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Zach Martin is getting older (33), so he'd be a more short term option at OG, but he would definitely upgrade our OL for the next 2 years. I'd trade Herbert for him right now, but I wouldn't spend any draft picks higher than a 5th or something because of his age.

I agree - but it's not as easy as being cheap or not, it's more a matter of being disciplined so you dont end up with a guy who is better than what you have, but not ideal on a four year deal. The Bears used to do that all the time. They'd have a hole (or many of them) and theyd sign the best free agent that year who played that position. Let's say he was a 7/10 and he got on a 4 year deal. But now, for the next three years, if an 8 or a 9 comes along, you cant draft or sign them. So if Poles didn't think anyone was worth riding with as the long term solution, then he didnt sign them. Of course you cant wait for perfection in everything or you will never build a roster, but he's done pretty well I think is being disciplined and waiting for the draft and market to come to us. Plus, free agent OL are almost always overpaid due to the scarcity of available talent in free agency. it's a draft thing. I'll bet our 1st round pick goes to OL, maybe one of our seconds too.

I totally agree. And that doesnt mean we go 3-14 either. As we ascend we will win games too - thats gotta be part of the development. But i think next years roster will have many fewer holes. That said, we are far enough along that if we can get some play from the OL - maybe when Bates comes back, maybe if Kiran steps in somewhere. Maybe as Pryor continues to get better, or even as the coaches stop calling such aggressive schemes, and just ask guys to block the guy in front of them instead of running multiple gaps and then being asked to get across a defenders face and then turn him inside rather than just trapping him - maybe we will put together more complete games and win more reliably.

yes but if Daniels isnt fully capable of making reads, then in time, defensive coordinators will take things away from him and he wont be successful. Thats the point. I think Kurt Warner is an expert at NFL QBing. He just has his style. And i dont think it applies to a good critique of some QBs who are different than he was. Also, I like to learn. If someone says something I didnt know or agree with, and they show me on film, and I see it, then I change my opinion - so it isnt just an exercize in finding someone to reenforce what i already think.

exactly. they are experts in how they played QB, and they know a lot about football, but they (like all of us) cant get past their own world view. there is good info there, but they arent objective scientific experts, they are more like someone knowledgeable who has an opinion, but that opinion is wrapped up with how they think about the QB position, which is subjective.

a lot of non first round linemen sit for their rookie year and add weight in the weight room. Its not so weird to draft a guy for the next year. Hopefully he gets into the mix this year, and establishes himself as a starter, but if that happens next year in camp, thats OK. It feels to me like Poles has been working toward next year as the real window.

yeah but if you look at the game film, you see he locked onto his first read from the snap, and either threw it to them (they were open a lot) or ran. Stats, out of context, dont really tell the story of what happened. I dont think Daniels plays QB in the sense of running an entire offense.

and certainly not Aaron Rodgers

not that this proves anything, but here it is anyway

Yeah I wonder what's going on with Scott. Velus is fast, but hasnt done much else. Maybe this speed HB thing works out for him. I dunno. As for Amegadje, I think he was like a lot of mid round OL picks, who spend a red shirt year in the weight room and learning. I see him as competition for Braxton Jones. I think we figured Jones would hold it down until Kiran could take it from him (if he does). We knew he was injured as I recall, and i remember hearing that he would have been a late 1st round or early 2nd round pick if he was ready to go, so it's a good future move, but it does seem like we could use him now. Im very interested to see what happens when Ryan Bates is ready to get on the field too.

I know who would be on top. lol

sure, Herbert has value. That's why he also has trade value, but he has value to us too for sure. The question is who would be on the other side of the trade. If it was a good OL, Id do it in a heartbeat. If it's a 5th round pick, then better to keep him for now, and trade later when the market is awake, maybe the trade deadline, maybe during the offseason.

absolutely - this is exactly the progress we need to see. Its not about finding the long pass in single coverage every time. It's about moving the chains and operating in rhythm. Now that we are starting to beat the blitz, Caleb will start to see regular defenses, and that ought to help him grow in this way even more.

Kurt Warner is hit or miss with me. Sometimes I think he's making sense, sometimes the clip hes showing looks really different to my eyes. Thank you for clearing up my misunderstanding too - I didnt realize Warner had been saying that. It's crazy since i can see Caleb moving his head around. And to Warner: just because a play works, and the first read is open and CW goes there with the ball doesnt mean he isnt capable of reading on if the guy isnt open. I mean, that's what theyre supposed to do isnt it?

I think he meant Daniels is a one read QB, which i agree with! Kurt Warner is sometimes really off base I think. At times he's been negative about Williams, and I think time will prove Warner wrong. I like watching all the breakdown guys, Warner included, but there are times I see the same film and disagree with what he says about it. Not the routes and stuff, he's pretty solid with that, but who's open, what the QB should do. But it's OK everyone has their own point of view.

all it takes is ego. I surely hope youre right.

for sure he isnt perfect, and there have been some plays where he held the ball, but Im not sure that wasnt the right thing to do in that case. I do know that in general hes been a good pocket QB like weve never seen before, or maybe since Cutler or Kramer. But obviously CWs ceiling is better. Im on the record disagreeing about Daniles, but we will see in time whether he can be the kind of QB that can take a team to the superbowl. He definitely has amazing athletic skills, but I think they are giving him one read, just like in college, and he isnt getting the "Payton Manning treatment" as you say. And I agree with you - they are throwing him into the deep end. And I would bet heavily that he gets it and will start to really swim

I think that's an old narrative that Caleb holds the ball too long. To make the claim, you need to see the all 22 film, decode the progression and then see if Caleb is getting through his reads. When no one is open, the QB isnt supposed to throw it anyway. I think when you watch the game on TV, its normal to give credit to the QB for everything good that happens, and blame them for everything bad that happens, but thats kind of like blaming a poker player for the cards they got dealt in a particular hand. You cant make guys get open, but if you play enough hands, the good players do usually end up at the final table. But they dont win every hand, just like QBs sometimes hold the ball because no one is open. Other times its because they just hold the ball too long. But again, you gotta take that play by play in the context of the all 22. Otherwise its just a leftover narrative from pre draft time. I think a lot of times media narratives, real or imagined, make a filter we see everything through, and sometimes it's totally off base.

first off, good catch - I didnt mean to include the defensive coaches of course, theyve been doing well. and yes, I absolutely think today was better than the past three weeks - it is my hope they will learn from this, but even if they do, I dont see them giving us an active edge in winning, and I see Caleb having to mitigate their foolishness (which hopefully diminishes) But all in all this was a very important step today. great to see, and the cost of learning this lesson has only been 2 losses. Pretty good.

100% to ALL of that. Especially the idea that Caleb is going to do more than what's on the field, he is going to drag the rest of these clown coaches across the goal line no matter how dumb they are.

damn they came back hard, but thankfully they fell just short. 31-29

its both - theyve been SO bad, but hopefully they are learning lessons from how bad its been. If you can get your butt whipped, learn something about how your fancy crap doesnt work and what it takes to win, and still end up 2-2, thats not so bad.

2-2 and we've learned something - not too bad.

It's great to see how the punter and the defense compliment each other. If we can get the offense working, this will be a tough team.

They ran to eat clock, because weve got a hot punter and defense is playing well. Like you said, no turnover.