Being Optimistic

[*ochocincos*]

(03-25-2021, 12:45 AM)Joelist Wrote: Hi!

Here are in my opinion reasons for guarded optimism (in no particular order):

a) Turner is gone. He was not only a cancer but a terrible coach - under his tutelage linemen actually regressed. This was the first sign of intelligent life in the front office this offseason.

b) Pollack is in. We have a good line coach note with a good track record. And lest we forget we saw improved play the one season he was here, and he was respected (not to mention that under his tutelage Price was actually shaping up nicely prior to the second injury). With Pollack I don't feel like OL draft picks will be wasted the way I did with Turner.

c) So far Free Agency has actually made sense and felt like there is a plan of getting the coaches players who are strong in the scheme the coaches want to run. For example, we have basically restocked the secondary with players who actually are sound in zone coverage as opposed to our past idea of taking players best suited for man and putting them in zone. Likewise on the DL we appear to be concentrating on players who actually both generate pass rush AND finish the play.

On OL I think they handled the nature of the FA class as best as was realistically possible. The Guard pool was crazy expensive at the top and not deep so what they are doing again makes sense. Also Reiff is no contest a pretty significant upgrade at RT and fits right into the scheme Pollack favors.

Are things perfect? No. Remember I said GUARDED optimism. We still need reinforcements on the interior OL and the WR room after Tee and Tyler badly needs more playmakers. So we need to see the rest of Free Agency and the draft to tell the story of the offseason. But so far not bad.

Yes, as of right now, the biggest needs are pass catcher and IOL. Re-signing Spain helped IOL some.
DL also hasn't really improved the pass rush much compared to last year.
If things stay the same, my focuses in the draft are pass catcher, OL, and DL.