BearFan PHX

but Johnson was all in on drafting Gibbs, and signing Montgomery. That means he didnt have faith in Swift for his offense. Im not saying we will cut or trade Swift this year, but I am saying I dont think he is our long term solution, so it will happen this year or next year.

oh for SURE, far from a lock. I think he will be our swing tackle at best. If Kiran isnt our starter (and I dont see that from where he was last year, but who knows this year) then he will have to battle Kiran for the swing tackle spot. This is nothing against Braxton Jones, we got a LOT of value out of him for a 5th round pick, but we need to start winning games, not giving ourselves pats on the back for how cheaply we lost. The whole league knows that when you need a sack, you bull rush Braxton. So he has to be replaced one way or another.

I'm not taking any positions on this yet. What Ive seen tells me he's a stud. But I haven't done enough homework yet to know if Id take him at #10 over, say, Will Campbell. Or trade down. But if Jeanty is as Ive read him to be, and 5 good minutes of YouTube film tell me he is (lol) then I think he's in the conversation at #10.

I read that to mean that they didnt think Swift was the long term answer, and they signed Montgomery as a stop gap measure until they could find the guy they really wanted to feature, which they eventually did. So will Johnson think Swift is the long term answer? I doubt it, but i wouldnt be shocked if he kept him this year and replaced him next year? or replaced him this year is an option too, but it doesnt need to be for him to know Swift isnt the long term answer he's looking for? For sure! The scheme and coaching is a big part of is and so is... Absolutely. Dont tell me Emmitt Smith was a better back than Payton. He just had that line. The RB position as a marquis player is an antiquated idea. Then again, everything old is new again, as evidenced by defenses keeping a second safety back more to counter the passing game, and then the Lions and Eagles showing the league how to defeat that with a strong running game again. But 4-5 years, sounds about right, and of course that's on a rookie contract so you arent overpaying him with cap room, just draft capital if you draft him early-ish. But yeah, the days of backs usually getting that big second contract are probably over. There may be a few exceptions, but in general I agree with all of this.

My guess is that Braxton Jones wont be the starter at LOT by mid season, and maybe not at all.

The Lions traded Swift away when Johnson was the OC, so there's that. That said, we are in a better position to cut or trade him next year capwise. So he may stick around for money reasons. But I still think there is some chance we could draft Jeanty just because he is next level. 2nd and 3rd round backs arent next level, in fact most RBs arent next level, most are inferior to Swift. But if we did pick Jeanty it would have to be in the context of a real plan to upgrade the OL of course.

I absolutely agree that we have to fix the OL and get an edge rusher. That said I am not sure that we couldnt pick Jeanty with the #10 pick either. Not predicting it, but i think it's one option. Probably depdns on free agency and how the rest of the draft looks to us in rounds 2 and 3

Lying season begins

Apparently the Bears scheduled a meeting with Ashton Jeanty right out of the gate. Some may read this to mean that we are very interested in drafting him, and we probably are. Doesn't mean we would pick him over other players we'd also be interested in drafting at that spot. But I also take it to mean that it increases the idea of someone trading up to get him if he is on the board when our pick comes, seeing that we have interest.

this is where Im leaning. Again, I havent done any predraft work, so im speaking generally. I dont know if there is an edge thats worthy of a top 10 pick, or three of them. But unless there is a blue chip LOT available at #10, Id trade down, or look Jeanty, Edge or TE - again if there are players worthy of it. Coleston Loveland is interesting at TE if we trade down. We could probably get him and a second round talent edge rusher for our #10 pick. And of course, i want to see at least 2 OL picks in the top 100 for us.

I agree, except possibly for signing a tier 2 free agent, and drafting a rookie at the same position for the future? But I totally agree with you that we shouldnt be keeping people just because they were mediocre and cheap. Thats for sure. EDIT: What I agree about is not filling in a bunch of OL positions with low tier free agents and calling it a day. I am not against signing big names, but i am against filling the other holes with nobodies.

Yes exactly. We are going to upgrade certain positions. Not every one will be a high priced free agent or a high draft pick of course, but these guys just dont fit the mold of what the new coaches are looking for so their value is lower to us than the general market. And when we know this, might as well act to give them the best chance to be signed somewhere else. His direct replacement at what will be DE4 for him could be someone slightly worse than he is, but they will fit Allen's bigger DE profile for example. And like everyone here I think we are going to see big swings at updating the OL and the DL - that's no secret, so you might as well cut him loose now. Even if you dont know if you will land that big name DE1. Either way the move makes the same sense; to replace him with a bigger body, whether he was going to be DE3 or DE4, whether we succeed to bring in a big name DE1, or go with a new DE2, in all scenarios you already know it's not him.

too bad

well one thing it could say is that we need to keep Kmet more now than before Everett was cut. another thing is COULD say is that Johnson wants a different kind of tight end, and Kmet is trade bait. and no matter which of those things it MIGHT mean, it probably pushes the decision off a year, which already the most probable outcome.

Brad Biggs reporting that we are releasing Gerald Everett so we are in the market for TEs now. some of us here will be very happy about that! Not sure what this means for Kmet. Could mean he is safer this year, could mean the TE approach will be different for Johnson. And either way, could mean the outcome for Kmet happens next year anyway.

yup DL is the key to winning, which is why OL is the key to winning, because the QB is the key to winning LOL

I dunno if we can get everyone we need in one offseason, probably not, but im with you, I wanna see Sweat as DE2 at some point. Then with someone in the middle (maybe Dexter and Billings, maybe someone new) the defense will take off. Fangio is a great DC with coverages, and coverages are sexy and the subject of most defensive breakdowns, but for Philly it all started on the DL. If you can consistently harass the QB, even Mahomes and Brady will look ordinary.

for sure, im not claiming any credit, Im just saying, i didnt speak about it too much because i agree with all of us that OL is job #1, but if there is a way to have both that'd be amazing. FWIW, Ive not done any real homework on the draft yet, so all i can really say is "this blue chip RB look really good in short highlight films" and equally meaningless things like that LOL I cant even say if there is an edge rusher Id want more than Jeanty or anything like that!

Im with you. i KNOW fixing the OL is job #1, so ive held off on saying that Jeanty might be an option, but if we can remake the OL and get Jeanty, that WOULD be amazing.

I think he really is a guard in the NFL, and probably a pretty damned good one. But is an OG worth the #10 pick? I am often against it, because i believe in quality players being the difference makers, but unless there an obvious stud on the OL or DL emerges for pick #10, this looks like a year to trade down if possible.

I think we can go to the playoffs this year, Im saying the roster is more than one offseason away from being a true SB contender.

Ive been thinking for a while that as much as NO one wants to hear it right now, we are probably 2 offseasons away from being a true SB contender. So Im glad you said it. And when I said leadership I was thinking of the coaching staff, but we need it on the line from players too. I wish I was in a position to take a side on this player. I saw about 5 minutes of film on him and he looks like a beast. But I havent seen anyone else, and im just not ready to have any kind of informed opinion yet - and probably wont be for many weeks. One thing is certain - we need to give Caleb a line to stand behind and read defenses, or there will be no growth. And if they open up the running game, that helps all that too. And thank god we have a coach and playcaller that finally understands that, instead of another group determined to rediscover the bubble screen without having realized we've been bleeding from it for decades over many coaching staffs.

everything matters, but youre right it ALL starts with leadership.

agree with all of that. Im not 100% sold on Campbell at OT, but Im glad we both see the aggression. Im not NOT sold on him either, I just havent really done any homework at all yet, so I dont have any kind of real opinion.

totally agree. If we look at the Lions (and I admit that Johnson has already said he wont be running the exact same offense here) they have a powerful line, and rather than having an offensive running scheme like most teams, they ran versions of all schemes at different times. And that surely included the power game. Like you said, the power game gives the DL less time, and it also threatens a defense that insists on running 2 deep safeties, so it opens up the passing game too. I think Matt Eberflus has an immature idea at best of how an offense works, and Shane Waldron was an idiot. This video game football, the same we saw with Nagy, of all the pulling and exclusively outside zone running concepts, and bubble screens is a joke. Sure all those things have their place, and we will do them, but I agree that our line will be stronger at the point of attack than we've been in many years. By scheme, by players and by conditioning. We should not be emulating the 2022 Rams in our running game. As you say, Fangio already decoded that in Denver, dropping safeties in cover 2, and cover 4, and you saw what he did to the Chiefs too. Every defense has seen that pulling man coming across the formation. it may threaten the edges, but it doesnt influence safeties back into the box. And Im not saying we wont do it, but it wont be ALL we do. And power running is going to be a part of what we do. This may be unpopular, but i wonder what this might do to rehabilitate Roschon Johnson. Imagine if we'd done this already a few years ago with Montgomery...