09-20-2020, 04:28 PM
(09-20-2020, 03:40 PM)Murdock2420 Wrote: I'll say three years away.
And it isn't a pessimistic view, it is just an honest thought. Geno, A.J. and Dunlap are all aging and will all need to be replaced soon. (Hate it, but it is true) So that takes out three starters. After that, you have the waste of space Hart and the gaping wound at RG. Add in the terrible pick of Ross and having to replace him, plus the normal loss of FA's and you are seeing 6 for certain starters to be replaced and possibly a 7th in the next year or two. With our track record at drafting, hard to think one draft fixes that, so two drafts, and two years of keeping our own players that need to be kept and getting a few decent free agents and this team has a chance. Just have to keep Joe alive that long.
This is what I've come to think of as our "aging core problem." The guys taking up much of our cap space are core guys from the Marvin Lewis run. They are in declining production, and it seems the front office was in denial about that last year. Maybe they'll figure that out going forward, who knows.
I do think our 2020 draft class will turn out to be excellent. Another one like that and I think we'll beat your three year prediction. But yeah, some things would have to break our way.
