02-05-2021, 07:02 PM
(02-01-2021, 03:09 PM)ochocincos Wrote: Not far away from what? A winning record? Making the playoffs? Or winning in the playoffs?
We don't know what the defense is going to look like with Reader and Waynes back, but we saw it that the beginning of the year with Reader and it wasn't a good defense. At this point, you can't honestly say you aren't worried about Atkins unless you are a blind optimist.
You also have the possibility of Lawson and/or WJ3 leaving. If either or both leave, that's more holes you have to fill in the offseason.
You also need more than just 1 good FA OL added. There was not a single spot on the OL who was good both against the run and pass last year. Williams and Hopkins were the only good pass blockers. Hart and Redmond were the only good run blockers. If you add only one new OL, you're looking at MAYBE having an OL in the 20-25 range. We (or at least I) want the OL to be Top 15. If you don't upgrade TE and Uzomah doesn't get back to his pre-injured Achilles, you're looking at another bottom-tier TE again in terms of pass catching production.
Look, it's natural to be worried about regressing, but there really isn't much room to regress. The team gained only 2.5 wins from 2019 to 2020. If they keep all the guys you talk about, they probably only end up with 6-8 wins at the end of the season.
Is that satisfactory?
It's not for me.
We've gone 5 years without having a winning record, let alone a playoff appearance. I'm tired of waiting for them to get back. I want a playoff appearance in 2021.
Why not take the gamble on losing Gio, Uzomah, Hart, etc. and try to better allocate those funds on upgrades? At worst, the team goes back down to 2-3 wins. Not really any different than 4-5 wins.
It's simple, you keep your young talent and add to it. I wouldn't gamble on losing Gio as we would have been in trouble without him this year.
Sure, we won a few more games, but we have the most important piece (a QB) and we definitely would have won 6-7 games this year had he not been injured.
Waynes isn't going to restructure a contract that he just signed.
The defense will be in good shape if they can stay healthy and add a pass rusher. The O-line would be pretty good if they had one concrete starter to build around.
