09-28-2021, 11:53 AM
My tier list:
Needed immediately:
1. Center (Hopkins is coming off an injury, has never been more than average, will be in the last year of his deal in 2022 and is about to turn 30. We need the future at the position.)
2. CB (Waynes is...not reliable. Apple and Phillips are both in contract years and, honestly, probably not worth re-signing. At least not for any kind of real money. We need a starter level CB and at least one quality back up.)
Needed in the next two years:
3. Left Guard (If D'Ante Smith continues to develop, this may be removed from the needs list but, as it stands, Spain is a good but not great player. He's on a 1 year deal so we either need to re-sign him or this moves up a tier.)
4. Right Tackle (Reiff is in a similar situation as Spain. If we don't re-sign him and Smith does not take over this position, this moves up a tier, but we do need to do something here in the next year or two.)
5. Tight End (Our offense has never really used the tight end that well and that may be because we've never really had an elite one. The first three games of this season furthers this point as the TEs have been almost entirely uninvolved in the offense, with the one exception, the Uzomah 4th down conversion, being the 3rd or 4th read that they almost never even threw to in practice, let alone a real game. CJ is a good receiving Tight End, but I like him as a TE2 more than a TE1. And Sample is pretty much a bust at this point. Yes, he still plays but he's never much more than a 6th (weaker) Olineman and that's a terrible way to spend a 2nd round pick. If we want to increase the dynamism of our offense, a legit #1 tight end would be a great addition but, given our WR corp, we have plenty of people who need touches already so this isn't an emergency need by any means.)
Nice to have:
6. Defensive Tackle (We have a really good rotation of DTs right now. If we are able to re-sign Og and Hill in the off season, we'll be set here for a while. If we don't re-sign one or either, this moves up 1 or 2 tiers, respectively. Tupou has been a good spell for Reader as well, so I hope we hang on to him as well, although he's the least important of the three considering we have Shelvin in the wings.)
7. Defensive End (You can never have too many pass rushers and Ossai coming back from injury next year may fill this need just fine. Hendrickson and Hubbard are good starters but neither is elite and watching Garrett take over that game against the Bears makes me kind of jealous haha. I'd love to have a player that the other team fears like that.
Everything else (Safety, QB, WR, LT, RG, RB, LB) seems to be in a pretty good place right now. If there's just incredible value at any of those positions in the draft or free agency, an upgrade would never hurt. But I'm really encouraged by the play of those players, for the most part. Right Guard is still a work in progress, but I think Carman or Smith can fill one of the guard roles, so we really just need one upgrade for the time being.
Needed immediately:
1. Center (Hopkins is coming off an injury, has never been more than average, will be in the last year of his deal in 2022 and is about to turn 30. We need the future at the position.)
2. CB (Waynes is...not reliable. Apple and Phillips are both in contract years and, honestly, probably not worth re-signing. At least not for any kind of real money. We need a starter level CB and at least one quality back up.)
Needed in the next two years:
3. Left Guard (If D'Ante Smith continues to develop, this may be removed from the needs list but, as it stands, Spain is a good but not great player. He's on a 1 year deal so we either need to re-sign him or this moves up a tier.)
4. Right Tackle (Reiff is in a similar situation as Spain. If we don't re-sign him and Smith does not take over this position, this moves up a tier, but we do need to do something here in the next year or two.)
5. Tight End (Our offense has never really used the tight end that well and that may be because we've never really had an elite one. The first three games of this season furthers this point as the TEs have been almost entirely uninvolved in the offense, with the one exception, the Uzomah 4th down conversion, being the 3rd or 4th read that they almost never even threw to in practice, let alone a real game. CJ is a good receiving Tight End, but I like him as a TE2 more than a TE1. And Sample is pretty much a bust at this point. Yes, he still plays but he's never much more than a 6th (weaker) Olineman and that's a terrible way to spend a 2nd round pick. If we want to increase the dynamism of our offense, a legit #1 tight end would be a great addition but, given our WR corp, we have plenty of people who need touches already so this isn't an emergency need by any means.)
Nice to have:
6. Defensive Tackle (We have a really good rotation of DTs right now. If we are able to re-sign Og and Hill in the off season, we'll be set here for a while. If we don't re-sign one or either, this moves up 1 or 2 tiers, respectively. Tupou has been a good spell for Reader as well, so I hope we hang on to him as well, although he's the least important of the three considering we have Shelvin in the wings.)
7. Defensive End (You can never have too many pass rushers and Ossai coming back from injury next year may fill this need just fine. Hendrickson and Hubbard are good starters but neither is elite and watching Garrett take over that game against the Bears makes me kind of jealous haha. I'd love to have a player that the other team fears like that.
Everything else (Safety, QB, WR, LT, RG, RB, LB) seems to be in a pretty good place right now. If there's just incredible value at any of those positions in the draft or free agency, an upgrade would never hurt. But I'm really encouraged by the play of those players, for the most part. Right Guard is still a work in progress, but I think Carman or Smith can fill one of the guard roles, so we really just need one upgrade for the time being.
![[Image: oN5QAdY.png]](https://i.imgur.com/oN5QAdY.png)
