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Can we have an "identity" that will lead to greatness?


Uncle Buck

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1 hour ago, Virginia Viking said:

The identity of this team, post-draft, is still Kirk Cousins.

I think the identity of the offense is Gary Kubiak, just like the Niners is Kyle Shanahan, not Jimmy Garoppolo. 

The identity of the team is Zimmer and the defense. Zimmer’s defense probably takes a step back this year but they still have several elite players, a lot of young talent in the secondary, and a coach with a long track record of success.

Cousins is never going to be elite but if he plays near his ceiling and the rest of the offense functions well (which basically means the OL improving to average and Jefferson adequately replacing Diggs), they’ll be productive.

I share your concern that the IOL will continue to be a weakness. I think Reiff will very likely get moved to guard — Cleveland is very good, and should be capable of starting even as a rookie. I doubt they plan to have Elflein start again, and he may be cut. I’m not high on Samia but hopefully he can live up to predraft expectations. If not, I’d like to see them try Udoh inside at RG. Or maybe they’ll add a vet — they could trade for Thuney (a LG) or sign Schofield. The other big question is whether Bradbury will improve. Second year for OL usually tells a lot.

Overall the team is well coached and they have a lot of quality players, so they could slip a bit in quality and still win 10 games. But I don’t think they can be a true contender this year.

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6 minutes ago, Krauser said:

I think the identity of the offense is Gary Kubiak, just like the Niners is Kyle Shanahan, not Jimmy Garoppolo. 

The identity of the team is Zimmer and the defense. Zimmer’s defense probably takes a step back this year but they still have several elite players, a lot of young talent in the secondary, and a coach with a long track record of success.

Cousins is never going to be elite but if he plays near his ceiling and the rest of the offense functions well (which basically means the OL improving to average and Jefferson adequately replacing Diggs), they’ll be productive.

I share your concern that the IOL will continue to be a weakness. I think Reiff will very likely get moved to guard — Cleveland is very good, and should be capable of starting even as a rookie. I doubt they plan to have Elflein start again, and he may be cut. I’m not high on Samia but hopefully he can live up to predraft expectations. If not, I’d like to see them try Udoh inside at RG. Or maybe they’ll add a vet — they could trade for Thuney (a LG) or sign Schofield. The other big question is whether Bradbury will improve. Second year for OL usually tells a lot.

Overall the team is well coached and they have a lot of quality players, so they could slip a bit in quality and still win 10 games. But I don’t think they can be a true contender this year.

I agree with all that you say...although, I'm not sure the identity of the franchise can or should be someone who stands on the sidelines...but that's me.  Frankly, I am concerned about the secondary in 2020 as well.  Rookies tend to struggle mightily in the Zimmer scheme.  And, because of injury and suspension, Hill and Hughs are practically rookies.  I would feel somewhat better if they sign a vet to come in and take the leadership, coach on the field role.

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5 minutes ago, Virginia Viking said:

I agree with all that you say...although, I'm not sure the identity of the franchise can or should be someone who stands on the sidelines...but that's me.  Frankly, I am concerned about the secondary in 2020 as well.  Rookies tend to struggle mightily in the Zimmer scheme.  And, because of injury and suspension, Hill and Hughs are practically rookies.  I would feel somewhat better if they sign a vet to come in and take the leadership, coach on the field role.

I don't think that's a fair assessment - both Hill and Hughes have be with the team for two years now; that's two years of film/grease-board work and understanding the intricacies of how Zimmer pattern matches his coverages.  Mentally, they should be in fine shape, any vet, even someone like Dre Kirkpatrick who has been with Zimmer, would be behind those two, and Kris Boyd, in terms of understanding the defense and how it's played.

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While I wouldn't expect them to be a contender in a normal year, this ain't going to be a normal year.  It may be a year similar to the '87 strike year, where lots of things will be up in the air, and crazy things could happen, especially with a shortened offseason.

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1 minute ago, RpMc said:

I don't think that's a fair assessment - both Hill and Hughes have be with the team for two years now; that's two years of film/grease-board work and understanding the intricacies of how Zimmer pattern matches his coverages.  Mentally, they should be in fine shape, any vet, even someone like Dre Kirkpatrick who has been with Zimmer, would be behind those two, and Kris Boyd, in terms of understanding the defense and how it's played.

True, but neither of them have the practice reps that they should as 2nd or 3rd year players.  That's the part that worries me. Knowledge has to be translated into skill on the field.  I think that's missing.

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31 minutes ago, Virginia Viking said:

I'm not sure the identity of the franchise can or should be someone who stands on the sidelines

Worked for Bud Grant. These days, Shanahan, McVay, and Belichick are all more central to their teams than their QBs or any other one player.

29 minutes ago, RpMc said:

I don't think that's a fair assessment - both Hill and Hughes have be with the team for two years now; that's two years of film/grease-board work and understanding the intricacies of how Zimmer pattern matches his coverages.  Mentally, they should be in fine shape, any vet, even someone like Dre Kirkpatrick who has been with Zimmer, would be behind those two, and Kris Boyd, in terms of understanding the defense and how it's played.

One of the positives that came up for Gladney is that he’s a quick study with the playbook. Also he played a lot of quarters at TCU so his responsibilities as an outside corner for Zimmer won’t be entirely new to him.

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2 minutes ago, Krauser said:

One of the positives that came up for Gladney is that he’s a quick study with the playbook. Also he played a lot of quarters at TCU so his responsibilities as an outside corner for Zimmer won’t be entirely new to him.

Agreed, one of the reasons I drafted Gladney is our FFMD this year is because I know in that 425 defense at TCU they play split-safety match quarters as a base defense, so Gladney will be used to identifying the threats to his side of the field, the correct quarter coverage that aligns with it, and being able to understand who's #1/2/3 by alignment, and who his coverage assignment is (#1/2/3) after the distribution of routes.

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As currently constructed (no Griffen, and Ezra as backup LT, I see about 8% decrease in defense and 5% decrease in offense).

If Griffen comes back, and moderate rookie CB production, I can raise the defense to about 3% decrease.

If Ezra steals the LT and is average league LT (very very high bar to clear, and better than 2019 Reiff), coupled with Reiff moved to LG (and giving the Kline good production), coupled with incremental Bradbury effectiveness, I can hope for 5% YOY offense increase, even when accounting for the 'talent in a bubble' downgrade from Diggs to Jefferson

Edited by CriminalMind
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1 hour ago, CriminalMind said:

As currently constructed (no Griffen, and Ezra as backup LT, I see about 8% decrease in defense and 5% decrease in offense).

If Griffen comes back, and moderate rookie CB production, I can raise the defense to about 3% decrease.

If Ezra steals the LT and is average league LT (very very high bar to clear, and better than 2019 Reiff), coupled with Reiff moved to LG (and giving the Kline good production), coupled with incremental Bradbury effectiveness, I can hope for 5% YOY offense increase, even when accounting for the 'talent in a bubble' downgrade from Diggs to Jefferson

This is neat! Where do we get % like that?

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