05-02-2022, 01:52 PM
(05-01-2022, 03:49 PM)Soonerpeace Wrote: The job for the organization is to get better after a concluding season. First is resigning key players. B J Hill combined with D J Reader to form possibly the best run defense in the league in the late season and playoffs. Signed. Free Agency …C J Uzomah leaves and they replace him with Hayden Hurst not as good in some areas but arrives with a huge chip on his shoulder and a better passing target and threat. Good luck defending him on the deep seam routes. You replace 3 starters in the OL with solid proven experienced veterans. PFF rankings make them a possible top 10 unit now. Big upgrade.
Now to the draft… the weakest spot on the team is cornerback and Eli Apple. You draft Dax Hill a potential replacement but Cam Taylor-Britt the more expected competition. Britt is the most well rounded corner in the draft. He’s physical, he’s fast, and including his vertical and arm length plays much longer than 5.11. Some question passing on Travis Jones there. Good point but Jones is unlikely to start. Hill and CTB give you 2 shots at fixing your most worrisome position.
Next you address the depth at DT with Zach Carter from UF. This pick is my biggest scrutiny. But I’m sure Marion Hobby and Lou hashed out their board at DT and he was their highest available. I’m sure not foolish enough to fight it out with them.
Now you are faced with areas of depth that all teams struggle with. It’s just hard to fix them all. Tight End? You’ve got Sample more of a blocker and a vet in your system. You have the starter Hurst who is the opposite of Sample as a strong receiver and Redzone factor. I’ll pass. You’ve already addressed the secondary depth in your first 2 picks and DT with the third. What’s next? Running back? Nope Perine is good in blitz and Evans looks to take a huge leap in year 2. So what about the OL? Well might be good to get a versatile guard/tackle? Volson is interesting. If like Pollack said he wants a glass eater or a lineman with shit in his neck Volson fits that. The guy is as blue collar as you get. But I’ve said this elsewhere he’s mean. Burrow hates a collapsed pocket. He likes two step up. Teams were defending us knowing Joe hates that and pushed our interior line back a lot. Well with the free agents and damn sure Volson that ain’t happening.
So I don’t see that we’ve not improved this team a lot. Baltimore had a great draft. But they don’t have a receiver threat and our secondary is much better equipped now for Lamar IMO. Lou seems to have figured out the Lamar’s, Watson’s, and Mahome types out. Hilton and Taylor-Britt are great tacklers. Hill is as well. Bell too.
We can’t be the Green Bay Packers of the 60’s with today’s NFL. No team escapes depth issues at every spot.
Great post Soonerpeace. I guess some could argue with the Zachary Carter pick maybe, but we are going to use him as a 3-tech
and as long as he gets in the weight room and gains strength he should be very complimentary behind BJ Hill and take over the
Ogunjobi roll all be it reversed. Carter will be BJ Hill's backup and with the way BJ grew in his game so much in the postseason we
should be upgraded over last year in the DT room which was already one of the deepest in the league.
Adding Dax Hill, Cam Taylor Britt and Tycen Anderson makes our Secondary one of the deepest where previously this was where
we needed depth. I think Dax Hill will get significant snaps as a rookie as he is so versatile and you never know about injuries, CTB
has long arms for a 5'11" Corner and is a ballhawk. Need to reign in his gambling a bit but that can be coached. Tycen is just talent,
you cannot teach his size and athleticism. Fun dude for Lou to coach up.
Volson does look like a mean Guard and with him and D'Ante Smith, Jackson Carman will be pushed and if his back is a problem
we have insurance with these two guys at LG.
Gunter has great hands to shed blocks and is extremely athletic, things you cannot teach. Get in the weight room and he could be
a great End in our rotation. We will see how Hubert looks after being injured last year. Have really high hopes for Ossai.
This is why I like this Draft!
(05-01-2022, 04:11 PM)Joelist Wrote: This was a fine draft. Hill is (and others said so) a major steal who should have gone earlier. High character, high skills and tackling and speed to boot. CTB likewise is high character with good tackling and coverage and speed. Note the common aspect of speed - our defensive backend got a huge injection of speed.
Carter is the one you need to look more closely then it becomes apparent. A lot of the "analysts" overlooked him because the had him as EDGE. The Bengals have him as 3T. And when you isolate his performance and scouting on 3T he grades far higher. Cater is not here to line up opposite Trey and rush the passer from there - he is in essence slotted into the role Ogunjobi was playing in rotation with BJ Hill.
In a similar vein, Volson is not projected by the team as OT but rather as OG. And as OG he has the traits needed and they have the needed time to coach him up. Anderson is another DB with good cover skills and speed and Gunter is a DE/LB tweener who improves both the DL and LB Rooms in depth terms.
Fixed your little hiccups in there Joelist. Yes, The Bengals are going to put Zachary Carter at 3-Tech behind BJ Hill and yes Volson
is a Guard for us behind both Carman and Cappa. Completely agree, it was a fine Draft. We don't need splash picks right now, just
filling a couple holes for the future. We are the youngest team to ever go to the Superbowl after all. The future is bright and now
we have a decent OL in front of Burrow and our RB's and our Secondary is stacked with good, young Linebackers and one of the
best D-Lines in the NFL.
Injuries and maybe bad coaching are the only reasons I see us not contending for another Super Bowl appearance.
The AFC is as strong as I have ever seen it but that is alright. I still think we are the strongest of the bunch. The Ravens and the
Steelers I think both had fantastic Drafts but we figured out how to play Lamar last year and Pickett is a rookie and Biscuit doesn't
scare me. Watson has his problems and doesn't have scary weapons besides his RB in Chubb. I still see us winning the Division.
