Coaching...or Talent?

[Whatever]

When a club performs below expectations, typically , fans look to coaching first. After all, it's easier to replace coaches than it is to rebuild a bad roster. But often, the roster is the problem and coaches wind up as scapegoats to appease the fan base. It's easy to sell the hope that a new coaching staff will just come in, wave a magic wand, and suddenly the team will start winning.

Let's look at the offensive side, first. Firstly, the premium draft capital on that side of the ball...

1st rounders-Burrow, Chase, Mims

2nd rounders-Sample, Higgins

3rd rounders-Burton

So, 6 guys we took with Day 1 or 2 picks are on the roster. Burrow got his bag. Chase deserves his bag. Debate still rages on how good Tee actually is, but nobody would dispute he was worth a 2nd. Mims looks promising. Sample and Burton have disappointed, for different reasons.

Now onto the defense...

1st rounders-Hill, Murphy

2nd rounders-CTB, Turner, Jenkins

3rd rounders-Hubbard, Pratt, Wilson, Ossai, Carter, Battle, Jackson

So, even though we have to curve for draft position, out of 6 Day 1/2 picks on offense, we landed 2 elite level starters, 1 quality starter, 1 guy trending towards being a quality starter, a backup/role player, and a guy who has talent, but is trending towards busting due to character issues.

On D, we have 12 Day 1/2 picks, double that of the offense. Out of those, none are elite starters. Three you could say are quality starters(Pratt, Wilson, Hubbard when healthy). Other than those three, we've got a bunch of replacement level starters/rotational guys/backups. That's terrible return on investment, especially when you consider Hubbard wasn't really developed by this staff.

On the flip side, the offense currently has three Day 3 draft picks in starting roles. The defense has none.

Looks to me like the issues on offense are talent related and the issues on defense are related more to scheme and coaching. Thoughts?