Roster analysis - self scout heading into the offseason

[Stadium-Armory]

Interested to see what kind of other QBs we bring in. I assume we'll try to land a veteran backup who you could turn to in case of injury (rather than a young project guy). Someone like Matt Moore who might prefer being behind Haskins instead of Mahomes.

[method man]

Hooper has to be the number one target in FA. This team needs him badly. 

 

Other priority FAs for me are Byron Jones (I am seeing chitchat on Bradberry but he wants to be paid like an elite player, which he is not. If you are going to pay someone elite money, pay the elite player) & Tre Boston (has played for Rivera twice and is good bang for the buck).

 

Also if this team can't bring Trent back, I'd go after Kelvin Beachum. Hes a league average LT that should come at a solid rate

3 minutes ago, Stadium-Armory said:

Interested to see what kind of other QBs we bring in. I assume we'll try to land a veteran backup who you could turn to in case of injury (rather than a young project guy). Someone like Matt Moore who might prefer being behind Haskins instead of Mahomes.

 

I really wish Fitzpatrick was a free agent. He is extremely smart, an awesome teammate and mentor (Jameis has said this) & can singlehandedly get you a few wins if pressed into spot duty

 

Unfortunately, he is with the Dolphins next year as well

[skinny21]

8 hours ago, PlayAction said:

 

Hentges' success in college was his blocking ability and catching TDs in the end-zone.   He can fill a role for the team but we shouldn't expect him to morph into the hoped for complete TE.  I'm no longer a fan of Sprinkle - he hasn't progressed much in blocking and his pass catching isn't consistent so I'm indifferent between him, Wilson, Cunningham or another other journeyman TE.  I'm thinking the Skins will need to add 2 TEs to the roster - if there is no top talent TE available in free agency then it may be better to pick up 2 TEs in the mold of Hentges - blockers with limited upside in pass catching.  In the first year the Skins would have to rely more on slot receivers and pass catching RBs until they can upgrade to the complete TE.  

Yeah, I don’t see Hentges becoming a good pass catching option.  I will say his athleticism surprised me vs the Cowboys, though part of that is because I thought he was a bit more of a lumberer (I mean, he still is, but he looked faster than his 5+ second 40 time).  The games I paid attention to his blocking, I came away impressed... and I had no idea he was a stud blocker for Alabama.  
 

Read that Indy’s coaches were giving each other a hard time about how dbs couldn’t cover him, which I found interesting.  seemed to do a good job sitting down in zone coverage against Dallas.  I think he’ll work out pretty well as a security blanket for Haskins when/if he’s given the opportunity.  He’s probably a solid #2 type at best though.  
 

Personally, I’d go the opposite route from you and find a pass catching TE (or 2) that can develop as blockers.  Becoming a good blocker is hard (and usually takes time), but it’s a lot easier than teaching athleticism.  Need to make sure you find someone with a good body type and selfless enough to take blocking seriously though.  You need to use them the right way too, in conjunction with a guy like Hentges.  Gruden sucked at this, but I feel like O’Connell (or whoever our OC is?) can probably be a bit less obvious while still mostly playing these guys to their strengths.  
 

[Burgold]

A little narrow in scope, but I just read that Stephen Simms is the only player in the NFL last year to score a receiving, rushing, and kick off touchdown last year. That's pretty cool.

[LD0506]

Interesting thread but as I read through this discussion I'm wondering how any of us even begin to assess the roster when it could churn with the impact of Rivera and Del Rio. We might see a lot of the young talent that we're counting on now gone if they can't accept a new attitude and up their game. And I don't mean their football game, I mean the emotional maturity "Show up n man up" game that these coaches are going to demand as the norm. I feel like there are some like Scherff that may 180 in his gettin-the-hell-outta-here plan, while some like Montae may just beat feet. This team has gotten mentally lazy, motivationally lazy and we saw what having an adult like Callahan did, they played better but can they sustain it, and even do more? I'm a'thinkin that minicamp is going to thin the herd markedly and we're going to be talking about a raft of new players before August.

[KDawg]

52 minutes ago, LD0506 said:

Interesting thread but as I read through this discussion I'm wondering how any of us even begin to assess the roster when it could churn with the impact of Rivera and Del Rio. We might see a lot of the young talent that we're counting on now gone if they can't accept a new attitude and up their game. And I don't mean their football game, I mean the emotional maturity "Show up n man up" game that these coaches are going to demand as the norm. I feel like there are some like Scherff that may 180 in his gettin-the-hell-outta-here plan, while some like Montae may just beat feet. This team has gotten mentally lazy, motivationally lazy and we saw what having an adult like Callahan did, they played better but can they sustain it, and even do more? I'm a'thinkin that minicamp is going to thin the herd markedly and we're going to be talking about a raft of new players before August.

 

I can't speak for others, but I tried to account for some of that in my analysis. It looks like Martin did the same.

 

Obviously you can never predict everything that happens, but evaluation is a constant, dynamic process.

[Burgold]

56 minutes ago, LD0506 said:

Interesting thread but as I read through this discussion I'm wondering how any of us even begin to assess the roster when it could churn with the impact of Rivera and Del Rio. We might see a lot of the young talent that we're counting on now gone if they can't accept a new attitude and up their game. And I don't mean their football game, I mean the emotional maturity "Show up n man up" game that these coaches are going to demand as the norm. I feel like there are some like Scherff that may 180 in his gettin-the-hell-outta-here plan, while some like Montae may just beat feet. This team has gotten mentally lazy, motivationally lazy and we saw what having an adult like Callahan did, they played better but can they sustain it, and even do more? I'm a'thinkin that minicamp is going to thin the herd markedly and we're going to be talking about a raft of new players before August.

Based on what we saw last season, I think the pups will be fine. It's them who rose when Callahan took over, hardened practice and instituted more discipline. I think it's the vets who are in bigger trouble. They've been coddled and allowed to develop bad habits for too long.

[LD0506]

30 minutes ago, KDawg said:

 

I can't speak for others, but I tried to account for some of that in my analysis. It looks like Martin did the same.

 

Obviously you can never predict everything that happens, but evaluation is a constant, dynamic process.

 

Of course, I know that I for one count on the opinions of people like yourself that are much deeper into these topics, but I'm feeling like the whole organization is going to be transformed, just reassembled into something totally different. The younguns ought to have it the easiest tbh since they are only one season removed from college but as Burg noted, some of the vets might have a tough time. Sure, some of them will love it, embrace the opportunity, but how many names need to change before you're running a very different roster?

 

Needs are needs, FS and TE or whatever, but I think we are going to be filling more holes than might be apparent now.

 

And I'm loving it

[KDawg]

9 minutes ago, LD0506 said:

 

Of course, I know that I for one count on the opinions of people like yourself that are much deeper into these topics, but I'm feeling like the whole organization is going to be transformed, just reassembled into something totally different. The younguns ought to have it the easiest tbh since they are only one season removed from college but as Burg noted, some of the vets might have a tough time. Sure, some of them will love it, embrace the opportunity, but how many names need to change before you're running a very different roster?

 

Needs are needs, FS and TE or whatever, but I think we are going to be filling more holes than might be apparent now.

 

And I'm loving it

 

I don't foresee the wholesale change.

 

Reed, Davis, some depth guys will undoubtedly turn over, Nicholson are likely definitely gone (though I could see the team giving Davis a chance if they can't fill the TE void).

 

Norman could be, but his familiarity with Rivera may lead him to be kept (but likely only if he takes a pay cut, so I expect him to be cut and perhaps re-signed if they feel he can still play the press coverage role).

 

Kerrigan could be, but I think he gives us some flex at DE and a little at OLB this year.

 

I'm not sure there's a lot they can turn over in one year when they need definitive upgrades at FS, CB, OLB and possibly in a few OL spots/depth. There's a lot of capital to be spent there alone. 

 

I think ultimately you're going to see this roster overhauled aside from a a core group. As of now, that core group is likely:

 

Allen and/or Ioannidas

Payne

McLaurin

Young*

Sweat

 

*-denotes player IF we draft him and IF he declares (I haven't seen any news that he has)

 

Some other guys can get in there, but right now I'd say they won't move on from those guys. Scherff could be in that lot if he re-ups. Haskins could be there if he builds on his late season success, but he could just as easily go the other way. Guice could be there, but his health is a very real question mark. 

 

So ultimately I do agree. But a total roster overhaul in one season isn't all that feasible with dead cap money.

 

The biggest move is they need to get Alex Smith to retire, get his contract off the books and get him involved in the FO as the Snyder whisperer (and not much else).

[jbird2]

On 1/1/2020 at 10:53 AM, Chump Bailey said:

Austin Hooper, Blake Martinez and Trae Waynes would be my primary FA's signings and I would not be shy trying to land them personally. I think we are vastly overestimating the RB situation. Guice cannot stay healthy and Love recently had a setback. I'd definitely draft a RB.

 

Agree here.

 

I love Guice and Love, but faith in them for the season would be like trusting a 35 yr old RB not to get hurt......

[Thinking Skins]

14 hours ago, skinny21 said:

Yeah, I don’t see Hentges becoming a good pass catching option.  I will say his athleticism surprised me vs the Cowboys, though part of that is because I thought he was a bit more of a lumberer (I mean, he still is, but he looked faster than his 5+ second 40 time).  The games I paid attention to his blocking, I came away impressed... and I had no idea he was a stud blocker for Alabama.  

 

I think right now Hentges is a steal of a find and I credit Kyle Smith and Callahan for finding him. I definitely don't think he's any solution at the position, but I think he may emerge as a better TE than Sprinkle. I thought Sprinkle could develop into a legit starting TE because he has the measurables, but his hands are inconsistent  as is his blocking. I can say the same thing about Hentges, but he's younger, and has a longer contract (assuming we signed him to a standard 4 or 5 year contract and not a 1 year filler contract). 

 

The question is who else do we have to compete at that spot. I like Caleb Wilson a lot, I wanted him on day 3 of the draft, but we never had him on the active roster and he's more of a receiving TE with little to no blocking ability. Same can be said for Parham who I liked in the preseason. he created mismatches with LBs but again not a blocker so you have tells when he's in the game. People are talking about Cam Sims putting on weight to be a TE and while that's an option I don't give it much credibility because he has to want it and how good of a blocker will he be against LBs instead of against CBs? 

 

Interesting fact Hentges had more receptions and yards (4 for 62) in his game against Dallas than Sprinkle ever had in a game in his career. 

 

[Thinking Skins]

17 hours ago, @SkinsGoldPants said:

Reality is they need to put an emphasis on healthy players. Thompson, Reed, Dunbar, Richardson, etc. 

 

I wonder how much of this is on the guys like Larry Hess. John Keim had his podcast and talked about the stories. I'm trying to see if it was just there or somewhere else where they go into details about the politics and line cutting of how injuries for "big name" players or players who could have a more immediate impact on a game were handled before (or with higher priority) than other guys. it was a good read. I wonder how much fixing that will help the injuries. 

[skinny21]

1 hour ago, Thinking Skins said:

 

I think right now Hentges is a steal of a find and I credit Kyle Smith and Callahan for finding him. I definitely don't think he's any solution at the position, but I think he may emerge as a better TE than Sprinkle. I thought Sprinkle could develop into a legit starting TE because he has the measurables, but his hands are inconsistent  as is his blocking. I can say the same thing about Hentges, but he's younger, and has a longer contract (assuming we signed him to a standard 4 or 5 year contract and not a 1 year filler contract). 
 

Hentges just finished his 1st year of a 3 year, 1.7mil contract.  
I’m pretty sure Hentges is easily a better blocker than Sprinkle.  
I was actually surprised by Sprinkle this year.  Too many concentration drops, but he pulled in some tough ones.  I’m not sold on his blocking, but  I don’t know he’d be a bad option as a #2.  

Quote

 

The question is who else do we have to compete at that spot. I like Caleb Wilson a lot, I wanted him on day 3 of the draft, but we never had him on the active roster and he's more of a receiving TE with little to no blocking ability. Same can be said for Parham who I liked in the preseason. he created mismatches with LBs but again not a blocker so you have tells when he's in the game. People are talking about Cam Sims putting on weight to be a TE and while that's an option I don't give it much credibility because he has to want it and how good of a blocker will he be against LBs instead of against CBs? 

I could absolutely be wrong here, but I really think our TE tipping our play was more a product of Gruden than personnel.  Don’t get me wrong, personnel mattered, I just think Gruden sort of sucked with tendencies.  
When you have a pass catching TE in the game, there are just so many different options beyond pigeonholing yourself into sending them on a route and then passing the ball.  Whether it’s using them to chip an end, sending them on a dummy route, running away from their side or moving them up off the line to block a db.  Similar to running a spread look not dictating a pass.

They do have to be a willing blocker though.  If they don’t put effort in there, they just shouldn’t be on the squad... period.  
I’ve been hoping for a well rounded TE for years, but I think we can get by fine if we can find a good pass catching TE.  If that is Wilson, etc, great.  I think finding a weapon in the draft that could perhaps grow into a decent blocker would be a smart.  Preferably someone with a good frame (to add bulk/strength), decent length/catch radius/athleticism, and at least a willingness to block.  A guy like Mark Andrews (3rd rounder for Ravens in 2018) would be great.  They may not contribute much this year, but it would be a good investment IMO.   
 

No telling if KOC is our coordinator moving forward, but I got the sense he formulated his game plan more around the personnel (and their strengths/weaknesses) than Gruden did.  Gruden seemed to go with more of a ‘next man up’ philosophy, which is good in theory, but in practice allows for breakdowns and mismatches.  I could be wrong about all of that though.  

 

[Thinking Skins]

3 minutes ago, skinny21 said:

No telling if KOC is our coordinator moving forward, but I got the sense he formulated his game plan more around the personnel (and their strengths/weaknesses) than Gruden did.  Gruden seemed to go with more of a ‘next man up’ philosophy, which is good in theory, but in practice allows for breakdowns and mismatches.  I could be wrong about all of that though.  

 

See, I kinda disagree here. I don't know about KOC but it seemed to me like Gruden put players in boxes and seldom allowed them to outperform that box. So if AP is a bruising back, he's going to be a guy to carry it on first and second down and never be in on third down. And he's never or almost never going to get passes. So I think he saw Sprinkle as this blocking TE who wasn't a catcher. I look at Sprinkle's targets since Gruden left and with Gruden here and its so different. Even with the injuries at TE tihs year and last year. Now I've admitted that Sprinkle isn't a world beater, but he was getting open in the KOC system and if not for the drops we may be talking about the hidden gem in Sprinkle. Same goes for Sims who was a gadget guy under Gruden and is now a legit slot WR and a weapon. 

 

The other thing about Gruden's philosophy was his love of certain players. I talk more about Bibbs than any other player under Gruden because he was a productive member of the bottom set of players who was cut for another guy (Marshall) who did nothing here. Even the next guy we brought in, Smallwood did nothing. Bibbs scored TDs for us. Now, the fact that we have new guys like Hentges who is able to score. We saw it with Quinn not even having competition for the slot spot. With Richardson not getting competition from Harmon or C. Sims. 

[skinny21]

@Thinking Skins Great/fair point - you’re absolutely right.  I also did a poor job articulating what I meant.  
 

Gruden would keep Sprinkle in to block and would usually pass when Reed was in.  He’d run the ball with Grant and pass when Jackson was in.  In other words, if a player was weaker in some area, he seemed to try to avoid using them that way.

So I guess what I meant is that KOC was more likely to still use a player’s weaker facet, but he would then mitigate that weakness.  Running the option with Haskins, and using AP and Hentges in the pass game, are some examples.  But he didn’t run qb draws for Haskins, seam routes for Hentges or any deeper routes for AP.  
 

I still could be wrong about all of this though, lol. 

[88Comrade2000]

After listening to Rivera, I don't think this is Haskins team.  I think it's pretty clear, he wants a veteran QB there also.

I think he will give Haskins every chance to win the job but training camp will be an open competition. Haskins will have to earn the starting job for 2020.

 

It will not shock me to see a big roster turnover after Year 1.  Will these players be able to handle a real coach.

[Peregrine]

My honest look at the roster is the core of it is the DLine.  There are otherwise just a few actually good pieces.  There are a number of young players they hope will pan out, but havent yet.  I think its most likely they draft Chase Young at #2, and if thats the case, Id take an OLinemen with the 3rd round pick.  If you get Trent back, that might actually give you a pretty decent OLine.

 

Then I think you could actually put together a half decent team(provided Haskins keeps developing) by signing one big target WR(cut Richardson), one top CB, and one decent journeyman TE.  That would give you on offense: A solid Oline, a RB rotation of Peterson, Guice and Love, and a WR core with at least Terry, new #1 target receiver and Simms.  That would give you on defense: A Dline of Kerrigan/Sweat, Payne, Ionnidas Allen, with Chase Young, SDH, and maybe Anderson at LBer.  You already have Collins and Dunbar, so throw in a top CB and if you dont have major injuries that lets you fill in with someone merely okay at FS.  So thats 2 draft picks, and 3 FAs.

[Wildbunny]

19 hours ago, Burgold said:

Based on what we saw last season, I think the pups will be fine. It's them who rose when Callahan took over, hardened practice and instituted more discipline. I think it's the vets who are in bigger trouble. They've been coddled and allowed to develop bad habits for too long.

That's most often always the case, new HC tends to go on with younger moldable players and release vets first, except one or two that are leaders on the field.

 

18 hours ago, KDawg said:

I think ultimately you're going to see this roster overhauled aside from a a core group. As of now, that core group is likely:

 

Allen and/or Ioannidas

Payne

McLaurin

Young*

Sweat

Damn KDawg, I love you, but each time you goes on like this you always forget our special triplet: Sundberg, Way, Hopkins!

 

Think about them

[KDawg]

4 hours ago, Wildbunny said:

Damn KDawg, I love you, but each time you goes on like this you always forget our special triplet: Sundberg, Way, Hopkins!

 

Think about them

 

They absolutely are important.

 

But not a part of what I refer to here.

 

They are "on their own island". In the sense that they are absolutely a part of the team and should be valued, but their cohesion with the rest of the 50 guys on the roster is less important (aside from maybe the backup QB if he's the holder). Their cohesion with each other is very much important. And their role is very important. 

[Voice_of_Reason]

This is a great exercise to go through, but to quote JP Finalay, you have to be careful not to have Ashburn Syndrome, where you overvalue guys because you like them, or because they are the best on THIS team surrounded by a bunch of guys who aren't great.  

 

Here's where I am:

 

QB: Haskins is going to be given the opportunity to be the future.  They are going to sign somebody to be the veteran competition who can play.  Unless Smith can play.  In which case, you have your 2, and you get a camp arm or two.  Personally, I don't think Smith will be able to play, so I think they will sign somebody.  

 

RB: I think you absolutely have to draft somebody in the mid-rounds or sign somebody.  I don't trust Guice, and Love hasn't played a snap, and AP will, eventually, slow down.  Is that next year? I don't know.  But it's inevitable.  I would absolutely not bring back CT.  Time to move on.  

 

TE: Complete re-build.  Settle can stay, but everybody else has to go.  I actually think this might be the biggest need on offense, to get a TE who can both catch as well as block so you don't have a "tell" based on personnel.  

 

WR: McLaurin and Sims are keepers you build around and develop.   Harmon, so far, reminds me a whole lot of Ryan Grant.  Maybe he will blossom and improve, but I don't see the physical upside you need to be an honest to God #2 on a offense that scares people.  Quinn can go back to being irrelevant. Cam Sims can try to stick. I think they should invest here if they could to get a solid #2 opposite McLaurin, which could really stretch a defense both horizontally and vertically.  I like Harmon, I just don't think he's that guy.  At least not yet. I would love to be proven wrong.  

 

OL: This is a complete mystery because we don't know if Williams or Scherff are going to be back.  I have posted before, I would re-sign Flowers NOW so in the event you have to replace both Williams and Scherff, you're not replacing 3 pieces of the OL.  Martin looked ok at times, I'm not sure Christian did.  There is work to be done here, but the exact work is unknown because of Williams and Scherff's status.  

 

Defense:

There is an entire thread on the 4-3 positioning (which is fantastic), so I'm not going to really re-hash that here.  Here's what I'm going to say:

 

Keepers: Matt Ioannidis, Allen, Payne, Sweat, Ryan Anderson, Reuban Foster **, Holcomb, Collins, Dunny. 

 

** Ron needs to decide if he wants Foster in the building.  If he does, ok.  If not, that's fine with me as well.  

 

Everybody else can apply for a job.  The biggest question is going to be what they do with Ryan Kerrigan.  Especially if they draft Young.  If you draft Young, then your starting DEs are probably Sweat and Young.  I think we need a federal statute which makes it a criminal offense punishable by jail time and fines dropping Kerrigan or Sweat into coverage.  

 

There is talent.  Particularly on the DL.  But how the LB and secondary play out is harder to predict.  And given the defense was so bad last year, I'm not going to jump and say that just Ron and Jack will be able to turn the whole thing around just by better coaching and scheme.  I'm skeptical of the talent at LB, DB and FS. 

 

Specialists probably stay as they are.  Though I think they should bring in some competition for Hop.  I like him, and he should win the job.  But the fact they never bring in competition for the specialists, even if it is perfunctory, should change.

[MartinC]

On 1/3/2020 at 10:38 AM, Voice_of_Reason said:

 

 

RB: I think you absolutely have to draft somebody in the mid-rounds or sign somebody.  I don't trust Guice, and Love hasn't played a snap, and AP will, eventually, slow down.  Is that next year? I don't know.  But it's inevitable.  I would absolutely not bring back CT.  Time to move on.  

I hear you on the concerns with the durability of Guice and Love coming off a significant injury. But they both have a lot of talent.

 

My feeling is rolling with them is worth the risk and if they go down you can always find a serviceable back somewhere. Unless AP just falls off a map I think we are OK at back.

 

If Guice can’t stay healthy again next year though and given it’s the last year of APs deal I can see RB being a major need going into the 2021 offseason. You can’t fix everything in one year.

[carex]

I think we may re-sign Smallwood, he'll be a decent third stringer and compete for the 3rd down back job.

 

people are praising Settle a lot and I like him.  But Treyvon Hester was a decent player for us last year and Caleb Brantley did all right the year before.  They're both restricted FA but you have to think we'll give them qualifying offers so they don't walk for nothing.  So could Settle be worth anything?  He does play nose and he's got two years left on a rookie deal

 

 

[skinny21]

10 minutes ago, carex said:

I think we may re-sign Smallwood, he'll be a decent third stringer and compete for the 3rd down back job.

 

people are praising Settle a lot and I like him.  But Treyvon Hester was a decent player for us last year and Caleb Brantley did all right the year before.  They're both restricted FA but you have to think we'll give them qualifying offers so they don't walk for nothing.  So could Settle be worth anything?  He does play nose and he's got two years left on a rookie deal

 

 

I’d be a little surprised if Smallwood returns due to what he showed (or rather didn’t show) as a back.  With that said, they may appreciate his ST play.

 

Don’t know about a tender - not gonna hit them with a 2nd, but I’m not sure about original round tender for them (don’t have time to look them up right now).  

I’d see how Settle does under this staff before entertaining a trade, especially because his production has a better chance of jumping with good coaching.  

[Thinking Skins]

On 1/3/2020 at 7:38 AM, Voice_of_Reason said:

This is a great exercise to go through, but to quote JP Finalay, you have to be careful not to have Ashburn Syndrome, where you overvalue guys because you like them, or because they are the best on THIS team surrounded by a bunch of guys who aren't great.  

 

Here's the thing. Ashburn Syndrome would be to act like all our players are on the all pro team. But the same thing would be to act like none of our players deserve to be in the league. (remember when we thought Dunbar was nothing, or Murphy, 

 

Haskins has shown that he's worth keeping, and has shown some playmaking ability, but has also made some mistakes and I'm talking about even in his last 2 games, like the end of half stuff against the Eagles. I'm wondering how much Josh Allen is in his game where he can do a lot of things but also can hurt a team by trying to do too much. That's what I saw early, particularly in that first Giants loss. 

 

As far as running back. I'm optimistic but as of right now only 2 guys on the roster (Guice and AP) have even been on the roster. Love is due to be back this year but we don't know his status and whether he's had any setbacks. He could be on pup again and if so I feel weary about putting this all on Guice and AP because we're back to where we were the last two years. 

 

Another question I raise is whether we're going to have a FB. One of the first things that Callahan did when he was named coach was sign a FB (and then a blocking TE). If we look at previous regimes, we had Logan and Sellers as fan favorites who helped establish a running game, could give an option out of the backfield, and helped to establish a hard nosed culture. 

 

I was impressed with McLaurin, Harmon and Sims. I think Harmon was probably Haskins favorite or most comfortable receiver. I think its an insult to compare him to Grant because we have to remember that Harmon was a rookie and Grant almost never even saw the field and didn't put up anything comparable to Harmon's numbers until his last year here. I'd put Harmon as more comparable to Mo Harris, who we loved here and thought had all the potential in the world but he never really developed into anything. He left here and we thought he'd become a threat and wasn't on a roster last year. 

 

I think Sprinkle may be out of options. But thats a thing on what the coach wants. What's his mentality? Is he coachable and does he listen or make the same mistakes over and over again? Hentges had a career game in week 17 and while that may be a sack of nothing in a meaningless game he may emerge as a number 2 TE (ahead of Sprinkle) and make us only replace Reed. Again, I think these two guys are some that fans are counting as nothings but could be building blocks. 

 

The OL is interesting because there are a ton of options. I remember all the guys we've drafted over the years who we thought could be something and were nothing (Arie, and Kory L. come to mind). So I really don't know what to expect from guys like Parrish, Christian, Martin, Ross P, etc. And if I had to bet I'd think that we'd probably look to replace these guys more than our starters. I'm also curious to know what our blocking scheme would be. And the types of OL that they perfer (bigger maulers vs smaller nimble guys)? And will we still push our interior linemen to learn all three spots? And what about backup tackles? I don't know how good we are if Williams/Penn or Moses goes down, particularly if we lose both of them for any time period. 

 

And that's all I've got. 

[carex]

40 minutes ago, skinny21 said:

I’d be a little surprised if Smallwood returns due to what he showed (or rather didn’t show) as a back.  With that said, they may appreciate his ST play.

 

Don’t know about a tender - not gonna hit them with a 2nd, but I’m not sure about original round tender for them (don’t have time to look them up right now).  

I’d see how Settle does under this staff before entertaining a trade, especially because his production has a better chance of jumping with good coaching.  

 

he's still likely to be the 4th DT.  It's basically the amount of playing time he might see vs another potentially valuable player