Thoughts on the roster now?

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@Mike Olson said:
I am most concerned about Smith on defense and thielwn on offense. Not sure how much gas those guys have left in the tank. Especially Smith.

Man I wish my tanks were so empty…  B)  

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We are not going to be anywhere near at the top of pro bowl players, but we should have a pretty deep roster and some very competitive camp battles at some positions.

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@Mike Olson said:
I am most concerned about Smith on defense and thielwn on offense. Not sure how much gas those guys have left in the tank. Especially Smith.

It's why I thought taking a receiver in the 1st round this year would have been a wise move and certainly more impactfull then a safety. Even with Kyle Hamilton available I still probably would have favored taking Jameson Williams with the pick. Thielens 32 years old and been hurt each of the last couple years. I'm not sure how much longer he's going to be a reliable, affective player and our offense is worse when he isn't in the game. Plus his cap number makes him difficult to retain much longer. Our offense would have went from "damn good" to "fucking scary" adding a healthy Jameson Williams by Halloween. Instead he'll be toasting us playing for the Lions. 

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Its a pretty solid roster that is built to compete now while allowing the coaches/front office to better access what they have. Nothing they've done on offense should lower their floor barring injuries. So say that is locked in as a top-12 unit or better.

On defense they've improved the pass rush but I worry it could take some time to adapt into the 3-4 scheme. There are also more health concerns on that side of the ball. Although the secondary could still struggle I believe they should cover better in space with the addition of Cine and Asamoah who can play immediately in a nickel role. 

Mix in the easier schedule and they should be right there with other playoff teams. The NFL is unpredictable so maybe that is even good enough to win the division. More likely than not they're more wild card material but we'll have to see how it plays out. The goal this season is to remain competitive while allowing the new FO to figure out what the path forward needs to look like. 

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@"Geoff Nichols" said:
Its a pretty solid roster that is built to compete now while allowing the coaches/front office to better access what they have. Nothing they've done on offense should lower their floor barring injuries. So say that is locked in as a top-12 unit or better.

On defense they've improved the pass rush but I worry it could take some time to adapt into the 3-4 scheme. There are also more health concerns on that side of the ball. Although the secondary could still struggle I believe they should cover better in space with the addition of Cine and Asamoah who can play immediately in a nickel role. 

Mix in the easier schedule and they should be right there with other playoff teams. The NFL is unpredictable so maybe that is even good enough to win the division. More likely than not they're more wild card material but we'll have to see how it plays out. The goal this season is to remain competitive while allowing the new FO to figure out what the path forward needs to look like. 

Geoff...would love to get your take on the trade down with Detoilet, our draft class, all the trades and how you thought Kwesi fared in his first draft. It's a pretty split crowd here and I happen to think it was highly questionable overall. Would love to hear your take. 

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@Mike Olson said:
I am most concerned about Smith on defense and thielwn on offense. Not sure how much gas those guys have left in the tank. Especially Smith.

Smith is 29. Doesn't turn 30 until September. He's younger than Eric Kendricks. I'd say he's at least a couple years away from age-related decline. Injuries are probably a bigger concern for him IMO. 

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@"Geoff Nichols" said:
Its a pretty solid roster that is built to compete now while allowing the coaches/front office to better access what they have. Nothing they've done on offense should lower their floor barring injuries. So say that is locked in as a top-12 unit or better.

On defense they've improved the pass rush but I worry it could take some time to adapt into the 3-4 scheme. There are also more health concerns on that side of the ball. Although the secondary could still struggle I believe they should cover better in space with the addition of Cine and Asamoah who can play immediately in a nickel role. 

Mix in the easier schedule and they should be right there with other playoff teams. The NFL is unpredictable so maybe that is even good enough to win the division. More likely than not they're more wild card material but we'll have to see how it plays out. The goal this season is to remain competitive while allowing the new FO to figure out what the path forward needs to look like. 

You mean Booth, right? I'm with SupaFreak on hearing your opinions to his questions.

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@supafreak84 said:

@"Geoff Nichols" said:
Its a pretty solid roster that is built to compete now while allowing the coaches/front office to better access what they have. Nothing they've done on offense should lower their floor barring injuries. So say that is locked in as a top-12 unit or better.

On defense they've improved the pass rush but I worry it could take some time to adapt into the 3-4 scheme. There are also more health concerns on that side of the ball. Although the secondary could still struggle I believe they should cover better in space with the addition of Cine and Asamoah who can play immediately in a nickel role. 

Mix in the easier schedule and they should be right there with other playoff teams. The NFL is unpredictable so maybe that is even good enough to win the division. More likely than not they're more wild card material but we'll have to see how it plays out. The goal this season is to remain competitive while allowing the new FO to figure out what the path forward needs to look like. 

Geoff...would love to get your take on the trade down with Detoilet, our draft class, all the trades and how you thought Kwesi fared in his first draft. It's a pretty split crowd here and I happen to think it was highly questionable overall. Would love to hear your take. 

I think he did alright with a tough hand being dealt to him. All of their targets were off the board by #12 and it was a buyers market to move up in the draft. So I think on the trade with Detroit he broke even given the market but lost based on the precedence of what others teams have gotten in the past to move up. So take that for what you will. I personally would have asked Detroit if they would have done #32, #34, and the Rams 23' 1st for #12 and #46. That first would be valued as a mid-second round pick. 

As for what they did with the picks from there, I like Cine. Hamilton wasn't going to be a fit based on draft value and his style of play. Cine will help them cover in space and add some violence to a defense that really lacks it. 

They did much better on the trade-down with GB and moving up to grab Booth was a masterful play of working the draft. Of all the picks I think you could have gotten Ingram a little later but based on how their picks were distributed if they wanted Asamoah they'd probably just been swapping those two guys. 

Asamoah I am a big fan of. He covers well enough in-space that you can bring him into the base 3-4 in-place of Hunter/Smith and let him work in coverage. Long-term he has a very good chance of taking over for either Kendricks or Hicks. 

The only last thing I'll leave you with, is they filled needs with this draft class but also hedged considerably. If this season isn't a success they now have cost controlled replacements for Harrison Smith and Kendricks or Hicks.  That could easily be $13.5M - $16M available next off-season if they choose to do more of the traditional cap purge. 

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@PurplePastor said:

@"Geoff Nichols" said:
Its a pretty solid roster that is built to compete now while allowing the coaches/front office to better access what they have. Nothing they've done on offense should lower their floor barring injuries. So say that is locked in as a top-12 unit or better.

On defense they've improved the pass rush but I worry it could take some time to adapt into the 3-4 scheme. There are also more health concerns on that side of the ball. Although the secondary could still struggle I believe they should cover better in space with the addition of Cine and Asamoah who can play immediately in a nickel role. 

Mix in the easier schedule and they should be right there with other playoff teams. The NFL is unpredictable so maybe that is even good enough to win the division. More likely than not they're more wild card material but we'll have to see how it plays out. The goal this season is to remain competitive while allowing the new FO to figure out what the path forward needs to look like. 

You mean Booth, right? I'm with SupaFreak on hearing your opinions to his questions.

No, I mean Asamoah. They can play him as a 3rd LB to bring a nickel component to the tradition 3-4 look. He talented enough to cover TEs in space. 

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@MaroonBells said:

@Mike Olson said:
I am most concerned about Smith on defense and thielwn on offense. Not sure how much gas those guys have left in the tank. Especially Smith.

Smith is 29. Doesn't turn 30 until September. He's younger than Eric Kendricks. I'd say he's at least a couple years away from age-related decline. Injuries are probably a bigger concern for him IMO. 

Harrison.