At what point will fans admit we're rebuilding?

[BengalChris]

(09-15-2017, 12:18 PM)THE PISTONS Wrote: Over the past 2 free agency periods we lost a bunch of experienced, quality starters.

1 ) Jones - Starting WR2
2 ) Sanu - Quality WR3
3 ) Nelson - Starting Safety and great against the pass
4 ) Whitworth - Starting LT, perennial Pro Bowl player, and Team Leader
5 ) Zeitler - Starting Guard - Nearing Pro Bowl caliber
6 ) Peko - Team leader and run stuffer
7 ) Maualuga - Run stuffing LB but terrible against the pass
8 ) Leon Hall - Good CB with experience who was used to cover mainly slot receivers his last year here.
9 ) Dansby
10 ) Lamur
11 ) Andre Smith when he was starting RT. (He came back as a backup G.) When he was our starting Tackle...he was pretty good.
12 ) Burkhead

The 1st wave of losses pushed us down to a 6.5 win team. Then we lost our 2 best offensive lineman this past offseason and so far are 0-2.

We don't really sign more than bargain bin free agents so these guys weren't replaced much there. Lafell was a good signing. Minter appears to be.

Then our drafts haven't been producing a lot of impact. In time they may, but they haven't produced enough impact to negate these losses.

Plain and simple we're rebuilding. On offense alone we need 4 starting caliber lineman. Possible a starting TE depending on Eifert. On defense, we may need upgrades at DT, DE, and LB.

Probably too many holes to fix in one offseason...especially since we only sign bargain bin free agents.

I don't know about Maualuga or Peko on that list, both were two steps slow last season. But you do have a point.

It isn't really when do the fans admit the team is rebuilding, but when does the team admit it to itself?

The front office just isn't as smart as it thinks it is when it comes to personnel. Whit, if the team had tried to resign him, would still be the best OLman on this team. Who gives a rats arse what his age is when he's getting the job done.

Getting younger on defense is not a bad thing. Letting a pro-bowler like Reggie Nelson go for average money to sign a younger guy who isn't as good was not a good move.

Passing on better defensive players in the draft to take a speed guy in the top 10 who can't beat out an undrafted FA in the depth chart was a classic "swinging for the fences" move that reminds me of Mike Brown's desperation moves of the 90s. Maybe Ross will pan out, maybe he won't. We all see Ross' film from college, but that was college and the NFL plays a much faster and harder hitting brand of the game. I know it's too early to even begin to grade the draft, but the Ross pick so much reminds me of the Og pick two years ago.

Going into a season with a suspect OL is one of the signs for me that the front office really isn't about winning. You just cannot go all the way in this league with a weak OL and ours got weaker during the off-season.

Ogbuehi and Fisher may end up being no better than they were last season. This is a real possibility the team didn't take into account, even after they both put up sizeable F's last season. Instead the team went "all-in" on Og and Fisher by not offering Whit a decent contract.