Rank Your Team's Position Groups

[aceinthehouse]

WASHINGTON COMMANDERS

 

tiers--Elite, Excellent, Good, Fair, and Substandard

The groups are:

QB=N/A : Sam Howell has played 1 game in victory over Dallas as a rookie.His potential is very high, but you can't really grade him as of now. Backup QB Jacoby Brissett is probably in the good/fair category. Word is that Sam Howell is legitimately beating out Brissett in training camp, but we won't know the answer till the games matter.

WR=Excellent: Scary Terry, Jahan Dotson, Curtis Samuel & Dyami Brown round up the big 4. All 4 are not only very fast & have good hands, but they also run excellent routes. Which is why you see them open all the time. 😁 Their biggest knock on them is their size. Their not intimidating by their stature IE Randy Moss, TO, etc. But what they lack in size, they make up in football intelligence. Clutch possessions & so on. If Sam Howell is the real deal, they will move up to ELITE status. IMO, their one of the top 3 most underrated Wide Receiving cores in the NFL.

TE=Fair: One could argue that Logan Thomas alone puts them in the good category at minimum. However his injuries are mounting up & the depth behind him is decent, but nothing special as of now. I also don't know how much we will utilize our TE's with Eric Bienemy's Offensive Philosophy.

RB=Excellent: Antonio Gibson, Brian Robinson & the rookie Gonzalas round up the 3 you should be worried about as an opponent. It's definitely a running back by committee Offense, but 2 for sure can hurt you & If Gonzalas is anything I keep hearing about? They will be very deep there as well. What makes them so good, is all 3 run with an aggressive running style. Their ability to get 4+ yards at will & more from broken tackles. Thus, wearing down defenses along the way.

IOL=Substandard: Had the OP put anything below "Substandard", I would have gone with that. They might be the worst Offensive Line in the NFL & will probably be the Team/Offenses detriment throughout the season. If they somehow pull together and just don't suck?? Washington should be in the thick of things throughout the season.

OT=Substandard: see post above.

DT=Elite: They're the best in the NFL, imo. (#1)

DE=Good: If Chase Young ever gets his head out of his *** and decides to play the way he's capable of playing? Our D-line would be elite. Fortunately for us, we have Montez Sweat who alone...gives us a good rating. All in all, this defense is VERY close to deserving a nickname like the Fearsome Foursome, Steel Curtain, or Purple People Eaters. Awesome historic front 4's. We just need Chase Young to get right. If he ever does? Look out! Young, Sweat, Allen & Payne are all 4-1st rd picks. Young, is the only one who hasn't lived up to his draft status.

LB=Fair: Jamis Davis is the only reason, I didn't put Substandard. He's really come along since his disappointing rookie year. Newcomer Cody Barton hopes to aide in our LBer core as well. If it wasn't for these 2 guys? Our LBer core would be worse than our O-line & I'm not joking.

S=Good: I think our Safety talent is good.

CB=Good: I think our Corners are good.

We did well in drafting secondary in both the Corner & Safety positions. They probably have the potential to make us better, than just good. But I need to see their impact on the field. But even without the rookies? Fuller & that back end is pretty good.

ST Kicking=Good: Our Kicker is inconsistent, but our Punter might be the best Punter in the NFL in Tress Way. So I just put it in the middle at good.

ST Returns=Substandard: Did you ever watch WR Milne return kicks or punts? He's just God awful. Just not having him back there, will probably elevate our status to fair.

ST Coverage=Good: Our kick coverage has been pretty good as of late. I don't know whether to give credit to the players or Special Teams coach. But it's pretty good.

[scar988]

7 minutes ago, aceinthehouse said:

DT=Elite: They're the best in the NFL, imo. (#1)

 

Honestly, I'd agree with this. Payne and Allen with Mathis rotating in should be the best unit in the NFL.

[FrantikRam]

Rams

 

QB - Good - Stafford was probably a B+ in 2021, so accounting for some drop off here. Reports are that he's feeling really good and him throwing now is already a huge plus over last season

WR - Excellent - Kupp was neck and neck with Jefferson being going down last year, given the OL performance difference in 2021 and 2022, you could make the argument that his 2022 campaign was on track to be better than the 2021 campaign - especially considering we did have other weapons in 2021

TE - Fair - Higbee is a solid but unspectacular TE

RB - Good - projecting Akers to (finally) break out (in a contract year...not that that will matter much for an NFL RB these days)

IOL - Good - projecting Bruss and Avila to be significant improvements over what we had last year

OT - Fair - Havenstein is a plus, Noteboom/Jackson a minus, evens out

DT - Excellent - counting this as the DL for a team that plays more of a 3-4 look - Donald, some rookies and some players who have made plays the last few years but people don't really know

DE - Substandard - EDGE for the Rams is why most think this defense will be bad - we have a converted interior DL at one spot and a rookie at the other - with two more rookies backing them up

LB - Substandard - I think Ernest Jones will take a jump, but the other ILB spot is concerning

S - Fair - Jordan Fuller is a league average starter and is finally healthy, the other spot will be filled by inexperience but I'm not too concerned there

CB - Substandard - I think as it stands we have one CB with loads of potential (Durant) and then a bunch of unknowns

 

Our ILBs have been substandard for years - the game clinching INT in the 2021 NFCCG for instance, was made by Travin Howard who most on this site have probably never heard of. A good pass rush is a secondary's best friend, and a dominant Aaron Donald is an edge rushers best friend - so looking at this assessment you can see why I'm a little more optimistic than most about the Rams. I think the offense will be REALLY good, and then project the defense to be REALLY bad - which is why I think anywhere from 7-10 wins is realistic, depending. But if the rookie edge rushers outperform expectations, it kind of opens the door for the defense to be closer to league average, which would likely open the door for a more successful season.