Remaining available free agent OTs

[IndyNorm]

Originally Posted by rm1369

I don’t like the term “all in”. That makes it sound like it’s this year or nothing, which just isn’t the case. There is a cost in free agency but it is almost never that drastic and never that immediate. They could have signed Trent Williams and it’s not like they would have been cutting guys next year to get under the cap. I’m not advocating Williams by the way - just saying even the extreme wouldn’t have led to a real “all in” situation.

And I get the importance of the LT position, but this has been consistent with Ballard’s MO. He’ll sign someone if he can get them relatively cheap and low risk. Otherwise he’ll be fine rolling into the season with a weakness, preach about the process, and deal with it in the draft next offseason. I don’t think Wentz will be at a huge risk though - Reich will use scheme to help cover the deficiency. The cost probably won’t be Wentz’s health, it will be wins. Same as it was when he did it with WR and DE. But that’s fine because they are still building...

Unfortunately you're probably right

[YDFL Commish]

Originally Posted by Chromeburn

I’m sure shitty teams do. Think the Steelers, Pats, Chiefs, Saints think that way. Do we model ourselves after shit teams or the best teams in the league?

All of those teams have holes.

The Stillers O-Line is a big ? They also lost their 2nd best pass rusher.

The Pats drove the Brinks truck straight into free agency, but does anyone here seriously think that they are better than the Colts?

The Chiefs O-Line got exposed in the SB, and they really haven't improved it as much as many think. The losses definitely out-weigh the gains.

The Saints lost Brees and still had to let a boat load of guys go to stay under the cap.


Also, Ballard isn't done yet. He's got an owner in his ear that wants to win now.

[Spike]

Originally Posted by rm1369

I don’t like the term “all in”. That makes it sound like it’s this year or nothing, which just isn’t the case. There is a cost in free agency but it is almost never that drastic and never that immediate. They could have signed Trent Williams and it’s not like they would have been cutting guys next year to get under the cap. I’m not advocating Williams by the way - just saying even the extreme wouldn’t have led to a real “all in” situation.

And I get the importance of the LT position, but this has been consistent with Ballard’s MO. He’ll sign someone if he can get them relatively cheap and low risk. Otherwise he’ll be fine rolling into the season with a weakness, preach about the process, and deal with it in the draft next offseason. I don’t think Wentz will be at a huge risk though - Reich will use scheme to help cover the deficiency. The cost probably won’t be Wentz’s health, it will be wins. Same as it was when he did it with WR and DE. But that’s fine because they are still building...

Wentz needs a good LT. You can't just scheme it away. Wentz went through hell in Philly, don't want to see a repeat of that in Indy. QB and LT are two of the most important offensive positions in the NFL. Look at what KC went through when both of their tackles weren't in the game, even Mahomes couldn't do crap.

[rm1369]

Originally Posted by Spike

Wentz needs a good LT. You can't just scheme it away. Wentz went through hell in Philly, don't want to see a repeat of that in Indy. QB and LT are two of the most important offensive positions in the NFL. Look at what KC went through when both of their tackles weren't in the game, even Mahomes couldn't do crap.

I’m not at all advocating for it. I’ve been complaining about this aspect of Ballard’s method for awhile. But at this point it seems pretty consistent. However, I also think the Colts will field a better overall line next year than KC had in SB even if Ballard does nothing else. It will cost wins though - on that we agree.

[Dam8610]

Originally Posted by YDFL Commish

All of those teams have holes.

The Stillers O-Line is a big ? They also lost their 2nd best pass rusher.

The Pats drove the Brinks truck straight into free agency, but does anyone here seriously think that they are better than the Colts?

The Chiefs O-Line got exposed in the SB, and they really haven't improved it as much as many think. The losses definitely out-weigh the gains.

The Saints lost Brees and still had to let a boat load of guys go to stay under the cap.


Also, Ballard isn't done yet. He's got an owner in his ear that wants to win now.

The Steelers OL is a question mark at LT, but solid beyond that. They'll probably sign one of the FAs to plug the hole, just like the Colts. As for pass rush, They'll turn Quincy Roche into something, they have a history of it.

The Cheats got their franchise QB and I'm trying not to think about it. But the league will never learn not to let them have nice things.

I disagree with your assessment of the Chiefs OL. Creed Humphrey and Trey Smith will start for them this year. They traded for Orlando Brown to cover LT, and they have the strongest interior OL group in the NFL at this point after also signing Joe Thuney, Kyle Long, and Austin Blythe. Do they move Thuney or Long outside to RT?

The Saints will compete with some combination of Winston and Hill. They've still got a good team, and they had a sneaky good draft. They got good players in Turner, Werner, and Adebo, and that's going to improve what was already a solid defense.

The Colts could be one of the most complete teams in the league once they sign a competent LT. That would require some of these drafted pass rushers to pan out. The Colts now have 5 top 60 picks invested in the position in the last 4 drafts. Those picks need to start paying dividends on the field.

[Chromeburn]

Originally Posted by YDFL Commish

All of those teams have holes.

The Stillers O-Line is a big ? They also lost their 2nd best pass rusher.

The Pats drove the Brinks truck straight into free agency, but does anyone here seriously think that they are better than the Colts?

The Chiefs O-Line got exposed in the SB, and they really haven't improved it as much as many think. The losses definitely out-weigh the gains.

The Saints lost Brees and still had to let a boat load of guys go to stay under the cap.


Also, Ballard isn't done yet. He's got an owner in his ear that wants to win now.

The Steelers have had one of the best oline over the past two decades. They know the importance of it and will fix it. They also have a number one pass rusher already. Something we have yet to find despite significant investment. Oh and they consistently kick our ass every year.

The pats try to fix their mistakes. The drafted two TEs then signed two TEs this year. They signed a bunch of FAs and they have some really good players coming back from a covid hiatus. Finally they drafted a QB that fits their system perfectly and could potentially be set at the position again after one year of needing a QB.

The Chiefs lost their two starting tackles, of course they got exposed. No one in the league has depth at tackle. What did they do? They completely overhauled their line. Signed a good right tackle, traded for a new left tackle, drafted the best center in the draft, then at the end of the draft they took a really good mailer of a guard who should have gone much higher. They did a great fucking job.

The Saints need to find a QB now, but they have been consistently good in personnel decisions. You act like they did something wrong and had to let people go, the only reason they had to dump people is because of a global pandemic which no one saw coming. They will rebound next year, and mostly they just pushed money around to make it work because that’s what good teams do.

If there wasn’t a pandemic we would be what? 40-60 million more under? Next year we will be at the top again. The difference is those teams make changes and try to fix their issues. Castonzo hinted at retirement last year and they kinda talked him out of it. They should have been looking right then and there for a replacement. I had a feeling he would be gone after this season and now this is where we are. It’s like we have no sense of urgency. Oh well I guess we could have been better this season, but maybe next year we will. I feel like we wasted an opportunity with Luck’s last year, then again last year with Rivers we were almost good enough to go farther. Could a speed rusher have made a difference? Guess we will never know. We seem to embrace good but not good enough.

At least I hope we might have fixed passrush. I want to see what Paye can do when all he has to do is shoot the gap. But still it’s gonna take time for these rookies to develop.

[Dam8610]

Originally Posted by Chromeburn

The Steelers have had one of the best oline over the past two decades. They know the importance of it and will fix it. They also have a number one pass rusher already. Something we have yet to find despite significant investment. Oh and they consistently kick our ass every year.

The pats try to fix their mistakes. The drafted two TEs then signed two TEs this year. They signed a bunch of FAs and they have some really good players coming back from a covid hiatus. Finally they drafted a QB that fits their system perfectly and could potentially be set at the position again after one year of needing a QB.

The Chiefs lost their two starting tackles, of course they got exposed. No one in the league has depth at tackle. What did they do? They completely overhauled their line. Signed a good right tackle, traded for a new left tackle, drafted the best center in the draft, then at the end of the draft they took a really good mailer of a guard who should have gone much higher. They did a great fucking job.

The Saints need to find a QB now, but they have been consistently good in personnel decisions. You act like they did something wrong and had to let people go, the only reason they had to dump people is because of a global pandemic which no one saw coming. They will rebound next year, and mostly they just pushed money around to make it work because that’s what good teams do.

If there wasn’t a pandemic we would be what? 40-60 million more under? Next year we will be at the top again. The difference is those teams make changes and try to fix their issues. Castonzo hinted at retirement last year and they kinda talked him out of it. They should have been looking right then and there for a replacement. I had a feeling he would be gone after this season and now this is where we are. It’s like we have no sense of urgency. Oh well I guess we could have been better this season, but maybe next year we will. I feel like we wasted an opportunity with Luck’s last year, then again last year with Rivers we were almost good enough to go farther. Could a speed rusher have made a difference? Guess we will never know. We seem to embrace good but not good enough.

At least I hope we might have fixed passrush. I want to see what Paye can do when all he has to do is shoot the gap. But still it’s gonna take time for these rookies to develop.

You think the Chiefs are playing Thuney at RT? That was my thought.

[Racehorse]

Originally Posted by Chromeburn

The Steelers have had one of the best oline over the past two decades. They know the importance of it and will fix it. They also have a number one pass rusher already. Something we have yet to find despite significant investment. Oh and they consistently kick our ass every year.

The pats try to fix their mistakes. The drafted two TEs then signed two TEs this year. They signed a bunch of FAs and they have some really good players coming back from a covid hiatus. Finally they drafted a QB that fits their system perfectly and could potentially be set at the position again after one year of needing a QB.

The Chiefs lost their two starting tackles, of course they got exposed. No one in the league has depth at tackle. What did they do? They completely overhauled their line. Signed a good right tackle, traded for a new left tackle, drafted the best center in the draft, then at the end of the draft they took a really good mailer of a guard who should have gone much higher. They did a great fucking job.

The Saints need to find a QB now, but they have been consistently good in personnel decisions. You act like they did something wrong and had to let people go, the only reason they had to dump people is because of a global pandemic which no one saw coming. They will rebound next year, and mostly they just pushed money around to make it work because that’s what good teams do.

If there wasn’t a pandemic we would be what? 40-60 million more under? Next year we will be at the top again. The difference is those teams make changes and try to fix their issues. Castonzo hinted at retirement last year and they kinda talked him out of it. They should have been looking right then and there for a replacement. I had a feeling he would be gone after this season and now this is where we are. It’s like we have no sense of urgency. Oh well I guess we could have been better this season, but maybe next year we will. I feel like we wasted an opportunity with Luck’s last year, then again last year with Rivers we were almost good enough to go farther. Could a speed rusher have made a difference? Guess we will never know. We seem to embrace good but not good enough.

At least I hope we might have fixed passrush. I want to see what Paye can do when all he has to do is shoot the gap. But still it’s gonna take time for these rookies to develop.

I think you underestimate the desire of the front office to win the SB. Other than that, you make some good points.

[Chromeburn]

Originally Posted by Dam8610

You think the Chiefs are playing Thuney at RT? That was my thought.

It’s looking that way, but won’t know for sure till camp.

[YDFL Commish]

Moot point now. with the Fisher signing.