#1 Best Off-Season; #1 Worst Off-Season

[notthatbluestuff]

Best: my team

Worst: your team

[Dr A W Niloc]

      Tampa had the worst of it for all the obvious reasons, not the least being the plummet from GOAT to Worst of Our Time at QB.

      Three teams (Chicago, Detroit, and Houston, in that order) leapt ahead in free agency and had a lot of draft capital.   No other team comes close to that level of improvement.

      The Lions lost their minds and da Bears slipped a tempo in round #1 in the draft.  Meanwhile, Houston got two franchise players in the top three picks and at least six starters in toto. 

      Texans over ChiTown by a nose.  (Yes, Detroit is the best team of the three but it had a huge head start.)

[Pugger]

18 hours ago, Ty21 said:

I like to use every platform and opportunity to attack the packers when I can and as much as I want to put them at worst even though it’s off base, they didn’t have a terrible draft. I do think packer faithful are far overvaluing the picks they made but that’s par for the course for them: thinking things are better than they are and also not appreciating the actually good things. 
 

I clicked this thread wanting to pick a random team with a good offseason. The broncos did a lot of work. The Seahawks had a great time at the draft. But the bears compared to what they were in week 17 to now, it’s hard to bet against it. We addressed so many holes. The pass rush is still worrisome, as are a few OL spots like LG when Teven inevitably goes down. 
 

Worst? Maybe the dolphins? Getting Ramsey could work out for them, they didn’t take on too much risk in the trade. But it was really their only move. No draft capital. No huge acquisitions otherwise. What is Mike White? I think they’re competitive regardless, but aren’t legitimate contenders with Tua and I’d argue that even if he wasn’t concussed to retirement home levels. Achane could be interesting for their and fits their longtime interest in speed backs. 

I don't think Packers fans are any more homers than fans of other teams.  I suppose we had a good draft but who really knows?  Most of us are hopeful but don't expect a lot this year with a new young QB.  With a new young starter there will be a lot of growing pains along the way.  As long as he improves as the season progresses and shows he belongs no matter the record 2023 will be a good season for us.

From all I hear you guys had a nice offseason.  You should be optimistic but until these young players get out there and play all we can do is guess.

[MWil23]

I’m not sure how Minnesota got much better this off-season but that’s just me. Same with the Rams and Cardinals.

[Louis Friend]

13 hours ago, Dr A W Niloc said:

      Tampa had the worst of it for all the obvious reasons, not the least being the plummet from GOAT to Worst of Our Time at QB.

      Three teams (Chicago, Detroit, and Houston, in that order) leapt ahead in free agency and had a lot of draft capital.   No other team comes close to that level of improvement.

      The Lions lost their minds and da Bears slipped a tempo in round #1 in the draft.  Meanwhile, Houston got two franchise players in the top three picks and at least six starters in toto. 

      Texans over ChiTown by a nose.  (Yes, Detroit is the best team of the three but it had a huge head start.)

Lions didn’t lose their minds, they took their guys, which after the draft, we found out were all high on numerous draft boards and not just Detroits. Jahmyr Gibbs (top 2 RB) is a starting RB, Campbell (top coverage LB) is a starting LB, LaPorta (top 3 TE) is a starting TE, Branch (top S) will compete for a starting NB/S spot (Detroit runs a nickel base defense). That’s 4 starters for a team that had few starting holes going into the draft. 

And that’s after a damn good free agency as you stated. Do I think Detroit had the #1 best offseason? No, I think it’s top 5. But I hate this narrative that they effed up in the draft because tv analysts didn’t have a good grasp on teams draft boards this season. 

[onejayhawk]

The Chiefs did not have the best off-season. In retrospect, they may have claimed the best off-season in 2022 when many were predicting a disaster..

This off-season, they did another incremental improvement to the defense--losing Frank Clark and Juan Thornhill but gaining Charles Omenihu, Drue Tranquill, and Mike Edwards. The draft brings another 1st round DE, who should immediately improve the pass rush, and an interesting DT. The big change will be a year of experience for four rookie DB. Expect it to take several weeks to sort but the defense will be better in the second half when the schedule gets tough. 

On offense, it's hard to say that things will be better. Both OT are gone and their replacements are untested. JuJu and Mecole are gone but they get a full season from Kadarius Toney, 2nd-year improvement from Skyy Moore, and rookie Rashee Rice. Mahomes has made it work with less. This is Clyde Edwards-Hellaire's contract year and Isiah Pacheco is now battle-hardened. The Chiefs were the #1 offense in 2022. i don't see them slipping far.

Under the radar, there are substantial upgrades in ST. It will come largely from experience but also from two rookies with ST chops. 

[Sad People]

4 hours ago, MWil23 said:

I’m not sure how Minnesota got much better this off-season but that’s just me. Same with the Rams and Cardinals.

I think weve had a fairly under the radar good offseason.

Getting rid of Donatell, who was terrible, for Flores is a huge win in of itself.

Byron Murphy and Marcus Davenport are both good additions who we didnt break the bank for and are only signed for 1 and 3 years IIRC at good cap numbers.

Murphy, IIRC, will play the outside CB position but will kick into the slot when we go into nickle defense both were pretty big holes for us especially the nickle CB.

Getting something for Big Z who didnt wanna be here and getting rid of his contract was also a big win for us. I think it saved us around 20 something million of cap space in 24.

Hopefully getting a fully healthy Lewis Cine, Akayleb Evans, and Andrew Booth will improve our defense as well. It cant get any worse than last year.

The Vikings with the contracts theyve been handing out and getting rid of are due to have a BOAT load of cap space in the coming years well over 100+ million.

Do i think we will win 13 games this upcoming year? No not at all. I think we will be fighting for a WC spot 8-10 wins 10 if we get lucky. But i do think its possible for a team to improve but not do as well in the win column as the previous year. Especially with the year we had and how much of an outlier it was with all the 1 score game wins.

[Duluther]

7 hours ago, MWil23 said:

I’m not sure how Minnesota got much better this off-season but that’s just me. Same with the Rams and Cardinals.

Unloaded the prima donna distraction that is Za'darius Smith.

Edited May 20, 2023 by Duluther

[hburn]

On 5/19/2023 at 10:50 AM, SmittyBacall said:

If Derek Carr is mediocre what does that make Desmond Ridder?

Bad

[umphrey]

On 5/20/2023 at 6:19 AM, Pugger said:

I don't think Packers fans are any more homers than fans of other teams.  I suppose we had a good draft but who really knows?  Most of us are hopeful but don't expect a lot this year with a new young QB.  With a new young starter there will be a lot of growing pains along the way.  As long as he improves as the season progresses and shows he belongs no matter the record 2023 will be a good season for us.

From all I hear you guys had a nice offseason.  You should be optimistic but until these young players get out there and play all we can do is guess.

Packers had an extremely middle of the road offseason. Solid draft, no significant gains or losses, except the Rodgers trade, where they basically just did what they had to do and got fairly good compensation. 

[MWil23]

On 5/20/2023 at 12:34 PM, Sad People said:

I think weve had a fairly under the radar good offseason.

Getting rid of Donatell, who was terrible, for Flores is a huge win in of itself.

Byron Murphy and Marcus Davenport are both good additions who we didnt break the bank for and are only signed for 1 and 3 years IIRC at good cap numbers.

Murphy, IIRC, will play the outside CB position but will kick into the slot when we go into nickle defense both were pretty big holes for us especially the nickle CB.

Getting something for Big Z who didnt wanna be here and getting rid of his contract was also a big win for us. I think it saved us around 20 something million of cap space in 24.

Hopefully getting a fully healthy Lewis Cine, Akayleb Evans, and Andrew Booth will improve our defense as well. It cant get any worse than last year.

The Vikings with the contracts theyve been handing out and getting rid of are due to have a BOAT load of cap space in the coming years well over 100+ million.

Do i think we will win 13 games this upcoming year? No not at all. I think we will be fighting for a WC spot 8-10 wins 10 if we get lucky. But i do think its possible for a team to improve but not do as well in the win column as the previous year. Especially with the year we had and how much of an outlier it was with all the 1 score game wins.

Like I said, "I'm not sure how they got much better this off-season" from purely a W/L perspective. I don't disagree that this doesn't always mean these moves were bad, but for a team on paper poised to jump to "contender" status based off of last year's division title and W/L record, I think they're taking a step backwards.

[Sugashane]

On 5/20/2023 at 11:02 AM, Louis Friend said:

Lions didn’t lose their minds, they took their guys, which after the draft, we found out were all high on numerous draft boards and not just Detroits. Jahmyr Gibbs (top 2 RB) is a starting RB, Campbell (top coverage LB) is a starting LB, LaPorta (top 3 TE) is a starting TE, Branch (top S) will compete for a starting NB/S spot (Detroit runs a nickel base defense). That’s 4 starters for a team that had few starting holes going into the draft. 

And that’s after a damn good free agency as you stated. Do I think Detroit had the #1 best offseason? No, I think it’s top 5. But I hate this narrative that they effed up in the draft because tv analysts didn’t have a good grasp on teams draft boards this season. 

Agreed, but I think this is something that needs to be looked at in retrospect especially.

Getting a QB, EDGE, OT is all great in the 1st because those are premier positions, but did they hit on those players? If Gibbs and Campbell (both players I was high on) become even average starters but a highly regarded top 5 pick busts, then obviously DET made the significantly better picks.

I said before I'm down to take any base position in the first if they look like they are going to be really good. I weigh positions and that goes into my grades for the prospects but still, its hard to look at any player that is top 15 in their spot and say they weren't worth a 1st round pick when something like half the 1st rounders fail to begin with.

[Louis Friend]

13 minutes ago, Sugashane said:

Agreed, but I think this is something that needs to be looked at in retrospect especially.

Getting a QB, EDGE, OT is all great in the 1st because those are premier positions, but did they hit on those players? If Gibbs and Campbell (both players I was high on) become even average starters but a highly regarded top 5 pick busts, then obviously DET made the significantly better picks.

I said before I'm down to take any base position in the first if they look like they are going to be really good. I weigh positions and that goes into my grades for the prospects but still, its hard to look at any player that is top 15 in their spot and say they weren't worth a 1st round pick when something like half the 1st rounders fail to begin with.

Lions had a top 12 QB last season and the top 2 QB prospects went top 2 picks. They got the guy they wanted in the third round. Lions got their 1st round EDGE last year and found a gem in round 6. Lions got their first round OT the year before and have a top 3 OL. They drafted an OL in round 5. Why reach for guys they didn’t have graded as high at positions they didn’t “need” just because analysts think the positions are sexier?
 

Fans always talk about drafting BPA and that’s what the Lions did. They drafted their top graded guys regardless. I think they wanted Witherspoon and once Seattle took him at #5, Gibbs was their guy. Reportedly, if Arizona didn’t move back up, Lions would have taken him at #6, over Bijan. He was their top guy. Like any pick, you hope they hit and have successful careers, but the Lions weren’t summoning the spirit of Matt Millen and throwing darts at the draft wall. They did their homework and took their guys. They had a plan and stuck to it. Let’s see how it works out. 

[Justwinning]

On 5/19/2023 at 10:54 AM, Daniel said:

Titans fired Downing. 10 out of 10 offseason.

Watching him run the 2017 Raiders offense to the ground was frightening. There were other factors that contributed, but man, you can tell Downing was not cut out to run an NFL offense.

[Justwinning]

4 hours ago, Louis Friend said:

Lions had a top 12 QB last season and the top 2 QB prospects went top 2 picks. They got the guy they wanted in the third round. Lions got their 1st round EDGE last year and found a gem in round 6. Lions got their first round OT the year before and have a top 3 OL. They drafted an OL in round 5. Why reach for guys they didn’t have graded as high at positions they didn’t “need” just because analysts think the positions are sexier?
 

Fans always talk about drafting BPA and that’s what the Lions did. They drafted their top graded guys regardless. I think they wanted Witherspoon and once Seattle took him at #5, Gibbs was their guy. Reportedly, if Arizona didn’t move back up, Lions would have taken him at #6, over Bijan. He was their top guy. Like any pick, you hope they hit and have successful careers, but the Lions weren’t summoning the spirit of Matt Millen and throwing darts at the draft wall. They did their homework and took their guys. They had a plan and stuck to it. Let’s see how it works out. 

Just can't get over the positional value or lack thereof with your 1st rounders. But like you said, we will see if it works out.