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What have we got?


AKRNA

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So, what have we got?  

I’d like to keep this thread on topic, discussing what we have, roster wise, right now and how best to use it. Let’s keep people that aren’t under contract out of this discussion.  I’m really curious as to your opinions on personnel groupings, strengths and weaknesses, offensive and defensive strategies to optimize our personnel, etc.

Basically, what Paton/Fangio have built and why. 

I could try to mention you all by name, but suffice it to say we’ve got some great X’s and O’s guys in this forum that can really add some insight.

Personally I love what they’ve done roster wise and think we can shock a lot of people this year.  The critical part of our schedule starts around Thanksgiving and we should have the bugs worked out by then.  What we do in our last 7 games will make or break the season. I figure we’re built for December and January games but we’ll find out.

Anyway, I’d love to get your opinions.

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I see the team improving as a whole this year tremendously. With the selection of Javonte Williams I think that has the potential to put us in position to trout out a top 5-10 time of possession offense which will be huge because our D was still play very decent last year till they were always on the field getting gassed.

 

Defensively is where I think we make the most strides because Fangio always has a standard, but last year they struggled to produce turnovers and impact play and then go out and add 4 to defensive backs that I'm extremely excited about. And a top 60 middle linebacker prospect imo but dropped because he was too versatile and needs to hone it in focus on one position and master it. 

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I think everyone knows our biggest weakness. WR, TE, and DB are definitely the strong points of the team, really like what we’ve done at WR even if we lose Patrick and Sutton next year I think Warren Jackson and Seth Williams can fill in. I think given the injury to James we have stocked up on the OL as best we can.

Defensively it’s about staying healthy as the starters I think are a top 5 defense easily. ILB is obvious the weakest spot but Johnson and Jewel are solid enough to allow us to fill other needs first before addressing ILB. What worries me the most coaching and QB aside is depth and ST. McManus and Martin are good but our coverage units have been awful going back years now and a lot of that has to do with coaching as McMahon sucks but we’ve had poor depth for a few years and it really shows on ST.

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What I see is this team is being designed to combat the Kansas City offense. Our defense has a top3 secondary with the attempt to battle Mahomes and their passing attack. With Von coming back, Browning and Strnad added to this LB crew, we should be able to put pressure on Mahomes while covering their outlet TE's and RB's. Our DL looks designed to stuff the run more so than looking to sack the QB.

Our offense is indeed an enigma. We have the receiving corp to match or even supersede that of any offense in the NFL but we lack an ACCURATE gunslinger to put it into turbo mode. So we have started adding WR's with size to block and support our running game and a game-managing QB . Williams was added to replace the high-octane Lindsey provided to alter to a ball-control offense. If we can't beat the KC offense, next best thing is to keep it off the field and start to wear out their defense to allow the previous mentioned receiving corp to excel.  

 

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A few more thoughts, this team is built for Fangio's success or failure. If he wins, he'll probably get a new contract, if he fails Paton gets to pick a new staff and let that coach select his starting QB, whether on this roster or not (isn't Rodgers going to be a FA after this season ?). He should also have a ton of Cap Space that Paton seems to be ready to roll over into next season along with a very strong playoff ready roster.  

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25 minutes ago, Cutler06 said:

A few more thoughts, this team is built for Fangio's success or failure. If he wins, he'll probably get a new contract, if he fails Paton gets to pick a new staff and let that coach select his starting QB, whether on this roster or not (isn't Rodgers going to be a FA after this season ?). He should also have a ton of Cap Space that Paton seems to be ready to roll over into next season along with a very strong playoff ready roster.  

That's a great point! Both Paton and Fangio realize that if this team isn't significantly better, probably playoff better, Fangio's gone. They also know that as a GM if the team isn't good in 4 or 5 years Patons gone. 

They built this roster to succeed this year. 

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Looking at the offense, what stands out to me is the strength and depth of our OL, especially if you're planning on running a balanced or run heavy offense. Between Bolles and Massie we've got maybe the best run blocking OT combo in the league. We're also going into TC with a legitimate swing OT in Anderson, best we've had since Clark.

I.m not sure who will fit where on the IOL. We do have more talent and depth there than we've had for years though. Lots of power also. Cush going forward is a good load, Muti and Meinerz although backups right now are very powerful pile movers. 

It looks to me like we're really close to hitting that magic number of 7, that being the number of defenders required in the box to stop the run. If we can run at will against a 6 man box our offense will be deadly. With the talent at the skill positions, WR/TE we'd be a DC's nightmare.

That's how we built the 96-98 offense and in any era, it's tough to stop.

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Some things I'm looking for:
 

QB - There are a few ways this can go. Bridgewater is the known quantity - I'd bet on this team making the playoffs with him and probably not winning a road game against a KC/Buffalo/Baltimore when they get there. Lock is still an unknown quantity insofar as the rest of his development goes. The floor with Lock is another losing record and Fangio losing his job, the upside can't be determined but because of his arm talent I'd expect the ceiling to be the ability of winning road playoff games Bridgewater isn't capable of winning. I think this scenario is pretty optimistic based on what we've seen. And then there's Aaron Rodgers - who immediately puts this team in SB or bust range. 

RB - There's going to be a lot of pressure on Melvin Gordon to not fumble, or he'll lose his starting job. It's all upside with Javonte Williams ad his role likely only increases no matter what. 

WR - Looking forward to seeing Sutton (who looked poised for another massive leap last year) and a second year jump from Jeudy who really can't be covered. I'm curious to see KJ Hamler's development vs. Tim Patrick in a contract year as they compete for playing time. It's a tough spot for Patrick who might have had an easier time cashing in after last year. I'm sure they're going to want to get Hamler on the field with Jeudy and Sutton as much as possible but Patrick might be too good to take off the field.

TE - Fant should make another jump. Curious to see who emerges as a reliable blocker out of this group. 

OL - Can Massie stay healthy and keep us out of disaster range at RT in important games? Will Cushenberry improve on his late season progress and lock down the center position, if not, will Meinerz be ready in Year 1 to take that job? And how long can they keep Muti off the field? At this point it feels like they'll want to move Glasgow once they're out from under the guaranteed portion of his deal, just too much talent on the interior to pay big money for a guy who is solid but not special.

DL - How does the rotation shake out behind the starters? Can McTelvin Agim make a jump and take snaps away from more proven guys in Williams and Stephen? And can Dre'Mont Jones become a complete every down workhorse or will team be able to run on him? He's pretty undersized for the typical starting DL in this defense.

OLB - Is there anything worth developing as depth behind Reed? We started to see the Chubb + Von duo really start to feed off each other late in 2018, if that can happen again there's #1 defense in the league upside. I think Von is going to age just fine and hopefully Chubb takes a step forward a year removed from the ACL.

ILB - It looks like Josey Jewell will have his hands full trying to hold off Strnad who looks like he has the ability to be a good cover guy, and the x-factor in Baron Browning who is an elite athlete with unknown upside. He has never been exclusively trained inside, so there's potential for things to click fast, for him to really not get it and need to be moved outside, and anything in between. And AJ Johnson's future isn't secure as a 30 year old looking for a second contract. It would be huge for this team if a Strnad-Browning tandem could emerge. Tons of athleticism and upside in coverage there...but not one NFL snap between them. 

CB - Surtain will get on the field - what will be interesting is to see in what capacity. History tells you it's likely one or both of Callahan or Darby put him on the field at some point. But I'm interested to see how Fangio deploys him when they have everyone healthy. Getting into the depth behind those four, what is Ojemudia's future here? He showed some encouraging flashes but it has to be in question. And it looks like the backup nickel role will be a Kary Vincent vs. Essang Bassey competition, which will be tough for Bassey coming off a December torn ACL. 

S - They finally invested in the position again after five years. And much like Simmons-Parks in 2016, it will be interesting to see how Sterns and Johnson develop together and who emerges as the guy to play over the next 3-4 years alongside Simmons. 

Special Teams - Can they finally show some progress here? They've upgraded athletically across the board but will be depending on several rookies. It will be nice to have some STs impact from that 3rd RB in Boone as in the past our #3 running backs have brought nothing to the table here. I think we can all agree it's pretty remarkable that Tom McMahon has kept his job. 

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20 hours ago, BroncoBruin said:

 

DL - How does the rotation shake out behind the starters? Can McTelvin Agim make a jump and take snaps away from more proven guys in Williams and Stephen? And can Dre'Mont Jones become a complete every down workhorse or will team be able to run on him? He's pretty undersized for the typical starting DL in this defense.

 

 

The DL really has me curious. Purcell is the only traditional NT on the roster. Out of the remaining 9 listed only 2 top 300 lbs. Lot's of smaller physical clones, around. 6' 3", 295. Seems like an odd mix for a 3-4.

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On 5/23/2021 at 1:29 PM, BroncoBruin said:


 

QB - There are a few ways this can go. Bridgewater is the known quantity - I'd bet on this team making the playoffs with him and probably not winning a road game against a KC/Buffalo/Baltimore when they get there. Lock is still an unknown quantity insofar as the rest of his development goes. The floor with Lock is another losing record and Fangio losing his job, the upside can't be determined but because of his arm talent I'd expect the ceiling to be the ability of winning road playoff games Bridgewater isn't capable of winning. I think this scenario is pretty optimistic based on what we've seen. And then there's Aaron Rodgers - who immediately puts this team in SB or bust range. 

 

Just read an article that's pretty interesting. Now that OTA's have started they finally got an interview with Lock. Pretty revealing. Sounds like he's really been committed this offseason. I know I'm always optimistic (until the season starts) but I think Lock will be just fine. He's got all the physical talent you'd ever want and if he really grasps the mental part he could be really good.

Anyway, it's a good read. Also attached one about Bridgewater.

https://www.denverbroncos.com/news/just-groundhog-day-over-and-over-as-qb-speculation-swirled-drew-lock-went-to-wor

https://www.denverbroncos.com/news/i-m-here-to-help-this-team-teddy-bridgewater-to-embrace-work-that-comes-with-qb-

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15 hours ago, AKRNA said:

The DL really has me curious. Purcell is the only traditional NT on the roster. Out of the remaining 9 listed only 2 top 300 lbs. Lot's of smaller physical clones, around. 6' 3", 295. Seems like an odd mix for a 3-4.

What about that dlineman from Arkansas last year thought he was big guy in the third?

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14 hours ago, AKRNA said:

Just read an article that's pretty interesting. Now that OTA's have started they finally got an interview with Lock. Pretty revealing. Sounds like he's really been committed this offseason. 

Does beg the question about whether he was 'really committed' last season ?

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2 hours ago, jolly red giant said:

Does beg the question about whether he was 'really committed' last season ?

He was not, no question about it. His 1st season success went to his head. Had all the endzone dances and "I'm a Gunsliger" shtick goin' on. I kinda hated him.

Served him right though, he got his a** handed to him last year. The turnaround is remarkable. Let's see how it translates on the field.

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