Week #1 GDT: Raiders @ Chargers - The McDaniels Era Officially Begins

[Geezy]

Biggest matchup this week will be Elu vs whoever he lines up across. If he holds up, I think we win. Mack or Bosa can wreck a game plan. 

[MrOaktown_56]

Can Jayon Brown help against Ekeler is the biggest thing IMHO. And will Hobbs follow Allen or Williams.

[drfrey13]

2 hours ago, MrOaktown_56 said:

Not really this is because we have 20+ million in dead money because of gruden/mayock.

Yes we have a lot of dead cap from Gruden and Mayocks mistakes but we had a ton of cap room and did not address the o-line.  Instead we got rid of high priced guys with large dead cap numbers, replaced them with high priced guys, and gave to much for a player that wanted to come here.  Could have signed an average level starting RT for $7 or less.  Anyone saying we just did not see an upgrade in the free agent market is blind or making an excuse.  How many guys do we have on the line that would start for at least 10 other teams in the league.  I would bet 1.

You can blame Gruden and Mayock for a lot of the mess in year 1 but McDaniels and Zeigler have rushed to clean it up and it is still a mess.

[MrOaktown_56]

9 minutes ago, drfrey13 said:

Yes we have a lot of dead cap from Gruden and Mayocks mistakes but we had a ton of cap room and did not address the o-line.  Instead we got rid of high priced guys with large dead cap numbers, replaced them with high priced guys, and gave to much for a player that wanted to come here.  Could have signed an average level starting RT for $7 or less.  Anyone saying we just did not see an upgrade in the free agent market is blind or making an excuse.  How many guys do we have on the line that would start for at least 10 other teams in the league.  I would bet 1.

You can blame Gruden and Mayock for a lot of the mess in year 1 but McDaniels and Zeigler have rushed to clean it up and it is still a mess.

Nah this is just a joke take. They've added competition at key spots and brought in high end talent.

You can't fix everything in one year. @big_palooka@Darbskand many others have pointed it out.

How many high priced guys did we sign? Adams and Jones are certainly worth the $. Ya-sin and Averett came cheap and are solid corners. Nichols is a decent IDL at a reasonable price. Cheap deals for RB's and a nice prove-it deal for Jayon Brown and a bunch of minimum deals.

Role players can emerge. High end guys at premium positions in the NFL (edge/wr/etc.) generally do not just emerge out of the woodwork. You have to pay for them.

As for the OL, James is serviceable. They spent their highest draft pick on a good IOL prospect in Parham, who may start very soon. They resigned Parker and Eleumunor on very modest deals. I would liked for them to have done more, but we can't say they didn't address it at all.

[drfrey13]

1 hour ago, MrOaktown_56 said:

Nah this is just a joke take. They've added competition at key spots and brought in high end talent.

You can't fix everything in one year. @big_palooka@Darbskand many others have pointed it out.

How many high priced guys did we sign? Adams and Jones are certainly worth the $. Ya-sin and Averett came cheap and are solid corners. Nichols is a decent IDL at a reasonable price. Cheap deals for RB's and a nice prove-it deal for Jayon Brown and a bunch of minimum deals.

Role players can emerge. High end guys at premium positions in the NFL (edge/wr/etc.) generally do not just emerge out of the woodwork. You have to pay for them.

As for the OL, James is serviceable. They spent their highest draft pick on a good IOL prospect in Parham, who may start very soon. They resigned Parker and Eleumunor on very modest deals. I would liked for them to have done more, but we can't say they didn't address it at all.

I know you cannot fix everything in 1 year and I am not criticizing them for it.  I am criticizing them for not building up the base of the offense.  If you have we areas of weakness you can compensate but if the line can not hold up this team is done and all these high end contracts are meaningless.  We have four low end starters or backup level players on the line, Parker is already done (he was a crap player at RT), and you think a 3rd round guard and 7th round RT that could not crack our crap starting  lineup is something to be hopeful.

Ya-Sin is only $2.5 but we had to eat $8 million from Ngakoue to get him and then sign his replacement for $17 per year.  I have no problem signing a top end player like Adams and I am okay with trading for a top end talent on a rookie deal.  I do not like trading top picks and then giving a huge contract.  The exact same reason why a lot of us thought the Bears where stupid for trading for Mack.  I did not agree with the contract we gave Carr and feel it could have been handled differently.

Role players can emerge and high end players you have to draft or pay for them but we paid and gave up the chance to draft.

What I would have wanted was for us to sit on our hands with the exception of Crosby.  I was fine with cutting some dead weight like Littleton because he would have cost us a lot to keep for one year.  I would have stayed away from trading for Adams and only considered it after the 2022 draft. If he plays under his tag or someone else wanted to overpay then so be it.  If I do the Ya-Sin trade I would not have signed Jones for $17 a year.  Not that I do not like the player but $17 could have filled a lot of holes.  Now I do not disagree with everything they did but think they were just impatient.  Could be going into this year with an improved team with very few holes if any.  Would not have as mush top end talent but I would have a lot more money to find what I needed in 2023 and extend players I felt worked well in my system.  It is all about mitigating risk for me.  2022 was a year to try to get a couple base runners on board and swing for the fences next year.

[RaidersAreOne]

 

[NickButera]

29 minutes ago, drfrey13 said:

I know you cannot fix everything in 1 year and I am not criticizing them for it.  I am criticizing them for not building up the base of the offense.  If you have we areas of weakness you can compensate but if the line can not hold up this team is done and all these high end contracts are meaningless.  We have four low end starters or backup level players on the line, Parker is already done (he was a crap player at RT), and you think a 3rd round guard and 7th round RT that could not crack our crap starting  lineup is something to be hopeful.

Ya-Sin is only $2.5 but we had to eat $8 million from Ngakoue to get him and then sign his replacement for $17 per year.  I have no problem signing a top end player like Adams and I am okay with trading for a top end talent on a rookie deal.  I do not like trading top picks and then giving a huge contract.  The exact same reason why a lot of us thought the Bears where stupid for trading for Mack.  I did not agree with the contract we gave Carr and feel it could have been handled differently.

Role players can emerge and high end players you have to draft or pay for them but we paid and gave up the chance to draft.

What I would have wanted was for us to sit on our hands with the exception of Crosby.  I was fine with cutting some dead weight like Littleton because he would have cost us a lot to keep for one year.  I would have stayed away from trading for Adams and only considered it after the 2022 draft. If he plays under his tag or someone else wanted to overpay then so be it.  If I do the Ya-Sin trade I would not have signed Jones for $17 a year.  Not that I do not like the player but $17 could have filled a lot of holes.  Now I do not disagree with everything they did but think they were just impatient.  Could be going into this year with an improved team with very few holes if any.  Would not have as mush top end talent but I would have a lot more money to find what I needed in 2023 and extend players I felt worked well in my system.  It is all about mitigating risk for me.  2022 was a year to try to get a couple base runners on board and swing for the fences next year.

I agree. I can see the opposite view, however as I pointed out in another thread, keeping 8 olinemen when you have 11 dlineman is bad balance. Spend some of those resources for a 9th lineman at the very least. That's league norm.

[RaidersAreOne]

 

[MrOaktown_56]

9 hours ago, drfrey13 said:

I know you cannot fix everything in 1 year and I am not criticizing them for it.  I am criticizing them for not building up the base of the offense.  If you have we areas of weakness you can compensate but if the line can not hold up this team is done and all these high end contracts are meaningless.  We have four low end starters or backup level players on the line, Parker is already done (he was a crap player at RT), and you think a 3rd round guard and 7th round RT that could not crack our crap starting  lineup is something to be hopeful.

Ya-Sin is only $2.5 but we had to eat $8 million from Ngakoue to get him and then sign his replacement for $17 per year.  I have no problem signing a top end player like Adams and I am okay with trading for a top end talent on a rookie deal.  I do not like trading top picks and then giving a huge contract.  The exact same reason why a lot of us thought the Bears where stupid for trading for Mack.  I did not agree with the contract we gave Carr and feel it could have been handled differently.

Role players can emerge and high end players you have to draft or pay for them but we paid and gave up the chance to draft.

What I would have wanted was for us to sit on our hands with the exception of Crosby.  I was fine with cutting some dead weight like Littleton because he would have cost us a lot to keep for one year.  I would have stayed away from trading for Adams and only considered it after the 2022 draft. If he plays under his tag or someone else wanted to overpay then so be it.  If I do the Ya-Sin trade I would not have signed Jones for $17 a year.  Not that I do not like the player but $17 could have filled a lot of holes.  Now I do not disagree with everything they did but think they were just impatient.  Could be going into this year with an improved team with very few holes if any.  Would not have as mush top end talent but I would have a lot more money to find what I needed in 2023 and extend players I felt worked well in my system.  It is all about mitigating risk for me.  2022 was a year to try to get a couple base runners on board and swing for the fences next year.

I wouldn't say that James, Simpson, Eleumunor, and Cotton are definitively low-end starters. Unproven sure. Low end? That was parker and leatherwood. It's certainly feasible that Simpson and James are serviceable like last year. It's hard to be worse than Parker and Leatherwood were last year. I'd bet that whoever we start at RG/RT are better by default purely based on how badly those 2 played last year.

We can't wait around forever. If we have a top offensive mind in McDaniels, no reason not to swing for the fences. The AFC west is not gonna get easier. I don't think we're badly set up at all. We have all our draft picks next year and enough cap space as it stands (30-ish mil) to replace the few role players who will walk out the door (likely one of Ya-Sin/Averett, Moreau, Jacobs, etc.) . We aren't gonna lose any stars and if anything we can add young talent to the OL/IDL/secondary through the draft and a strategic FA.

[BackinBlack]

This is a game we obviously can win, but I think it is a bigger game for the chargers then it is for us. They are at home, and most likely grudge match from last year for them.
Mack and Bosa is a nightmare for us, I trust Kolton but RT will need lots of help. 
Even Kolton I doubt can keep either of them off all game 1 on 1. So we will neeed to keep TE and RB in for support. 
Mack is a strip sack artist, and we all no that is a weakness of Carr. 

Need to keep the down and distance reasonable. To keep the playbook wide open. 
If we see lots of 3rd and longs, we are in trouble. 

Really not sure what to expect with this D, and what a tough matchup week 1. 

High scoring game, and I can see a team leaving to much time on the clock at the end. 
I think whatever team gets the ball with a minute or so left, ends up winning. 

Id rather have the ball and need to score vs be up 3, with Chargers getting ball.  

[RaidersAreOne]

Good times.

 

[NCOUGHMAN]

9 hours ago, MrOaktown_56 said:

I wouldn't say that James, Simpson, Eleumunor, and Cotton are definitively low-end starters. Unproven sure. Low end? That was parker and leatherwood. It's certainly feasible that Simpson and James are serviceable like last year. It's hard to be worse than Parker and Leatherwood were last year. I'd bet that whoever we start at RG/RT are better by default purely based on how badly those 2 played last year.

We can't wait around forever. If we have a top offensive mind in McDaniels, no reason not to swing for the fences. The AFC west is not gonna get easier. I don't think we're badly set up at all. We have all our draft picks next year and enough cap space as it stands (30-ish mil) to replace the few role players who will walk out the door (likely one of Ya-Sin/Averett, Moreau, Jacobs, etc.) . We aren't gonna lose any stars and if anything we can add young talent to the OL/IDL/secondary through the draft and a strategic FA.

Meh Simpson and James were pretty bad last year lol 

[drfrey13]

9 hours ago, MrOaktown_56 said:

I wouldn't say that James, Simpson, Eleumunor, and Cotton are definitively low-end starters. Unproven sure. Low end? That was parker and leatherwood. It's certainly feasible that Simpson and James are serviceable like last year. It's hard to be worse than Parker and Leatherwood were last year. I'd bet that whoever we start at RG/RT are better by default purely based on how badly those 2 played last year.

We can't wait around forever. If we have a top offensive mind in McDaniels, no reason not to swing for the fences. The AFC west is not gonna get easier. I don't think we're badly set up at all. We have all our draft picks next year and enough cap space as it stands (30-ish mil) to replace the few role players who will walk out the door (likely one of Ya-Sin/Averett, Moreau, Jacobs, etc.) . We aren't gonna lose any stars and if anything we can add young talent to the OL/IDL/secondary through the draft and a strategic FA.

If we extend Waller he eats up more than half of the $30 million and $8 goes to next years draft picks.

Unproven and low end starters are pretty much the same thing to me when these guys have either been mostly career backups or played poorly when starting.  Based off of last years production Simpson is a low end starter and Eleumunor and Cotton have 14 starts over 8 combined years.  Once again I hope they p[lay well and we destroy every team on the way to a championship but you have to mitigate risk.  James had half of a decent season but is now having to change again so you could expect some struggles in the beginning at least.  Then we have a 3rd round G/C and a 7th round RT.  We will be lucky if half the guys work out and become good.  That would mean at the very least if there is an injury we are putting a garbage player out there on the starting line.  One other thing nobody is mentioning is that before his injury Parker was considered the starting RT over everyone.  So if you think he was bad then what we will have out there week 1 should be worse.

[MrOaktown_56]

5 minutes ago, NCOUGHMAN said:

Meh Simpson and James were pretty bad last year lol 

They weren't good, but I think it's fair to say they improved as the year went on. Simpson and James are decent pass blockers. I don't think either can run block at all.

 

[drfrey13]

1 hour ago, BackinBlack said:

This is a game we obviously can win, but I think it is a bigger game for the chargers then it is for us. They are at home, and most likely grudge match from last year for them.
Mack and Bosa is a nightmare for us, I trust Kolton but RT will need lots of help. 
Even Kolton I doubt can keep either of them off all game 1 on 1. So we will neeed to keep TE and RB in for support. 
Mack is a strip sack artist, and we all no that is a weakness of Carr. 

Need to keep the down and distance reasonable. To keep the playbook wide open. 
If we see lots of 3rd and longs, we are in trouble. 

Really not sure what to expect with this D, and what a tough matchup week 1. 

High scoring game, and I can see a team leaving to much time on the clock at the end. 
I think whatever team gets the ball with a minute or so left, ends up winning. 

Id rather have the ball and need to score vs be up 3, with Chargers getting ball.  

I have said it for years now that this drives me nuts about Carr.  He goes down the field and scores to put the team up but does it to quickly.  He still has not learned how to control the clock.  He has a bunch of game winning scores but is not good at closing out games.