Pratt Gone

[*ochocincos*]

(06-10-2025, 09:40 AM)Isaac Curtis: The Real #85 Wrote: You are not wrong. 

We also lost depth at CB (Hilton), S (Bell), OT (Brown), and TE (All injury). I know Holton & Bell clearly had lost a step, but they still graded out better than any other CB & S we have, respectively. Which is saying something. 

Clearly, on D we feel that the change in scheme/coaches + continued development of our younger guys + a better health will make a significant improvement. We did get LB help (Burks, Knight, Carter, Giles-Harris), 1T help (Slaton) & Stewart. Plus bringing back BJ, Ossai, & Sample. 

But we really need the DBs to play much better under Golden. And Hill & Turner being healthy should help. But CTB, D. Hill, Turner, Battle, Jenkins, Jackson, Murphy, and Ossai leveling up & Stone bouncing back is what we are counting on.

I think it is *mostly* too optimistic, but not crazy. And if we had paired the bounce back/level up strategy on D with a more agfressive upgrades to the IOL I'd be way more optimistic. But we, intentionally in my opinion, chose not no max cap space on the Chase/Tee deals ($11 mil), chose not to restructure Burow, even though he offered ($19 mil), and kept a couple guys around when cutting them instead of restructuring could have bought a frontline player ($7 mil for Moss/Volson). 

Now, given the cash constraints the Brown family has, doing all 3 was always unlikely. But even 1 or 1.5 could have made a big difference. 

Calais Campbell ($6 mil cap) and Teven Jenkins ($2.3 mil) were had for just over $8 mil combined. Throw in Risner/Hernandez for another $4-5 mil and we could have taken Watts or Winston Rd 3. 

I am disappointed but not surprised. It is who the Brown family are. Ownership is an anchor to our title aspirations. It is just a fact. And even with the window for Trey/Burrow/Chase slipping away, they still cannot (or will not) do any better. 

I guess there is still some time. And enough cap to get Trey done plus maybe one more vet move. But our $23 mil or so in cap is gonna get eaten up by a Trey deal. 

Agree with your above.

To me, this signals the FO is putting a lot on the coaches' shoulders, saying, "OK, we got rid of the guys believed to not be coaching these players up correctly. It's now on Taylor and these new coaches to get the OL and defense operating properly."

I sense a changing of the guard in a year or two if the team doesn't go (deep) into the playoffs this year or next.
The only way I see there being more runway given is if a really key injury happens, which would have to be to the likes of Burrow, Chase, Hendrickson, or 1-2 of the mainstays on OL.