01-19-2019, 09:45 PM
(01-19-2019, 04:43 PM)fredtoast Wrote: Before we start talking about "upgrading" we need to address "replacing". Right now the following positions are missing the starter from 2018.
OFFENSE
RT...Hart is a free agent (as are Fisher, Smith, and Ogbuehi)
RG...Redmond is free agent (as is Trey Hopkins)
TE...Eifert, Uzomah, and Kroft are all free agents.
DEFENSE
LB...Preston Brown is a free agent.
CB...Dennard is a free agent (nickel corner usually plays twice as many snaps as one of the starting LBs in a 4-3)
DE...Michael Johnson is a free agent.
Possible new starters already here....Hubbard should step in for Johnson. Some people think Westerberg can start at OG, but I have yet to be convinced.
Possible free agents re-signed.....I think we will re-sign Dennard. Some of the others may be re-signed, but none of them look especially worthy of starting. The only exception is Preston Brown. I wonder if he just struggled due to his injury early in the season?
So ther than Hubbard and Dennard that leaves 4 holes with no returning starter. You can't bet on more than one or two starters from the draft. So we pretty much have to sign 2 or 3 starters in free agency.
Some of the same areas needing upgrading very badly also seem to be the areas where players are leaving. This is good for us.
The right side of the line is a mess and we are losing 3 guys (Hart, Ogbuehi and Fisher) who blow anyways. We should address RT in the draft and early on.
RG is the same really. We need to draft one. Or draft a C and move Price to RG. Westerman only seems to go in at LG or maybe I missed him playing some RG.
LB, same as the OL. We can bring back Brown, but he isn't the answer we need. We need to draft two fast LBers who can cover, and who can contribute this year.
If we address RT, RG and LB, as upgrades, this team will be in a markedly better situation personnel wise.
We can re-sign 2 of the following Eifert, Kroft and Uzomah.
Dennard I believe should be re-signed, unless we really want to spend a high pick on a corner, which I see OT, RG and LB as much more needy positions.
Michael Johnson isn't going to have many suitors, if any at all. We can bring him back for relatively cheap.