They're predicting another "blow-up" because "moneyball has obviously failed miserably". Dammit, just go over the damn roster, player by player, and tell me what you see.
We must exempt Shelton, Thomas, Bitonio, and a few others who were already here, of course, except please note that Thomas was retained, and Bitonio extended.
Now, wide receiver is definitely a problem, and I can't defend that. Score one for your side. Well, except this Kasen Williams guy is looking like a nice find! Too bad Hue likes Kenny Britt better.
Every other position group has been upgraded, except maybe the Mackless and Schwartzeless offensive line (which is now just as good, or even better).
That's because Tretter has remained healthy, Zeitler was a significant upgrade, and Shon Coleman is matching Schwartz's own pattern of development.
Where are we? Offensive line a wash. Wide receiver? Worse. But look at Terrelle Pryor. Yeah, I would have paid up a little to keep him over
Britt? Look, nobody saw this train-wreck coming. He was looking like a solid, if not elite, all-around wide receiver, still in his prime. While many talking heads, including me, thought it was dumb to basically trade Pryor for Britt, NONE of them said Britt wouldn't be productive here.
Further, we don't know the whole story about how this went down. Pryor might have wanted to be Kirk Cousins' prime target! He certainly took less money than he was offered by the Browns!
With a Kasen Williams asterisk, however, yeah okay they did bad on wide receivers. (Another asterisk: Retaining the rights to Josh Gordon. Redemption could be right around the corner).
Running back? Well, Matt Dayes looks like Earnest Byner to me. That's an upgrade, even if he is buried on the depth chart for now.
Tight end? MASSIVE upgrade! DeValve and Njoku are both very young, and Njoku was very raw coming out of college. Both have the size to play in-line, as well as split out or set up in the backfield.
Telfer has surprised me: He really is a good receiver, as well as blocker (oh yeah he was already here nevermind).
Quarterback? You need to put on your thinking cap here, because the books are a long way from closed on Kizer, and Hogan, and yes, even Cody Kessler. Kessler was a third round pick, Hogan a free agent signing initially drafted by Andy Reid in the fifth round, and Kizer drafted in the second round.
Oh no. Round and round we go coulda had Wentz coulda had Watson. I'm too lazy to trace the lineages decending from the Wentz trade (which include first and second round "unborn generations"), but I know that's a whole bunch of players, ok?
A whole bunch of players who would not be on this roster otherwise.
In this draft, several genuine experts called Kizer THE most talented quarterback. They also universally agreed that he should have stayed in college for another year, because he was also the rawest and least polished of all the top five prospects.
I can't call the quarterback situation better, but you had better not call it worse, because it's still "under construction".
Offensive review: overall marginal improvement (so far). Offensive line a wash, running back slightly improved, wide receiver worse, tight end much, much better (remember we're talking more talent/upside here than performance; speaking of which wait til Shon Coleman and maybe Kasen Williams come back in 2018).
I forgot Corey Coleman. His FLOOR is catching 5 of 8 targets for 36 yards, and he has no cieling! Sashi and company are being blamed for a broken hand!!!
Upon further review, wide receiver is kinda like the same. That's a wash, like the offensive line.
Where the "moneyball guys" (I'm being sarcastic of course) really slapped in the cornerstones and sunk the posts was on defense.
We can skip Myles Garrett, because any idiot could have made that pick. But it is significant that Sashi did NOT trade down, as I was half expecting and encouraging him to.
Garrett isn't a quarterback, so we can take what he's doing now seriously, and count on it in the future. Edge rusher is the second most important position, and Sashi got that covered with yes, a generational talent.
Ogbah is not only a dangerous passrusher, but ranks (I think) fourth among defensive ends vs the run. Coley (a free agent "cast-off") and Ogunjobi are heavy in the rotation, and doing a great job.
Sashi (to my surprise) retained homie Jamie Meder (yay), and he shows up as a top five PFF defensive tackle vs the run now.
I mention Meder for a reason here. Meder is short and light for the position he plays. He is not explosive, or fast. In other words, the Geek Squad can't like his "meaurables". And yet, here he is. Why?
Because Gregg Williams and Andrew Berry have their own opinions, and Sashi Brown listens to them!!!
Anyhow, defensive line massively upgraded under this regime. I left out Nassib, Orchard (another holdover like Meder who was retained over guys with better "measurables").
Linebacker? Sashi got Jamie Collins from the Sith Lord for a fourth round pick, drafted Schobert where...in the fourth? Fifth round? Extended Kirksey. Found Burgess near the dumpster behind a 711. BIG upgrade!
Safety? Well, Jabrill Peppers hasn't been very impressive so far, and has predictably screwed up, because he played WIL linebacker in college mostly, and is kinda learning this position.
If you look deeper, however, you see that he has already upgraded the defense:
As PFF (and Professor Gregg Williams) points out, he's only been the single high safety around 30% of the time. At other times, he's been half of a cover two, at nickleback, or otherwise set up shallow.
He's blitzed (something like) 16 times, and in general has been productive in all these roles; a significant part of this defense's success in stifling the run.
The safety position has been upgraded, and the sky is the limit for the surprisingly intelligent rookie Jabrill Peppers.
Cornerback (lumping in nickelback)?
UPGRADE. In an alley near the 711, this front office met Brien Boddy-Calhoun. I'll let PFF sing his praises.
Then they went to a junk yard and found this "McCourty" guy. Before that, they traded a chump-change draft pick for Jamar Taylor.
They let Joe Haden go. To this day, some of these clowns on NFL Radio cite this as an example of this front office's incompetance. But all of the aforementioned players are better than Joe is. (Well okay Taylor has been beaten some lately; apparently he's on the enemy's top wide-out with no help in Gregg's scheme a lot...so Haden might be slightly better...not sure...)
Cornerback is MUCH better since the new kids got here!
Every unit on this defense is significantly better since Sashi and company took over. Hell, it has been rebuilt, in two years!
Garrett, Peppers, Ogunjobi, and Brantley are all rookies. Injured cornerback Howard Wilson, who was pretty damn good in college, should be back to get some reps this season.
Ogbah, Nassib, Calhoun, Schobert, and Burgess are second year players. I probably missed somebody, but if you're counting, that's five rookies and five first-graders.
Sashi and company account for eight starters on this defense, plus Calhoun, Burgess, two defensive tackles, and Nassib, who plays significant snaps.
If you are saying that this front office has failed, you need a brain transplant. The positives vastly outweigh the negatives if you are capable of comprehending the (clearly explained, in very plain words) LONG TERM strategy.
The people who are saying "we're all gonna die" here are saying that all the players I just mentioned repeatedly suck!
This regime's "reject squad" includes Calhoun, Burgess, Coley, and Kasen Williams.
This "obviously hasn't worked" as of the sixth game of the second season of a "down to the studs" pre-announced rebuild!? On what freaking planet?
But wait! There's more! "Poor Hue Jackson. He puts all this work in, then (after Jimmy fires him), the next Head Coach inherits a pretty good team!"
WHAT?
Somehow, these people are telling us that this front office is incompetent and doesn't know talent, but Saint Jackson will somehow manage to turn sow's ears into silk purses en masse, but the evil overlord will fire him just when he...
Screw this. I can't tolerate this crap. It's irrational.
Mary "and it's not even close" Cabbott is probably reading my Blog now. A recent hit-piece article of hers on this front office felt as if it was aimed at me, as she systematicly addressed points I made in a couple previous posts.
If I'm right, I respect this, and her. Unlike other scumbags I could mention, she has her OWN opinions, and instead of stealing my words (sometimes verbatum), she gets in my face.
At least she is thinking. MKC is not a sheep.
Anyway, in the aforementioned article, she systematicly tried to counter stuff I wrote in this blog--kind of treating me like an opposing lawyer in a civil suit.
I'm flattered, because I think she picked me out as her most formidable adversary.
Anyway, she failed.
Look: Unless I qualify it, stuff I say is irrefutable.
Mary Kay made lots of good points (I won't list them, since I already have in this blog).
Her strongest arguments included Wentz, Watson, and the irrefutable "misses" at wide receiver. She even stipulated the massive exponential proceeds from the Wentz trade-down...inadequately.
Mary Kay herself gushed over DeShone Kizer in training camp, and might have been the first to predict that he would start in game one. She said he was the best quarterback on this roster, and "it's not even close".
That was bullshit, because Kizer was a long bomber only, and much less effective underneath. Overall, Kevin Hogan was the best, and Osweiler and Kessler were competitive. Mary Kay was not objective.
NOW, Mary Kay seems to think that both Kizer and Hogan are busts. She's right to bash the wide receivers, but now won't cut the quarterbacks any slack either.
You can't inter a rookie quarterback ("it's not even close") in order to indict the people who drafted him, while simultaneously bashing his wide receivers, in order to declare a front office incompetent.
You can't (rationally) declare this project DOA before the middle of a pre-announced 3-year rebuild.
Predictably, Mary Kay exempts Saint Hue from all criticism, and implies that Kessler was "inflicted" on him, and that he was pounding the table for Watson---all bullshit, in my opinion.
Oh crap. They just lost a squeaker to the Titans. I had to turn my phone off. The obcenities and doomsaying just bumb me out.
The defense did a great job on the 11th ranked offense.
Kizer just screwed up again. Quit bashing the whole team because one guy messed up! Did the defense suck? Duke? Njoku? The offensive line?
Get a grip we need a quarterback and he might yet already be here give him a freaking minute will ya JEEZ!
I gotta go. Except I gotta say this: How the hell can you line up offsides like that? Come ON, man!!!
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