Thoughts on the roster now?

The entire season rests on Hunter and Smith staying healthy on D, Cousins being Cousins and not missing time and not losing Cook/Jefferson/Theilen for an extended amount of time.
Past that, we're largely running out the same team with an entire new coaching staff.  We'll soon figure out if we'll be banging our heads against the concrete like a lot of us did this weekend OR KOC comes in and we find out we had a decent team last year who was poorly coached. 

@"AGRforever" said:

The entire season rests on Hunter and Smith staying healthy on D, Cousins being Cousins and not missing time and not losing Cook/Jefferson/Theilen for an extended amount of time. Past that, we're largely running out the same team with an entire new coaching staff.  We'll soon figure out if we'll be banging our heads against the concrete like a lot of us did this weekend OR KOC comes in and we find out we had a decent team last year who was poorly coached. 

It looks good. To a 500-ish team who played 6 games decided by 3 or fewer points, we've added the super bowl winning offensive scheme, ISJ, a beefed up IOL, Hunter, Z, Phillips, Hicks, Cine and Booth. That's a damn solid offseason. 

But it all means nothing if we can't stay healthy. A key couple of injuries can topple the most talented of teams. 

Outside of injuries, which can hit any team, a couple things to be concerned about:
• Cousins adjusting to the new offense.
• Bradbury continuing to struggle and none of the new IOLs proving worthy enough to replace him
• Booth has a long list of injuries in his past and I don't believe he's 100% even now. 
• Peterson and Thielen dangerously close to age-related decline

I'm not buying Super Bowl tickets, but this team should be a lot better.

The D they be rolling out will be night and day vs last year. In personnel and scheme...

If the Offense can put up stats like last year + a league avg D? That "should" translate to at least 2 more wins

What we can never factor in is injury's and how significant the growing pains of a new coaching staff may or may not be. 

It's promising.  There is a lot of talent on this team, question will be, how much was coaching holding it back?  Zimmer and his son had a historically pitiful performance on defense that held this team back from winning 3-4 more games (at Det, at Arizona, at Baltimore, vs Dallas) regardless of the up and down play of the offense.  The health of Smith and Hunter will boost this defense dramatically.  They are high impact players that can make 2-3 plays a game that stop drives, force turnovers, change the face of momentum.  

The offense should also be better with a higher qualified scheme, an improved OL with depth and size, the return of ISJ and the maturation of Osborne, ISM.

With health and a little luck, this is a 11-12 win team

I think our roster is pretty comparable to last year.  I think a lot of it is going to come down to whether
our rookies can come in and contribute early and avoiding key injuries.  If Cine and Booth come in and excel early,
that is huge.  If they struggle a bit and
Hunter or Smith are out or have nagging injuries, we’ll probably look eerily
like last year (except without the toxic energy).  Hopefully, our new schemes will be a little
more friendly to inexperienced players, so they can contribute more early on.

Schedule looks a hell of a lot easier too vs y.ago...We'll see if they holds true or not. 

@"medaille" said: I think our roster is pretty comparable to last year.  I think a lot of it is going to come down to whether our rookies can come in and contribute early and avoiding key injuries.  If Cine and Booth come in and excel early, that is huge.  If they struggle a bit and Hunter or Smith are out or have nagging injuries, we’ll probably look eerily like last year (except without the toxic energy).  Hopefully, our new schemes will be a little more friendly to inexperienced players, so they can contribute more early on.

As for the ‘22 class, I’m not sure. I definitely think we’ve bolstered our defensive depth which was depleted, but I’m not sure if we landed 3 day-one starters or zero. Training camp reports are going to be very interesting. The learning curve will be steep for rookies but maybe with everyone trying to learn a new playbook that actually helps the young guys get on the field? Trying to keep expectations in check.

Agree with most of what everyone else is saying. Super Bowl? Unrealistic. Better than last year? I’d say 60-70% chance so that puts us in the playoffs probably. 

Let's pretend we have a league lowish injury year?

(Disclaimer - all this is conjecture and opinion:)

I think we have a borderline playoff team if all goes well even though I expect a lot of early hiccups and adjustments with new Coaching, new Schemes and about 7 or 8 new starters (rebuild/retool) from who started last year, mostly on Defense of course.  

Also, on paper (toilet) we seem to have a decent schedule of opponents.  The Bears are in full rebuild and Lions still suck even with an infusion of newbie draft lottery tickets.  Really should be 4 wins there.  Then we play the downtrodden teams - Falcons, Panthers and Saints.  But we also have some big boys but all 3 at home (again paper reference) TB, Chiefs, Chargers.  Insert: Any given Sunday mantra here.  

If we can overcome some early hiccups and squeeze out a win or two that we didn't last year :) then we can build into the playoff hunt.  Then the final question is the one that hangs over almost every team's head - QB.  I hope Kirk can prove a lot of "us" wrong and can carry the team to some crucial/clutch wins down the stretch.  He has done it before specifically in that wild card vs Saints.  The 3rd Q dime to Thielen (great catch as well) on a 3rd and 9 - wow, that was clutch.  Then the nice OT catch by Rudolph arms extended high above his head was also an underrated throw from Kirk...He and Thielen won that game for us!

It is a team game, but I hope Kirk can lead a winning dangerous team forward because he hasn't done that consistently enough (see Saints WC) yet going into his 11th year.  But Hope springs eternal.  

Like most I think we are pretty solid as long as we can avoid injuries. We really need to coach up some of these young players and hope they step up and fill key roles on this team. I think there will be some growing pains with the new scheme, especially on defense, but that's to be expected. I'm going to be most curious to see just how much the secondary improves and who steps up to be a difference maker on our defensive line. I think there's some quality talent at the different positions which should make for some great competition. 

This would make me happy to see Game 1 on the line:

LT Christian Darrisaw
 LG Ezra Cleveland
 C Chris Reed

RG Ed Ingram
 RT Brain O'Neil

@"minny65" said: Let's pretend we have a league lowish injury year?

(Disclaimer - all this is conjecture and opinion:)

I think we have a borderline playoff team if all goes well even though I expect a lot of early hiccups and adjustments with new Coaching, new Schemes and about 7 or 8 new starters (rebuild/retool) from who started last year, mostly on Defense of course.  

Also, on paper (toilet) we seem to have a decent schedule of opponents.  The Bears are in full rebuild and Lions still suck even with an infusion of newbie draft lottery tickets.  Really should be 4 wins there.  Then we play the downtrodden teams - Falcons, Panthers and Saints.  But we also have some big boys but all 3 at home (again paper reference) TB, Chiefs, Chargers.  Insert: Any given Sunday mantra here.  

If we can overcome some early hiccups and squeeze out a win or two that we didn't last year :) then we can build into the playoff hunt.  Then the final question is the one that hangs over almost every team's head - QB.  I hope Kirk can prove a lot of "us" wrong and can carry the team to some crucial/clutch wins down the stretch.  He has done it before specifically in that wild card vs Saints.  The 3rd Q dime to Thielen (great catch as well) on a 3rd and 9 - wow, that was clutch.  Then the nice OT catch by Rudolph arms extended high above his head was also an underrated throw from Kirk...He and Thielen won that game for us!

It is a team game, but I hope Kirk can lead a winning dangerous team forward because he hasn't done that consistently enough (see Saints WC) yet going into his 11th year.  But Hope springs eternal.  

Not sure anyone can say this roster doesn't have talent. How quickly they effectively grasp a new D and O scheme is the thing. Might take a bit.

@"StickyBun" said: Not sure anyone can say this roster doesn't have talent. How quickly they effectively grasp a new D and O scheme is the thing. Might take a bit.

@"pattersaur" said:

@"StickyBun" said: Not sure anyone can say this roster doesn't have talent. How quickly they effectively grasp a new D and O scheme is the thing. Might take a bit.

McVay famously barely plays anyone worth a lick in the preseason. I’m curious how KOC will handle it. Last year’s sloppy preseason under Zimmer definitely bled over into the regular season. 

Lets hope this coaching staff doesn't determine who their starters are before training camp like the last staff and they are willing to let guys actually compete for starting spots.  If a starter struggles lets hope the new staff has the decency to at least try a different guy and bench the guy not getting the job done.

@"Greylock" said: Lets hope this coaching staff doesn't determine who their starters are before training camp like the last staff and they are willing to let guys actually compete for starting spots.  If a starter struggles lets hope the new staff has the decency to at least try a different guy and bench the guy not getting the job done.

I don't think this will be the case, but I just really hope the new staff isn't so adverse to playing or even starting rookies. That was one of my biggest gripes with Zimmer. It took some guys until mid-season to see the field even though they were better and more talented then the guys playing 

I’m curious what they are doing weight room wise. Years back, Zimmer switched everything over to free weights. I’m not a fan for several reasons, number one being injuries. The other issue with free weights, in my opinion, is they can hold back improving functional strength. 

Anyhow, just curious if there’s been any talk on it. Awhile back I read about 1/3rd of NFL teams still use free weights. 

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.

@"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.