mid-late 4th with the 127th and 133rd. They'd better find one that can make things happen in the playoffs. Including Diggs there's no one on the roster that has stepped up with even the remotest of consistency to post big games in the playoffs. This is going to be a huge season for Brady, and by implication McBeane. Either way, it seems like a lot to do with a minimal amount of cap space and only two picks within the first 3-1/2 rounds. Again, the only issue is that absolutely none of them have stepped up in the playoffs consistently. The closest is Diggs who's had a single great game against Miami in his last 6 playoff games. Remember, our issues are not the season, we always win the regular season. It's the playoffs. Many don't seem to care as they simply want entertaining football in the fall, but many of us want a Championship.

No big argument, but which of our players, on either side, have shown up with any kind of consistency in the playoffs besides Allen or Davis? It's our single biggest problem that appears to have zero solution.

Also gotta hope that Milano comes back at 100%. If he loses much he can be good but not elite again. We'll see/hope.

It's definitely debatable. But here are some other tidbits, and no matter how it's sliced, it places McD in bottom-dwelling company insofar as playoff performance goes. McD QBs beaten: Mason Rudolph, Skylar Thompson, Mac Jones, Lamar Jackson, and a washed up 39-year old Rivers in his last game ever played. Twice in incredibly close games that could have gone either way. Lewis QBs lost to: Roethlisburger (twice), Andrew Luck, Rivers at the top of his game, Schaub, Yates, and Sanchez Again, you mention absolutely nothing about McD having Allen and Lewis having Dalton and Palmer. Clerical error? That's pretty subjective. It's McD's team. If the players aren't performing, what, it's your position that McD has little if anything to do with that? Do you think that the team's tactical strategies (aka play-calling and adjustments) have anything to do with that?