Unit-by-unit- how long til adequate

[Hplarrm]

Its impossible to judge until we actually see what the heck the plan is. However it is looking clearer an clearer that there is at least a 2 year plan (if not a 3 year plan) that this team is on to rebuild and reload in order to make the playoffs.

 

This is particularly frustrating for those of us who have a the future is now attitude, but reality is reality.

 

RB- (Might as well start with the good news) 1 year away

 

The player talent is here for this group to actually be good out of the box. However, each of the three talents has a significant downside and all of these downsides need to be configured and a scheme which uses them to their maximum potential needs to be found. Unless Gailey is more than the O genius he is supposed to be there are enough huge holes and questions in the other units central to O success it is hard for me to see less than a year of experimenting until the unit is adequate.

 

Jackson- Very good player with diverse skills but too old to count on him as the future answer.

Spiller- Looks like a great get but one who is not likely to be the zillion plays a game workhorse Gailey has used before cause he lacked a #2

Lynch- very talented idiot. Potential workhorse if he plays but no way to count on him playing.

 

We will have to run an offense this year where the FB is an occasional notion.

 

WR- 2 years away

 

Only somewhat proven asset is Evans at #1, but even given his undeniable speed, nice proven work tracking and catching the bomb and willingness to work in traffic he has shown he can be neutralized if the #2 does not attract attention. We have no #2 who has shown production in the NFL and even rhetorically the best candidate, Jackson regressed statistically last year. My wild idea was Spiller at #2 but even this craziness is being set aside by the Bills FO and Spiller to come to terms.

 

We need a player to be acquired (or develop which we have several candidates who MIGHT become a legit starter after a year of work). It looks tough.

 

OL- 1- 1/2 -2 years away

 

There are no stars to lead this crew and the few starters are prospects (good but learning) or older vets (good to have the experience but no studs) This unit needs to develop at least two players AND also chemistry. It looks like a tough trek.

 

Hamgartner- good place holder but I will feel good if Wood steps up and replaces him

Wood- Amazing recovery and I simply hopes he recovers well enough to play guard as well as last year

LeVitre- A good rookie season but needs to keep advancing to reach level we want/need

Bell- Good luck and I hope this longshot works

Green- hope this retread is another Hamgartner this year but we need another real tackle.

 

TE- 1 year away

 

Personally I would phase this position out in favor of 3 WRs or full house backfield with more use of H-Backs when short yardage is needed

 

Nelson is good prospect for traditional TE role and I give him 2 years max to prove he is our T. Gonzales in waiting or we should go three wide as our base O.

 

QB- 1 year away if we go FA and 2-3 years away if we go draft to find a savior.

 

Edwards- great to start mostly cause he is injury prone but would provide a target for Brohm to take the job from if Brohm is good enough, Slight chance he has bulked up enough to be a survivor but dubbing him #1 as it provides a sacrificial lamb for the job to be taken from.

 

Brohm- has skills but lacks confidence, Edwards is a good foil for him to take the job from

 

Fitzt- not a starter but my candidate for #2 QB either way the starter goes

 

I will do the D tomorrow or another day.

[PromoTheRobot]

Its impossible to judge until we actually see what the heck the plan is. However it is looking clearer an clearer that there is at least a 2 year plan (if not a 3 year plan) that this team is on to rebuild and reload in order to make the playoffs.

 

This is particularly frustrating for those of us who have a the future is now attitude, but reality is reality.

 

RB- (Might as well start with the good news) 1 year away

 

The player talent is here for this group to actually be good out of the box. However, each of the three talents has a significant downside and all of these downsides need to be configured and a scheme which uses them to their maximum potential needs to be found. Unless Gailey is more than the O genius he is supposed to be there are enough huge holes and questions in the other units central to O success it is hard for me to see less than a year of experimenting until the unit is adequate.

 

Jackson- Very good player with diverse skills but too old to count on him as the future answer.

Spiller- Looks like a great get but one who is not likely to be the zillion plays a game workhorse Gailey has used before cause he lacked a #2

Lynch- very talented idiot. Potential workhorse if he plays but no way to count on him playing.

 

We will have to run an offense this year where the FB is an occasional notion.

 

WR- 2 years away

 

Only somewhat proven asset is Evans at #1, but even given his undeniable speed, nice proven work tracking and catching the bomb and willingness to work in traffic he has shown he can be neutralized if the #2 does not attract attention. We have no #2 who has shown production in the NFL and even rhetorically the best candidate, Jackson regressed statistically last year. My wild idea was Spiller at #2 but even this craziness is being set aside by the Bills FO and Spiller to come to terms.

 

We need a player to be acquired (or develop which we have several candidates who MIGHT become a legit starter after a year of work). It looks tough.

 

OL- 1- 1/2 -2 years away

 

There are no stars to lead this crew and the few starters are prospects (good but learning) or older vets (good to have the experience but no studs) This unit needs to develop at least two players AND also chemistry. It looks like a tough trek.

 

Hamgartner- good place holder but I will feel good if Wood steps up and replaces him

Wood- Amazing recovery and I simply hopes he recovers well enough to play guard as well as last year

LeVitre- A good rookie season but needs to keep advancing to reach level we want/need

Bell- Good luck and I hope this longshot works

Green- hope this retread is another Hamgartner this year but we need another real tackle.

 

TE- 1 year away

 

Personally I would phase this position out in favor of 3 WRs or full house backfield with more use of H-Backs when short yardage is needed

 

Nelson is good prospect for traditional TE role and I give him 2 years max to prove he is our T. Gonzales in waiting or we should go three wide as our base O.

 

QB- 1 year away if we go FA and 2-3 years away if we go draft to find a savior.

 

Edwards- great to start mostly cause he is injury prone but would provide a target for Brohm to take the job from if Brohm is good enough, Slight chance he has bulked up enough to be a survivor but dubbing him #1 as it provides a sacrificial lamb for the job to be taken from.

 

Brohm- has skills but lacks confidence, Edwards is a good foil for him to take the job from

 

Fitzt- not a starter but my candidate for #2 QB either way the starter goes

 

I will do the D tomorrow or another day.

This assumes that none of our rookies will have a breakout year. Did anyone see Jairus Byrd emerging? Yet he is now considered a top notch safety. I could see Troup having a good year. Maybe Carrington and Coleman too. Then there is always Spiller.

 

PTR

[ganesh]

This assumes that none of our rookies will have a breakout year. Did anyone see Jairus Byrd emerging? Yet he is now considered a top notch safety. I could see Troup having a good year. Maybe Carrington and Coleman too. Then there is always Spiller.

 

PTR

 

He only discussed Offense and mentioned that he will write about the defense in his next post

[ganesh]

Jackson - Does not have the ability to punch it IN on the goal-line. His # of TDs are way low for a 1000 Yard rusher.

Meredith - You have completely ignored the potential for this guy taking the starting LT or RT by the beginning of the season. In the current scheme of things, he is ahead of Bell on playing on the line. I believe Meredith is going to be here for a while and will be part of the future.

Evans - The knock on Evans is his inability to get separation in the short/medium range areas. Also, he is not the Hines Ward kind of player to come back for the ball. If you are a true #1, he needs to find a way to get it done. The OL and QB situations have not helped him too.

TE Position - I disagree. With the OL in its current situation, we need a good TE to chip block and help in the running game. Nelson is a good pass catching TE and can play the 3rd WR role. Also, at this point he may be better than any of the current 3rd WR in the system. Mathews is going to surprise many as he can block and catch the ball and is Gailey's college player.

QB - I really hope Edwards pans out in Gailey's system. Also, working against our new 3-4 in practice should help him since the entire AFC east plays the 3-4 Defense.

[Hplarrm]

Jackson - Does not have the ability to punch it IN on the goal-line. His # of TDs are way low for a 1000 Yard rusher.

Meredith - You have completely ignored the potential for this guy taking the starting LT or RT by the beginning of the season. In the current scheme of things, he is ahead of Bell on playing on the line. I believe Meredith is going to be here for a while and will be part of the future.

Evans - The knock on Evans is his inability to get separation in the short/medium range areas. Also, he is not the Hines Ward kind of player to come back for the ball. If you are a true #1, he needs to find a way to get it done. The OL and QB situations have not helped him too.

TE Position - I disagree. With the OL in its current situation, we need a good TE to chip block and help in the running game. Nelson is a good pass catching TE and can play the 3rd WR role. Also, at this point he may be better than any of the current 3rd WR in the system. Mathews is going to surprise many as he can block and catch the ball and is Gailey's college player.

QB - I really hope Edwards pans out in Gailey's system. Also, working against our new 3-4 in practice should help him since the entire AFC east plays the 3-4 Defense.

First, thanks for the football oriented feedback, its a pleasure to read versus some of the soap opera personality assessments often found on the board.

 

My reactions to your reactions are:

 

Jackson- I agree that this is an area of failing for him. However, it is so unlikely that we have seen a pretty massive level of actual pro production from this Coe College guy that I am willing to overlook this failing, If he cannot improve this aspect of his game I suspect the Bills plan is to try to get more goaline TD production from Lynch going beatmode and augment that with more breakaway TDs from Spiller so we score before we even need a punch in.

 

Meredith- Perhaps few positions exemplify Gailey's words that being #1 on the depth chart does not give you a spot than the LT situation. Meredith in my mind could easily be the best choice for the job. My problem though is I think this is true more because of Bells injuries and roughness as a youngster than any sense of Meredith being great or even very good. Maybe Meredith will be great, I hope so, unfortunately the chances of this being true just seem so unlikely that it is hard for me to see the hope that we found a Pro Bowl earning LT as a UDFA and in short order we were able to find another solid LT by plucking a young 5th round choice off of the GB PS. Tt could happen but I need to see it to believe it. For now I will stick with the fevered wishes of the team and figure on Bell.

 

Evans- The other thing I think has not helped him is that the internals of the Bills O have been particularly lame in two aspects of the game that impact this particular issue. First, we simply have never had an O plan under OCs dating back to Kragthorpe which showed any use of slant patterns, use of pick plays as close to illegality as we can get, and use of technique to get more quick separation. One of my hopes under alleged O genius Gailey working with Modkins we will simply see better routes called and teaching of techniques to all the WRs which produce better separation.

 

Second, I think our past schemes have not utilized a raw speed advantage that the Bills have using both Evans and Parrish. It is beyond me why these two were not used with TO last year to present a constant threat opponents much react to but our scheme proved passive even with some amazing threats. TOs rep (and the leading Bill WR in catches and yards last year is gone), but one of the reasons I am so enthused about Spiller going out wide is that my sense is if the choice for the DC is to cover either Evans, or Parrish or Spiller one on one it likely forces them to use weaker CBs in the dt on Evans. I think we actually might be close to having a dominating passing game, but if this happens we need to have a quality #2 WR who demands a second thought from a DC.

 

TE- I can see reasonably how someone can demand I or someone show how we are gonna make a TE-less or lower oriented system work. I am just a fan and not that good. However, the problem I see is that one of the problems in this league is that having good or great TE play is a rarity anyway. I like Nelson, and think he MIGHT be great one day, but that day is not today. Even worse our backups behind Nelson are just pedestrian so I do not see us employing anywhere near effective TE usage. In the absence of good enough players I look for us to do something different if we want to be productive.

 

QB- Its certainly a QB oriented league but even with this reality I think we give too much credit and thus too much blame to the position. A great one can turn nothing into something, but our strategy seems to be to allow the rest of the O to be nothing and search fruitlessly for some savior to turn it into something. I do like the Spiller pick as it finally seems like we want to give our QB even if he is merely human some tools to work with.

 

We are creating a situation where with a merely human QB we can begin to produce. In this situation maybe this mere human might grow into being a very good or great QB. Even though this happening is rare (B. Johmson is an example of a two time loser at QB leading TB to an SB victory, Trent Dilfer is another failed QB who under the right circumstances proved to be good enough) actually finding a Peyton Manning is even rarer and we have devoted a lot of time and energy to finding the next Jimbo when unfortunately such HOF quality players are a rarity.

 

This team needs a very good QB, but we need to emphasize also having an O that does not demand we have a great QB.

[Thurman#1]

Interesting way to look at it, Hplarrm.

 

Let me throw my opinions up there, just for the heck of it.

 

RBs - more than adequate right now. Slightly improved over last year with Marshawn coming in slim and fast and will be very tough when Spiller signs.

 

WRs - I can't really put a time frame on this. I see two possibilities. Either one of the guys on the team, most likely Hardy, Johnson or Easley, maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaybe Chad Jackson, takes a major step up this year, in which case we'll be adequate within the first month or two of this season. Or else none of them will, and in that case we'll have to draft someone next year and wait a few years for him to develop or hope that Easley will be better in his third year.

 

IMHO, if Hardy, Stevie or Jackson don't do something this year, they're never going to be more than journeymen.

 

So, I guess either by the end of October or two to three more years.

 

 

OL - I think 2 to 2.5 years. By that time I expect/hope that Wood and Levitre will be very good players, and maybe Meredith will be a good RT. In the long run, I don't like Hangartner, and I really hope I'm wrong about that, but I don't. Calloway might be a good one, but I'd expect at least two years to go by before he develops. By the time 2.5 years have gone by, IMHO, either Wang will have developed or we will have brought in somebody new at LT.

 

 

TE - No idea. It depends on Gailey's system. I have real doubts that Nelson will ever be a blocker. If Gailey's system allows a TE to be a pure greyhound, maybe as soon as late this year. If not, who knows, really. The rest of the guys are solid blockers and poor recievers.

 

 

QB - Man, I desperately hope I'm wrong about this and one of the guys we have now develops. And it's certainly possible. But I don't think any of them will be on the roster in three years except possibly as a solid #2. Again, I really hope I'm wrong about that. So I expect them to draft somebody next year.

 

And in that case, if they pick the right guy, he might be adequate by the middle to the end of his second year, 2012. But if they take the wrong guy, we're looking at more like five years.

 

So my guess? 2.5 to 5 years.

 

It's all guesswork anyway, with a question like this, but interesting guesswork, so thanks for putting the question.

[Hplarrm]

Interesting way to look at it, Hplarrm.

 

Let me throw my opinions up there, just for the heck of it.

 

RBs - more than adequate right now. Slightly improved over last year with Marshawn coming in slim and fast and will be very tough when Spiller signs.

 

WRs - I can't really put a time frame on this. I see two possibilities. Either one of the guys on the team, most likely Hardy, Johnson or Easley, maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaybe Chad Jackson, takes a major step up this year, in which case we'll be adequate within the first month or two of this season. Or else none of them will, and in that case we'll have to draft someone next year and wait a few years for him to develop or hope that Easley will be better in his third year.

 

IMHO, if Hardy, Stevie or Jackson don't do something this year, they're never going to be more than journeymen.

 

So, I guess either by the end of October or two to three more years.

 

 

OL - I think 2 to 2.5 years. By that time I expect/hope that Wood and Levitre will be very good players, and maybe Meredith will be a good RT. In the long run, I don't like Hangartner, and I really hope I'm wrong about that, but I don't. Calloway might be a good one, but I'd expect at least two years to go by before he develops. By the time 2.5 years have gone by, IMHO, either Wang will have developed or we will have brought in somebody new at LT.

 

 

TE - No idea. It depends on Gailey's system. I have real doubts that Nelson will ever be a blocker. If Gailey's system allows a TE to be a pure greyhound, maybe as soon as late this year. If not, who knows, really. The rest of the guys are solid blockers and poor recievers.

 

 

QB - Man, I desperately hope I'm wrong about this and one of the guys we have now develops. And it's certainly possible. But I don't think any of them will be on the roster in three years except possibly as a solid #2. Again, I really hope I'm wrong about that. So I expect them to draft somebody next year.

 

And in that case, if they pick the right guy, he might be adequate by the middle to the end of his second year, 2012. But if they take the wrong guy, we're looking at more like five years.

 

So my guess? 2.5 to 5 years.

 

It's all guesswork anyway, with a question like this, but interesting guesswork, so thanks for putting the question.

Thank you as well. Interesting perspectives and I will think about it as I plow through my sense of the D and also ST.

[Green Lightning]

I won't pretend to have thought about this as much as you and the respondants have positon by position. But I do believe wholeheartedly that our offensive production will be greatly improved by having offensive coaches that actually have a clue. Your point about slant patterns is a perfect example. It always baffled me why other teams were cutting us up on slants and somehow we never could figure out how to execute one ourselves. I remain damn excited to see how Gailey uses a Tight End who can run and catch like Nelson and how Spiller gets in the mix. I do remain concerned about our tackles for all the reasons stated on TSW. While Meredith and Bell may be the answers, injuries could derail our improvement in year one of the rebuild. I look forward to your defense analysis.

[Fingon]

Our defense looks like it could be nasty this year, our offense... not so much.

[yungmack]

The defense is the key for the Bills to have a successful season (8 wins or better, and competitive in most of the losses). At the most optimistic, the O-line is a work in progress (even if all 5 guys were great, they are for the most part only in their second season together. And all 5 aren't great) and the QB position is a major source of worry (though I think it will be somewhat better than the last two or three years).

 

Add the uncertainty surrounding the receivers and the TE and the totality adds up to an offense that in the best light will probably be middling. I would imagine that it will be rough and raw for the first few games as they work into the new offense, as Trent tries to find his way, as the new receivers get comfortable with the game, and as the coaches get a better fix on the offense in real game situations. If the team is truly heading in the right direction, then we should see steady improvement in the offensive game throughout the season.

 

So the defense is going to be of the utmost importance. If it improves substantially against the run, and if the pass defense is at least as good as last year (it should be better), then we should see lots more three-and-outs. And hopefully the end of all those third-and-long conversions that drive us all up the wall.

 

In other words, the D is going to have to limit the opponent's time of possession (and chances to score), while giving what we presume is a so-so offense as many chances as possible to score. And I believe Gailey will use the run-first approach to use those possessions to eat up lots of clock, giving the opponent even less time to score. Do all that and the Bills surprise a whole lot of people who are not named Corey Chavous.

[wonderbread]

My wife says my long unit is quite adequate!

[yungmack]

My wife says my long unit is quite adequate!

That's not what she told me.

[Hplarrm]

Its impossible to judge until we actually see what the heck the plan is. However it is looking clearer an clearer that there is at least a 2 year plan (if not a 3 year plan) that this team is on to rebuild and reload in order to make the playoffs.

 

This is particularly frustrating for those of us who have a the future is now attitude, but reality is reality.

 

RB- (Might as well start with the good news) 1 year away

 

The player talent is here for this group to actually be good out of the box. However, each of the three talents has a significant downside and all of these downsides need to be configured and a scheme which uses them to their maximum potential needs to be found. Unless Gailey is more than the O genius he is supposed to be there are enough huge holes and questions in the other units central to O success it is hard for me to see less than a year of experimenting until the unit is adequate.

 

Jackson- Very good player with diverse skills but too old to count on him as the future answer.

Spiller- Looks like a great get but one who is not likely to be the zillion plays a game workhorse Gailey has used before cause he lacked a #2

Lynch- very talented idiot. Potential workhorse if he plays but no way to count on him playing.

 

We will have to run an offense this year where the FB is an occasional notion.

 

WR- 2 years away

 

Only somewhat proven asset is Evans at #1, but even given his undeniable speed, nice proven work tracking and catching the bomb and willingness to work in traffic he has shown he can be neutralized if the #2 does not attract attention. We have no #2 who has shown production in the NFL and even rhetorically the best candidate, Jackson regressed statistically last year. My wild idea was Spiller at #2 but even this craziness is being set aside by the Bills FO and Spiller to come to terms.

 

We need a player to be acquired (or develop which we have several candidates who MIGHT become a legit starter after a year of work). It looks tough.

 

OL- 1- 1/2 -2 years away

 

There are no stars to lead this crew and the few starters are prospects (good but learning) or older vets (good to have the experience but no studs) This unit needs to develop at least two players AND also chemistry. It looks like a tough trek.

 

Hamgartner- good place holder but I will feel good if Wood steps up and replaces him

Wood- Amazing recovery and I simply hopes he recovers well enough to play guard as well as last year

LeVitre- A good rookie season but needs to keep advancing to reach level we want/need

Bell- Good luck and I hope this longshot works

Green- hope this retread is another Hamgartner this year but we need another real tackle.

 

TE- 1 year away

 

Personally I would phase this position out in favor of 3 WRs or full house backfield with more use of H-Backs when short yardage is needed

 

Nelson is good prospect for traditional TE role and I give him 2 years max to prove he is our T. Gonzales in waiting or we should go three wide as our base O.

 

QB- 1 year away if we go FA and 2-3 years away if we go draft to find a savior.

 

Edwards- great to start mostly cause he is injury prone but would provide a target for Brohm to take the job from if Brohm is good enough, Slight chance he has bulked up enough to be a survivor but dubbing him #1 as it provides a sacrificial lamb for the job to be taken from.

 

Brohm- has skills but lacks confidence, Edwards is a good foil for him to take the job from

 

Fitzt- not a starter but my candidate for #2 QB either way the starter goes

 

I will do the D tomorrow or another day.

 

Defensive unit by unit draft assessment

 

CBs

 

Overall, I feel good about both where the DBs are in terms of current personnel and also future prospects.

 

MGee has shaped into a quality CB whom I am comfortable having primary responsibility against the many great WRs in the game today. I am not under the illusion that his is a shutdown corner against everyone like a Revis appears to be. He needs help with dts against the best and a solid pass rush makes his life a lot easier but he has a combination of the great athleticism which makes him a good PK guy and a lot of experience (some of it came from getting burned a few times when we switched to the Cover 2 but he learned from getting benched and came back to be a reliable CB for us.

 

Florence- A nice pickup by the FO as someone who was seen as a good depth pick-up has blossomed into a reliable cover guy against the opponents #2. Again, do not make the mistake that he is a shut down corner on his lonesome, but his years of experience make him a very reliable player to be a solid part of a defensive backfield.

 

McKelvin- Has shown the potential both as a cover guy and also a playmaker as a kick returner to blossom into a true shutdown CB who might be a replacement for McGee or Florence as soon as he decided to assert himself and stays lucky with his health. I have no problem with him as my nickel and hope he competes against our top 2 CBs.

 

Corner can be a liability if injuries force him into a starting role but he is fine in a dime. Youbouty has never performed at the level he was vaunted to be when he was thought to be a first rounder if he stayed in school another year but the Bills got him in the 3rd when he left a year early. He has shown flashes of brilliance but injuries have made him not useful as a Bill during his career. Lankster showed promise as a rookie as a depth player.

 

Safties

 

Byrd is the word and if he can avoid the sophomore slump and continue building on a special rookie year he MIGHT be one of the best. Wilson has clearly been successful in the unusual jump from O to D. I feel great with either at free safety. Whitner has been OK as a Pro but a disappointment for a top 10 choice. He needs to improve back to the level when he flirted with the Pro Bowl or more likely he needs a change of scenery as he will get grief here for merely being adequate (though even that is tough to do in the NFL). He is backed up by Scott who was underweight but hard hitting as an LB and now is above the classic safety but still a hard hitter. I like him against teams have good runners but there is less of a need for pass D focus.

 

DL-

 

The switch from the 4-3 to the 3-4 provides benefits of reducing the number of DL players needed but assignment problems for the Bills arise. For example, Stroud is a very good player, but the change in gap responsibilities and positional styles has forced him out of his DT role in our 4-3 cover 2 (which was actually more like a Tampa 2) to him trying to play DE in a 3-4 (we will see how this goes but I think he is a player and can make the change).

 

At any rate: Terrell Troop has a lot of responsibility in this change and we will see how he does. Kyle Williams is actually first on the depth chart at nose tackle and he is an athletic guy with good lateral movement who showed when he first won the starting job as a 5th round picked rookie that he is a quick study and a gamer. There also are a lot of ways to play the 3-4 effectively and light weight Jeff Wright anchored the position well though no one would mistake him for a massive man who commands the middle with his size. Yet, Williams does not bring with him the rep of mountain in the middle who cannot easily be run on and Troop does. In fact, the Bills braintrust was so impressed with him they likely reached up on most draft boards to get Troop. We'll see. We have seen a lighter mobile guy like Jeff Wright handle the duty but he had Bruce Smith by his side and no one mistakes any Bills DEs fpr BBBrrruuucccee.

 

The DE spots will be interesting. Can Stroud make the shift (I think he can and he has a small chance of reminding us from time o time of Bruce as the penetrating style while being smart and athletic enough to play the run at DT mat suit him well to try to pull off the sackmaster but tough against the run that Bruce pulled off in our 3-4. He WILL not be Bruce but I think he can be good). The Bills braintrust quickly recognized that the style our previous DEs Schobel and Kelsay were good for what they were good for, but did not fit the quick first move and even quicker adjustment and second aggressive move required of the 3-4 DE. Schobel, Kelsay and Ellis were given OLB duty and Stroud shifted outside, Edwards was picked up and Carrington drafted.

 

This work in progress might work quickly (the players listed above must adapt and perform immediately) but this work in progress looks to be a year away to me at least.

 

LBs-

 

This is where it really gets interested for us fan pretend football wonks like me (do not be fooled by any 25 cent football words I or most of my TSW brothers and sisterns may use as the guys actually in charge have forgotten more than I have learned in 25+ years of listening to the NFL. We are throwing a lot against the wall here and we will see what sticks but no one will no what/who works until it does when the real games start.

 

There are multiple variables all over the place such as (will our new DL generate enough pressure to make the pass game easy or hard to work and how will it hold up as the first line against the run) which make predicting how an individual player will fare in the new role (for example, anyone who says he knows how Pos will be in the 3-4 is simply blowing smoke. His experience as a pro is not only relatively scant but was all in a 4-3, add to this though the variable of him not only have middle duty on one side of the field rather than ranging sideline to sideline, a big difference for him not having the deep middle pass duty of our Tampa 2 esque D, him actually only having limited MLB duty in college - if his past OLB stuff was in a 4-3 how this applies will be odd, but then add the variable that his play will be influenced a lot by how well Williams or Troop plays in front of him, and then add another variable of him being somewhat hobbled by groin surgery, and this all is a guessing game).

 

At any rate, I do like the ILB personnel (Pos and Davis should start but Kawika Mitchell is an experienced past SB winner who is old but may keep the starters working hard) At OLB its a little dicier but there will be tons of players to chose from. I would have to say that this group is over a full season away from adequacy.

[Thurman#1]

I thought you were going to rate all the positions on defense in terms of how long it would be till they were adequate.