The Official 2023 ES Free Agency Thread... available until Free Agency 2024 begins

[DWinzit]

1 minute ago, Skinsinparadise said:

 

I didn't pound the table for Torrence because he was seen as a late first rounder.  I thought that was a reach but a late 2nd was good value IMO.  Yeah he's more of a mauler gap bocker than he is a zone blocking RB.  But judging by his PFF pass blocking grade and the fact that he hasn't given up a sack and I presume he was part of the reason why this team didn't sack Josh Allen once or even got much pressure on him -- I gather he would be helpful here.  If he can block Daron Payne.  You'd think he can help this O line avoid their 19 sack record making start for the season.

It appears a refrigerator set at the RT position would serve us better than the current RT play 

[Skinsinparadise]

4 minutes ago, BatteredFanSyndrome said:

“I told Trent he needs to prove himself” should have been a huge 🚩 the moment it occurred.  I recall convincing myself that it didn’t come across the way it sounded and that Ron was smart enough to kiss Trent’s ass to get him back in the fold.

 

But the more we learned down the road, was that Ron was essentially carrying Dan’s water regarding Trent.

 

I thought at the time he'd offset it with signings and picks.  I didn't realize at the time how little Ron valued the position compared to other spots.  

 

I don't kill him for losing Trent, Scherff or even Moses in a vacuum.  But if you are going to get rid of pedigreed players for major money -- then either replace them with major money or major draft capital.  Ron did neither.  And I suspect that will cost him his job.  He can talk all day long about send him his SB ring when the next regime wins a SB -- but as that next regime has to get to work on that unit, I bet they'd laugh at Ron's arrogance.

Edited September 26, 2023 by Skinsinparadise

[757SeanTaylor21]

He lost Moses because they wanted cosmi at rt ...and we see how that played out

[method man]

4 minutes ago, 757SeanTaylor21 said:

He lost Moses because they wanted cosmi at rt ...and we see how that played out

Yep. Losing Moses was 100% controllable by Ron. The sad part too is that it seemed like Moses was the leader of that unit in 2020. As much as we complain about this year’s unit, let’s all remember that Geron Christian and Wes Martin started a bunch of games that year

[BatteredFanSyndrome]

The Moses cut came out of nowhere too.  Unexpected and unnecessary.
 

 

[Warhead36]

I'll absolutely kill Ron for losing Trent. That was his first shot at changing the culture. IIRC Trent wanted a new contract. If I'm Ron I sit down with Trent and tell him, "Hey listen. You're a heck of a football player. I want you on this team. I'm gonna rely on you to be a leader. Go out there and set the tone for this franchise." Something along those lines. None of that "you have to prove it to me" non sense. Established stars like Trent Williams don't wanna hear that. Chip Kelly pulled the same crap with the Eagles, making guys like Shady McCoy and Desean Jackson "earn" their starting spots. We let a future HOF-er and potential GOAT tier LT go for basically nothing. That's 100% on Ron.

 

He also should be roasted for letting Morgan Moses walk. Moses has been an absolute rock solid starter. Guy plays hurt and was a leader in the locker room. We let him go...why exactly? I'm still not sure. I guess we really wanted to play Cosmi at RT but everyone knew Cosmi was gonna be a G in this league. Well we had Brandon Scherff at RG...oops no we let him go a year later. 

 

Speaking of Scherff, if he were smarter he would have locked him down to a longer term deal earlier. He was franchise tagged in 2020 and 2021. Instead we could have signed him to a 4 year deal(the length he signed for with the Jags). He'd still be on the team through this year.

 

We could have had an OL with Trent Williams at LG, Brandon Scherff at RG, and Morgan Moses at RT. Cosmi could be our 6th man/swing T and G. 

[FootballZombie]

1 hour ago, Skinsinparadise said:

the team they beat last week were being boat raced in historic fashion

 

I heard someone describe the score of that Miami game akin to Alabama vs the school of deaf and blind and I almost died

 

 

Anyways

 

Do we know the severity of Logan's head injury and whether he is day-to-day or week-to-week?

If he is gonna miss time and we are gonna insist on force feeding TEs I would not mind scrounging around the scrap pile.

[tmandoug1]

Looking for transactions this week.....nothing. No urgency in bringing in maybe Collins or L. Taylor? Am I missing something? 

[NewCliche21]

On 9/26/2023 at 9:08 AM, BatteredFanSyndrome said:

“I told Trent he needs to prove himself” should have been a huge 🚩 the moment it occurred.  I recall convincing myself that it didn’t come across the way it sounded and that Ron was smart enough to kiss Trent’s ass to get him back in the fold.

 

But the more we learned down the road, was that Ron was essentially carrying Dan’s water regarding Trent.

 

Wait, he said that? I must've completely missed that in the entire 2020 everything, but he said those words (or something like them) in that order?

That would skewer every defense I've ever had for him.

[Conn]

Source is questionable. 
 

Not sure why we’d want a malcontent RB pretending to be injured because he wants to get paid. Especially when Robinson got 7 carries last week. 

[SkinsFTW]

Hopefully Harris shuts RR down if he wants to trade draft picks for a RB when everybody knows that EB isn't going to run the ball anyway. 

[FootballZombie]

I didn't want him b4 the season.

I want him even less now.

[Skinsinparadise]

5 hours ago, SkinsFTW said:

Hopefully Harris shuts RR down if he wants to trade draft picks for a RB when everybody knows that EB isn't going to run the ball anyway. 

 

Yeah that's what makes me think this isn't going down.  We don't run the ball, why would we trade for a RB. 

 

Jonathan Taylor is a stud. But I don't like the idea of paying big money for any RB.

 

[Koolblue13]

Gibson was one of the guys who complained about EB, maybe it was the RB room. BRob said "I wish we'd run the ball more" after the **** show game.

 

Maybe Jordan and the RB room are working against EB and Ron.

 

I'd rather see Randy Jordan be the HC than trade for Taylor.

[ultravin]

still waiting for Cox to be activated from the practice squad.  they need him asap!

[Going Commando]

B-Rob has a legit gripe about not getting the ball.  He's flashed star potential and actually has the talent that we thought guys like Matt Jones, Samaje Perine, Antonio Gibson, and Roy Helu had: soft hands, vision, patience, toughness, physicality in picking up the blitz, and honest to God power.  He's the toughest player we've had at RB since Portis.  He's a potential Pro-Bowler IMO, and we should be leaning on him to drive the offense because our passing game just isn't ready yet.

 

I've been a huge fan of Jonathan Taylor since he was at Wisconsin, but we shouldn't trade for him, and I don't think we will.  We have a special player at RB already, and we need to give him the chance to reach his potential here.

[KDawg]

I’d take JT… for a low round pick on a rental. We can’t pay the guy the money he wants. Well, we can, but I’m not sure I would.

 

But I’d take him to pair with BRob if the cost is low.

 

having said that… it won’t be and therefore no thanks.

 

Robinson is a good back that isn’t getting the chances. Let’s see what we have with him before we start trading major assets.

[Going Commando]

1 hour ago, KDawg said:

I’d take JT… for a low round pick on a rental. We can’t pay the guy the money he wants. Well, we can, but I’m not sure I would.

 

But I’d take him to pair with BRob if the cost is low.

 

having said that… it won’t be and therefore no thanks.

 

Robinson is a good back that isn’t getting the chances. Let’s see what we have with him before we start trading major assets.

 

Taylor is obviously a bigger talent than BRob, but BRob has to be a lead back to be effective IMO.  He needs carries to get the juices flowing and start to assert his will on a game.  He's capable of taking them over, as he did in Denver.  The only way we get the most out of BRob is by leaving him in his #1 role and not bringing in anyone better to take the lead away from him.

 

I think BRob has the all around skill set necessary to start and be featured in a good offense.  He won't tip your plays at all.  And if we can get him more opportunities in space like with screen passes, he can rip off chunk plays because he is too much for DBs to bring down one on one.  In pretty much any other offense but an Andy Reid system, he would be the #1 weapon, and we'd be using him to carry the burden instead of Howell. 

[Warhead36]

I'm much more impressed with Robinson this year than last year. He looked more like a 3rd down/goal line plodder last year, but this year he looks more spry and patient with better balance. I don't think he'll ever be a 50+ yard home run threat but I see a legit everydown back. We should lean on him a bit more while the passing game figures things out. At the very least, force teams out of dropping seven into coverage right away.

[RandyHolt]

Asking price for Jonathan Taylor is a high 2nd.  I am intrigued at that price since we can bait them into thinking we'll suck this year plus our recent 2nd rounders address problems we don't have. BRob has exceeded expectations but our RB room is crickets after that.  Gibson seems without a role / under utilized when he should be the clear hands back. He has been fumbling and not very efficient in that role albeit he is limited with the way EB spreads the ball. Regardless we have ZERO hands back depth and it may be our weakest position on the team. While I would prefer to see BRob be an all down back and maximize unpredictability to defenses, sub outs are imperative to OCs. Tennessee running Henry into 8 man fronts isn't working. Their offense is predictable - I really think all down backs give DCs fits.

Harris probably wants to make a splash and push for the playoffs. 1A1B and give extra touches to the hotter hand. BRobs hands are fine. Let he and JT be all down backs on any given drive and not let DCs predict plays based on seeing Gibson coming in.  They are not afraid of Gibson running.  We are.

 

I want 2 all down backs to take pressure off Howell by adding pressure to defenses. Hell I would want to see both backs out there at the same time.

Edited September 30, 2023 by RandyHolt

[Anselmheifer]

Is anyone ever really happy that they have a RB a big second contract? 

[RandyHolt]

14 minutes ago, Anselmheifer said:

Is anyone ever really happy that they have a RB a big second contract? 

Not anymore. I assume an extension is the hold up on any trade talks. I would be meh with him as a rental / chance to sign him to a fair deal but a general structure needs to be agreed on in advance. Teams will cycle through young backs until the league figures out an equitable RB salary structure in the next CBA. Taylor can walk from DC but at the end of the day he knows teams will not overpay him which increases our chances of retaining him. He can just keep walking to the unemployment office. Owners are playing hardball and its a group effort and RBs know it.

Edited September 30, 2023 by RandyHolt

[Going Commando]

1 hour ago, Anselmheifer said:

Is anyone ever really happy that they have a RB a big second contract? 

 

Whoever is paying Christian McCaffrey I guess.  But big RB contracts usually aren't the straw that breaks the camels backs because they aren't that high dollar or loaded with guarantees compared to other positions.  They're kind of an ex post facto reward given to a RB for carrying your offense when you were paying him **** on his rookie deal, and if he breaks down on year two or three of the new deal, oh well.  You get out of the deal and move on without a lot of trouble.

[Anselmheifer]

15 minutes ago, Going Commando said:

 

Whoever is paying Christian McCaffrey I guess.  But big RB contracts usually aren't the straw that breaks the camels backs because they aren't that high dollar or loaded with guarantees compared to other positions.  They're kind of an ex post facto reward given to a RB for carrying your offense when you were paying him **** on his rookie deal, and if he breaks down on year two or three of the new deal, oh well.  You get out of the deal and move on without a lot of trouble.

 

That's not a moving argument for paying a RB that someone else had on a rookie contract. And, McCaffrey is an outlier, there will always be those. Maybe Taylor will be also. 

I know this isn't the FA 2024 thread, but I'm more interested in how OT and LB look in 2024. How is next year's FA class looking at our positions of need?

[method man]

11 minutes ago, Anselmheifer said:

 

That's not a moving argument for paying a RB that someone else had on a rookie contract. And, McCaffrey is an outlier, there will always be those. Maybe Taylor will be also. 

I know this isn't the FA 2024 thread, but I'm more interested in how OT and LB look in 2024. How is next year's FA class looking at our positions of need?

Legit starting tackles at reasonable prices rarely hit the market. Can’t depend on that. Need to focus on drafting a guy and trading picks if needed to get that guy