Here is a "hidden problem" we haven't addressed yet...

For the 2011 draft, the players lost in this next offseason still become compensatory picks.

After this offseason, it's whatever the terms of the next CBA decide. 2011 is the final currently scheduled draft, and there won't be a 2011 season to follow, pending further development.

I know this is kinda off topic but assuming 2011 is a lost season, what would happen to draft eligible players in 2011/2012? Would they become free agents or would the 2012 draft be crazy deep? How about traded draft picks (like Oakland's trade to NE for Seymour included a 2011 1st round pick) would that roll over into 2012?

I might agree, but not to the extent of a 4-12 record. If you put, say, the 49ers of the 80's in a smashmouth offense, would they really be reduced to a 4-win season? I don't think so. Good players overcome lots of obstacles.

Plus, while there have been players that haven't been used right, Orakpo and Devin Thomas (at least in terms of playing time) come to mind, I would hardly say that the entire roster has been misused to the point that we could have been significantly better.

Is it your contention that we are really an 8-8 or 9-7 team and that the coaches are solely to blame?

No, that is not my contention.

I also am not giving scouting a pass. I hope that, starting Monday, the entire organization is put under the microscope and problems are fixed, including in scouting.

At the same time, I find it hard to blame scouting alone for 4-12, as your previous post seemed to do.

I know this is kinda off topic but assuming 2011 is a lost season, what would happen to draft eligible players in 2011/2012? Would they become free agents or would the 2012 draft be crazy deep? How about traded draft picks (like Oakland's trade to NE for Seymour included a 2011 1st round pick) would that roll over into 2012?

huh...that is a really interesting question but I hope we don't have to live through 2011 without football, that would just be too horrible to contemplate

I know this is kinda off topic but assuming 2011 is a lost season, what would happen to draft eligible players in 2011/2012? Would they become free agents or would the 2012 draft be crazy deep? How about traded draft picks (like Oakland's trade to NE for Seymour included a 2011 1st round pick) would that roll over into 2012?

Good question about traded draft picks, but assuming there is no draft then draft eligible players become free agents. It'd be like when the USFL came along and the teams would outbid each other to signed players out of college