Hamoskinz
02-10-2009, 11:44 PM
Well maybe I'm just feeling optimistic cause i ducked out early today from the office but I actually see positives in this article.
First to dispose of the unequivocal downers: 1) Rinehart. W T F. A third round o-lineman should be ready by his 2nd year. I'd call him a bust officially and being that he came from small ball in the f'd up college divisions someone in the FO decided to take the chance on this guy... damn it! If he's not even providing depth the way Stephen "Baby Fat" Heyer could as a rookie maybe Rinehart should be dropped. Just wondering out loud. 2) Marcus and the FO, evidently, want to go separate ways. One of my favorite team personalities and a guy I thought we could cut/resign or restructure on the cheap. Oh well.
On to the possitives...
1). It's great the coaches/FO recognize JJ cannot compete @ RT any longer. Like JLC said this means we probably draft one of the top 3 or 4 OTs this year. IMO that's a major upgrade to the line and therefor an overall benefit for the offense... i like it. But secondly it means JJ can compete for an interior position and I won't be surprised if he plays and does well. Jansen has struggled w/ his lateral movement mostly from what I can tell. He should be more effective on the inside w/ less "space" around him and he's still a very good run blocker. Thomas is back for sure cause of the cap, so be it, I hope JJ is our other guard unless we luck out and get a quality value starter in FA. Kendell's age and inability to practice w/ the squad should mean he's headed down the road.
2) It's good news Taylor and Springs are likely to move on (based on their greed but any reason is fine by me). It frees up a ton of cap space giving us at least some hope of FA signings. Also both players have negatives. Springs' are more obvious in terms of injuries but Taylor also has negatives as I'm not convinced he's a great fit in our system. AC does a solid job on his side, but we need help at left end. Nothing mentioned about Daniels in there which worries me. As much as I like him the age/injury factor is too big. Cutting Daniels also frees up more cap room to sign a value DE as his replacement.
... last positive to Springs refusing to restructure is it should keep Los here. Great news IMO.
3) Glad to hear Griff will be back. He was a GD warrior for us last year regardless of stats. Signing a monster tackle would be a nice luxury but doesn't count as a priority. Golston and Monty will continue to improve and Griff will be back. An upgrade at DE, which seems more likely now w/ Taylor's situation, should improve the pass rush somewhat.
To sum up I see good things out of this, despite the uncertainties. Clearly we'll need to replace Marcus. I would like to see a OLB drafted in the 3rd rd but who knows if the kid would be ready to start (maybe a college ball guru could chime in as to who should be available). Otherwise the d looks to be on the '08 level for quality. London is the key, make no mistake about it, and while he'll be a year older he's still a tackling machine. After getting snubbed on the pro-bowl (again) i wouldn't be surprised if he played w/ a chip on his shoulder, and God willing he'll get the nod next year. Our secondary will be even better w/ Hall/Los and Horton/Landry. Los, Horton and Landry will all continue to improve and Hall brings a lot to the table... bet we have more INTs in '09 than we've had since Champ/Smoot were our corners. Basically, with a decent upgrade @ DE and a solid replacement for Marcus our D is on track.
Offensively i just hope our new franchise tackle (fingers crossed) starts immediately and dominates. I hope Jansen fights his guts out on the interior and Thomas rebounds from a down year. I hope at least one of our young wide-outs develops into a bona fide starter by opening day. But mostly I hope Zorn/Campbell can put all the pieces together and make the offense fly.
I like what you are saying and would be stoked if we did 'em all draft o-lineman and linebacker, get rid of JT and MW and bring back Griffin (hopefully takes a paycut) and possibly bring in another DT (draft or FA). Keep D hall and Rogers. :)
First to dispose of the unequivocal downers: 1) Rinehart. W T F. A third round o-lineman should be ready by his 2nd year. I'd call him a bust officially and being that he came from small ball in the f'd up college divisions someone in the FO decided to take the chance on this guy... damn it! If he's not even providing depth the way Stephen "Baby Fat" Heyer could as a rookie maybe Rinehart should be dropped. Just wondering out loud. 2) Marcus and the FO, evidently, want to go separate ways. One of my favorite team personalities and a guy I thought we could cut/resign or restructure on the cheap. Oh well.
On to the possitives...
1). It's great the coaches/FO recognize JJ cannot compete @ RT any longer. Like JLC said this means we probably draft one of the top 3 or 4 OTs this year. IMO that's a major upgrade to the line and therefor an overall benefit for the offense... i like it. But secondly it means JJ can compete for an interior position and I won't be surprised if he plays and does well. Jansen has struggled w/ his lateral movement mostly from what I can tell. He should be more effective on the inside w/ less "space" around him and he's still a very good run blocker. Thomas is back for sure cause of the cap, so be it, I hope JJ is our other guard unless we luck out and get a quality value starter in FA. Kendell's age and inability to practice w/ the squad should mean he's headed down the road.
2) It's good news Taylor and Springs are likely to move on (based on their greed but any reason is fine by me). It frees up a ton of cap space giving us at least some hope of FA signings. Also both players have negatives. Springs' are more obvious in terms of injuries but Taylor also has negatives as I'm not convinced he's a great fit in our system. AC does a solid job on his side, but we need help at left end. Nothing mentioned about Daniels in there which worries me. As much as I like him the age/injury factor is too big. Cutting Daniels also frees up more cap room to sign a value DE as his replacement.
... last positive to Springs refusing to restructure is it should keep Los here. Great news IMO.
3) Glad to hear Griff will be back. He was a GD warrior for us last year regardless of stats. Signing a monster tackle would be a nice luxury but doesn't count as a priority. Golston and Monty will continue to improve and Griff will be back. An upgrade at DE, which seems more likely now w/ Taylor's situation, should improve the pass rush somewhat.
To sum up I see good things out of this, despite the uncertainties. Clearly we'll need to replace Marcus. I would like to see a OLB drafted in the 3rd rd but who knows if the kid would be ready to start (maybe a college ball guru could chime in as to who should be available). Otherwise the d looks to be on the '08 level for quality. London is the key, make no mistake about it, and while he'll be a year older he's still a tackling machine. After getting snubbed on the pro-bowl (again) i wouldn't be surprised if he played w/ a chip on his shoulder, and God willing he'll get the nod next year. Our secondary will be even better w/ Hall/Los and Horton/Landry. Los, Horton and Landry will all continue to improve and Hall brings a lot to the table... bet we have more INTs in '09 than we've had since Champ/Smoot were our corners. Basically, with a decent upgrade @ DE and a solid replacement for Marcus our D is on track.
Offensively i just hope our new franchise tackle (fingers crossed) starts immediately and dominates. I hope Jansen fights his guts out on the interior and Thomas rebounds from a down year. I hope at least one of our young wide-outs develops into a bona fide starter by opening day. But mostly I hope Zorn/Campbell can put all the pieces together and make the offense fly.
I like what you are saying and would be stoked if we did 'em all draft o-lineman and linebacker, get rid of JT and MW and bring back Griffin (hopefully takes a paycut) and possibly bring in another DT (draft or FA). Keep D hall and Rogers. :)