BrewerFan

It's a shock to me. I was talking to Celtics fans about this and I even asked hypothetically, "how are you gonna make the salaries match, trade Brogdon and Robert Williams," as I thought that was just not a good move for Boston. Grant Williams gone, Rob Williams gone, Horford a year older, Porzingas is a fun player, but Giannis is going to put him into the 3rd row a few times. I didn't think they'd want to give up a guy like Robert Williams. It's like they REALLY worried about Dame and forgot...he's still the #2 on this team. Who's gonna defend Giannis? Jrue has locked Dame up, but that was a while back now.

That'd be the dumbest possible reason. He's earned it...but sure, if him getting talked about going to the Mets get him the MOY award he so clearly deserves...whatever. I would not care. I also wouldn't be upset if he left either, but I couldn't be less worried about it.

He's actually done a pretty good job this year. Roberts has Managed a team that has had a LOT of turnover and different starters. I don't believe he should win it...but I am impressed with what the Dodgers did. But it's so obvious CC should get the award. He'll likely get his 4th runner up finish though. Just feels inevitable he's destined to never win it.

I wrote a lot...because I'm not concise. I'm VERY excited about this team. I think they could win 10 games. Those weren't "the sky is falling" posts. But they WERE the foundation is crumbling posts. The foundation is the OL. You have all the fixtures and I think the QB, the skill players, the defensive players(maybe a position or two could use some help). There's just so much talent, but the OL is just such a massive weakness in comparison to the rest of the team and it's not going to fix itself and I always thought Rodgers covered up for them. Myers isn't the answer and Walker could be a solid LT, but I would aim for much higher. But I still like this team and I'm excited about this team. And to be clear, the year KC went nuts and spent a ton of money, traded a bunch of picks and then used picks on the OL...they were coming off a SB appearance in which they lost to TB 31-9(we lost 31-26) because TB had such a great pass rush and both of us had such weaknesses at OT it got exposed. So it's not like I'm saying it's some tear down and rebuild. I'm saying I think they're two really good players away from solving pretty much all their problems(and a good DC of course).

Man...I'm rooting for the Bears at this point! Fields 4 TDs...they should have gotten the W. Also pulling for the Panthers. Do NOT want to see the Bears with the #1 and #2 pick in this draft! I mean, even they can't screw that up...right?

They play hard and they play for 60 minutes. And on that pick by McClain(the #1 CB recruit in the Country and #3 overall). First action he'd gotten for...some strange reason and it's not talent, but just as the Buffs were just starting their comeback, he got a pick and they called a DPI. That's what made it 48-27 instead of 41-27 with Colorado ball at maybe the 40 of USC. I get people don't like Deion. I can't say I had an opinion of him one way or another beyond great player, liked to show off a bit with the high-stepping, but seemed more down to Earth after his career doing TV. And now he seems like a pretty solid guy, a good leader of young Men.

Yeah, I'd argue that with a healthy Middleton, they had enough offense to win it in '22, but there was so much weight on Middleton's shoulders as come playoff time, the other shooters largely disappeared in the tight series. Connaughton being the exception. But Allen certainly did. And Middleton gets hurt and it took an INCREDIBLE series where Giannis seemingly willed them to 7 games and they were just ultimately overmatched. If we make this move at the start of Free Agency, I think we'd have done a couple things differently. We'd have likely made more of an effort to retain Matthews for starters. But I don't know if you read the Athletic or not, but they talked about this very thing. How having a shooter with Dame's range changes the Geometry on the floor with Middleton, Giannis. It kinda makes me picture an offense with this crazy concept of motion without the ball. Ingles would have been a much better fit in this offense, but someone Jackson could be that guy or I think Lopez is an underrated passer. Just another way of running the offense. There's no doubt Dame and the offense he brings will be huge, but we'll be negating a good chunk of that talent if the plan is to just play ISO ball. But again, this is how Draymond became a HOFer. Being on a team where he could make the smart play and he just had a feel for the game+ elite defense. That is pretty much Jackson from UConn.

I think when he said "sweetheart deal," he meant Bakh would sign for relatively cheap. But honestly, as close as they are, I don't think he's playing in NY next year. He's talked about being the "face of the franchise now." I think he has to know if he wants to come back and play and earn his way to Canton(which would take 3 more good years...which is possible if the mythical "cartilage issue is address," as they said) GB is his best chance. I just rambled for about 25,000 words effectively saying this, but you can't count on him, if you do it again, you're absolute morons. If he comes back and he's really good, then...I would presume the player we acquire by whatever means we choose to do so, trade or draft, would be capable of playing both RT and LT. The best like Sewell are. Or Wirfs in a bit of a dream scenario that TB actually trades him. Then you're in just great shape with Bakh at LT, whoever at RT, Tom can play C/G, Jenkins at G and you'd have depth. I think he's playing in GB next year if he's playing at all and I think he's either cut and re-signed or he simply restructures, drops the 9.5M roster bonus, his base salary from 10.7 to ~4M and they load it up with incentives for games played and snaps. He is still good enough that if BY CHANCE they fix the knee, he's an elite LT....which is really the shocking part and a sign of what we've actually lost in him. What a core piece of the team. How can he come back, dominate NFL pass rushers vs Detroit or Chicago and then just be done for the season in both cases? He is right. If he just sucked, it'd be a lot easier to move on.

Yes, we had injuries(Detroit had injuries as well by the way). That was not the difference. We were physically outmatched on the OL and on the DL, front 7, that's just a schematic issue. You were in Nickel on the Goaline with NOBODY in the C gap for Detroit's final TD. That's...so ridiculous. We also pulled out a couple zone blitzes on 3rd and 4th and short. I think Colby Wooden dropped on a 3rd and Van Ness on a 4th(the latter not to much of an issue as OLBers drop). But Barry was so bad, a new DC can fix the defense. They have so much talent there, that is the solve to make this defense at least in the top 5-7. -Jaire...that hurt because Barry plays like such a delicate little flower with him out. Valentine showed enough coverage ability and the 1 big throw he gave up, he was in PERFECT position, just got beat. So Barry went soft. -JRJ played and finished the game I think the problem here is even if you were healthy, this team was simply overwhelming. It's happened before, but the problem is, this team came out playing hard. Firing off the ball, they were stopping the run early. This wasn't a Packers@Chargers breakdown where they just looked off. This was more like the Packers vs the Broncos from 2015. Packers were 2.5 point favorites on the road and they went up against Von Miller, DeMarcus Ware, a young Shaq Barrett, a good interior pass rush and the Packers just got pushed around. So I'm taking Bakh off the board. He's no longer an injured player we can use as an "if he played." He's not someone you should ever count on again and IF he does come back and figure it out, good for him. He's said he wants to come back and he'd like to play in GB. Well...fine. They can bring him back on a cheap deal. Urlacher was a HOFer, he's not. If this ACTUALLY fixes the knee, cool. I am not a doctor, I don't know what issue you could have that fixes the "Cartlidge" issue that the last 3 surgeries after the ACL didn't, but...maybe. It's no longer an ACL. -Stokes- He suffered two very serious injuries. It's not like he was a question. The question is IF he'll start practicing. The old, "The Packers are hopeful." -Jones/Watson- They played ~half the snaps and what difference would it have made it they were good to go all game? They didn't have time to get the ball to Watson. Jones had NO running lanes. -Tom played. And he played pretty well. He's just not QUITE physical enough vs the Bosa, Hutchingson types just yet, but competitive. -Musgrave got a concussion during the game. -Jenkins was out, that's a big one, but you CAN'T be that weak behind him. If Sean Rhyan is that bad, that's a problem. Meaning if Royce Newman who was blocking air is the BEST you can do...the hell are we doing? Bring Jordan up from the PS. I don't know, Detroit had injuries. Houston who had 8.5 sacks in the last 8 games last year was out. -Decker and Ragnow were both playing injured, Decker was out last week, Ragnow was injured this week. -Jameson Williams, a ELITE talent is out with a suspension and will be coming back. Their starting RG was out. -Starting safety and one of their better players. -Paschal the young 2nd Rd DE who's a very athletic player and came up BIG in the KC game with a couple pressures, but especially vs the run, he was out. -CJ Gardner-Johnson a really good CB/Safety was out. They lost guys as well in game. But that's at least 6 quality starters and some depth. But what they had was a Center who was making the blocks he needed to. He was sealing off the big guys and at least getting in their way and a RT who was just moving the OL. That's a dominant OL. When we had Bakh, we could mitigate any weakness you had on the other side(Hutchinson is a bit too physical for Tom at this point). You could use a back to chip or just know where the pressure was coming from. I watched the UGA game today and made a point to watch Sedrick Van-Pran which is now I think Sederick Van-Gerald. Whoever, he's the #1 ranked C and it's a HUGE gap in the rankings. He's the 44th overall prospect, next is ~130. But he looked like he'd slide in perfectly. I watched Alt vs the OSU team with two prospects projected to go in Day1 or Day2 and he dominated them and then kept getting on LBers. The bigger problem was definitely the IOL. Newman and Myers would get beat SO bad, now Love is dropping 10 yards trying to buy time and the OTs are not blocking for that and it blows the whole unit up. Bottom line-I think we can fix the Defense with 1 big move(Defensive Coordinator) and then a couple smaller moves. As smaller moves. I don't think we can fix the offense(in a way that we're a competitive team) without a SIGNIFICANT investment in the LT/C position. 2 extremely valuable positions. And I don't think you can try to do this over 2 seasons or with modest improvements. We should approach this off-season the way the KC Chiefs approached the off-season where they added Thuney, Creed Humphrey, Orlando Brown, Trey Smith. That was a 1st, 3rd, 4th and 5th for Brown and a 2nd. Humphrey was a 2nd. Thuney got a 5/80M deal, they feel into Smith in the 5th rd. For the Packers, if the Buccs can't make a deal with Wirfs work, I'd give up 2 1sts and get him signed. Then I'd come back, trade up to get the UGA Center if he's available at the end of the 1st round. I think that gives you an elite OL as you would have...hypothetically, Tom/Jenkins/Van Pran/Walker/Wirfs. Wirfs could play either side, he's been an elite RT, Tom seems more suited to LT. Walker would be able to play G. OR you identify which OTs are good enough to be franchise OTs in the draft(maybe there's 5 and you only need to move up a few spots, maybe there are 3 and you need to move up more) and then you sign Connor Williams from the Dolphins, a 26 year old elite Center in the same scheme the Packers play. The Packers will have salary cap room again and Miami is ~40M over the cap and they will need to pay Tua, especially if he carries on. Get those two positions locked down and you've fixed the talent game up front. We're so young elsewhere with half our roster coming from the last two drafts or UDFAs and all that dead cap falling off this year and then even more in the next two years, we can afford to spend again on positions of need. More importantly we can't afford NOT to. We can't afford to put Justin Love in the position that Justin Fields has been in where he's just being abused. As it stands, the type of absolute bloodbath it'd be if we had to play the Eagles or 49ers right now? Pressure up the middle with overwhelming talent, off the edge? We're not competitive and your OL sets the tone. If you're soft up front...you're goin to keep getting your ass kicked by a team that just rushes 4 like Detroit or a team that has less talent(Detroit BTW, not the most talented up front, one dominant player, Philly has 4-5, SF has Hargrave and Bosa who are both ELITE). I'm sorry to ramble on so long, but there's no way the Packers can delude themselves into thinking they're competitive. Worse OLs have caused us to lose to TB, SF...and that was with Aaron friggin' Rodgers at an MVP level. Asking MORE of Jordan Love is truly the definition of insanity. Priority 1-OT 1A-OC and it's a small gap. 1AA-Fire Barry -Anything else, they can address in the later rounds or with stop gaps, and no other needs are nearly as big. (This assumes, obviously Rashan Gary also gets signed).

I didn't see the film, I don't care to...but this really fits his MO thus far. He starts off slow. It feels like the "don't turn the ball over" has been just hammered into his head, he doesn't really let it rip early on...maybe? He's far better later on, so why the issues early? The big thing is he keeps his eyes up when he got beat up yesterday. That's huge and that's what Rodgers struggled with when his OL struggled the last several years. EVERY QB is going to struggle with that eventually. It's why I think a lot of young QBs struggle early on. Justin Herbert so far, but most of the time, you keep taking a beating, you start to watch the pass rush over the WRers. I really hope this OL doesn't knock that out of Love.

It was so much more than that one play. That SERIES turned when Game3, Jrue starting picking up Chris Paul 94 feet and just wearing him out. He was an absolute beast on the defensive end. Lets not let Jimmy Butler going...out of his mind(including hitting lobs over Giannis AND....someone else at the buzzer for a game winner(or maybe to send it to OT, don't know, don't actually care, it was one series). Jrue's Defense was...massive in that post-season. And in the next post-season and I don't know if Sidney Moncrief or Kawhi Leonhard could have stopped Butler this series.

Penei Sewell was the player who changed the Lions franchise more than any other player...IMO. Bakhtiari is the player who HURT the Packers in '20, '21, '22 and now this year more than any other. Losing him. You CAN get an All Pro in any round. Your chances obviously improve the further up you go. I won't know what the Packers draft grades will be, but if you have hypothetically, Fashanu and Alt graded MUCH higher than whoever is 3rd, then you might have to give up more. Plus, what real needs to they have outside that OL? OT/C. I think Walker moves inside if you do this. And then Safety is a position you obviously could use, but you're much, much more likely to find a safety in the 2nd/3rd who can play than a premier LT. They'll have 10 picks(an extra 2nd, 5th and 2 6ths in comp picks). You've got a ton of cap room coming available in '24 and even more in '25. I'm doing whatever I can after drafting Jordan Love and going through EVERYTHING they've gone through the past 4 years with Rodgers, you have to do whatever you need to in order to give Love the best chance at success. If it's a 1st+2nd and 2nd in '25, I don't care. That position is too important to hope you can develop someone with a much lower grade.

I disagree. There are SO many of them called on returns, you HAVE to factor that in, plus you're 5+ yards deep, so you need a 30 yard return just to break even. You're putting your offense in a hole when they're having enough trouble. Now if they kick it to the GL or a yard or 2 deep, sure. Lets also not confuse Nixon for Hester. They've changed the rules to make it advantageous to not return the ball and he had...maybe 5 really good returns last year that made him an AP? Minnesota a few vs Miami and then vs Philly when we were getting blown out.

If he does end up in Boston, what are they doing to get him? It'd have to be Derrick White and Malcom Brogdon or some package like that. Or Robert Williams and Brogdon? I might actually be fine with that. They lose Grant Williams, if they lose Robert Williams, they've gutted their depth even worse than us and...I think I'd be alright with that. Though Jrue is such a stud on defense, with Brown and Tatum, they'd still be a problem, but much thinner on the perimeter and their interior D takes a big hit. I've seen OKC is interested. They have the 1sts to get it done and they want to compete now+they have another guard is SGA who is an elite offensive player. LOL...lets just hope he goes there and they have a nice, deep playoff run!

Yes, he got some nice returns. I think the closest he came to breaking one was on the PR, but...lets assume you're right. The first few series, we're getting our teeth kicked in and now he's taking it out 5-8 yards deep and there are a couple holding calls and we start a series on our own ~10. I guess you could argue at that point you need a big momentum changer and he's an All Pro KRer and he should be given the benefit of the doubt, but by the time it started to open up, the game was pretty much over.

Edit-I do a stream of consciousness thing when writing and they get away from me. Summary-Mostly agree. OL=bad. Run game=Bad. Barry-very Bad. Walker, Gary=Great Team, about where I expected except the OL which is again hurt and ruining everything. MLF=Not bad, can't overcome that type of dominance at the LOS when Detroit is daring you to beat them with 11 players within 10 yards of the LOS, you have Watson and you don't have time to let him get open. -I agree, this was always going to be an up and down season. Feels like the Packers did everything they could to put a good OL in front of Love, but...things just keep breaking down. Jenkins is a huge loss. It felt like they were worse inside than the OTs were last night, but we'll see when they grade it out. -I think Love is fine when he has to improvise...as a young QB. But when the pocket is collapsing every play...and you can't bail out because you have DEs who are rushing wide, there's just not much to do. He's inconsistent there. The two point vs the Saints last week to Toure and he's made some nice plays getting out of the pocket. Even the left handed push pass was pretty big and gained some yards. -Joe Barry is terrible. Again, he just comes out and plays a preseason, bland, vanilla defense and his entire scheme is our guy can beat yours and that's actually been working...vs poor OLs and with Jaire on the field, Quay and Gary dominating. -I'll push back on the "coming out flat." I don't think they did come out flat in either half. I think they just came out and got their asses whooped. But the first couple series, they were getting off blocks, they were battling. They got a pick on the first play. The defense had breakdowns, but two huge plays given up by Douglas. One in which he tried jumping a route in cover 3. You just cannot do that. You're responsible for the deep 3rd. The other in man, he had Laporta in a blanket and Goff made a perfect throw. But it wasn't an effort issue. Guys were flying around. Wyatt was making tackles 10 yards downfield, Walker was...everywhere last night. He's been outstanding at flying around, filling the gap and been a sure tackler, great in the open field. STs-I'm still not dinging Walker too much. 30-17, I don't think we're coming back. Nixon can't be bringing it out 8 yards deep every time. You're giving the KO team the best of both worlds. They don't have to try and kick it high and short to try and entice you into bringing it out, you just do it regardless. And I'd guess there are penalties on about 20% of returns. It's just not each to block guys who are changing course constantly and there's holding on every punt(I know we're talking about KRs) as the gunners are getting mugged out there. -Reed trying to pick it up on the 2nd bounce...you're taught never to do that, but it bounced right up to him. A "clean" bounce. He just took his eyes off it. I get what he was trying to do. Bottom line, I can't figure out exactly what Love IS, only what he could be after 4 games. And I can see that he's got Pro Bowl or EVEN All Pro potential. Potential is so often unreached though and we're going to get beat up vs good DLs. Defensively, I can see what we are. We're a much better, more physical team that's faster, flies around and hits players and we're also CONSTANTLY out-schemed. All the rules favor the offense. ONE play last night I saw Colby Wooden drop on a zone blitz and McDuffie coming flying in giving us numbers. I saw that ONCE. Otherwise it was Detroit with that big, strong OL and one of the best young players in the game in Sewell just washing away whoever was in front of him and then usually taking out another player at the next level and the defense by the 30th carry just getting wiped away and the group tackling was just bad. I believe in the foundation of what this team has built. I really do. I think the last two drafts have been outstanding. -Love was ALWAYS going to struggle and have his ups and downs. But at least his ups at this point have been...VERY high level. The throw to Reed last night as the 3rd Q expired. I don't care if it did or didn't(I've been told...I think but you @adambr2that it wasn't close)...but he still had to make that throw and Detroit was still covering. The question aside from the OL is can he clean up those quick outs where he it's hitting them quite in time? -The Two INTs. The first was just bad. If it's not tipped, that's a ball that(I believe it was to Doubs as well as the 2nd one) is going to at best get him rocked and will probably be broken up. The 2nd one, I have more understanding for. @CheezWizHedwas right, he did come back to Doubs late, but from his vantage point, he's watching Doubs run his route, pocket is collapsing and if he has another .3 tenths of a second, maybe he reads Doubs going upfield behind the D and hits it, but he threw the ball to where Doubs was supposed to be when he let it go. You won't fix either side of the ball until you make another round of significant investments into the OL and defensively until you just fire Joe Barry. Lets hope that...I guess Jenkins comes back, we continue to improve at OT with Walker, Tom, get through the season with Myers and JRJ and then we need just massive changes next year to that OL first and foremost. Jalen Hurts, Brock Purdy. Both look like very good QBs. They're not more talented than Jordan Love. Justin Fields looks like absolute trash(and so many before him) and it's because they never had a chance due to their OLs. Bakh-I'll bring him back if he restructures, waives the 9.5M roster bonus, drops the 10.7M base to a vet minimum and we add that money back in incentives. See how much he really wants to rehab and play for the Packers(to be fair, I do think he WANTS to and is trying, but you can't pay him the remaining 19M hoping at this point if that's not obvious to everyone). I've already said what I'd do in the off-season. 1-Move up for the OT that you want or you're convinced is a franchise LT. There are maybe 10 who at this point look like they could be that guy, but if it's Alt or whoever. 2-The Dolphins run a similar offense. Spend the money to steal their center...who is 26 and playing at an elite level in a similar system. They'll be 40M over the cap and Tua hasn't been paid yet. 3-Move Walker to Guard. 4-RB/DL/S in the draft But none of this transition to Love matters is he's getting beat up. Rodgers had 18 years worth of playing time to process and get the ball out quick and it still wasn't good enough. Fix it for your young guy. I loved LVN. I'd love Darnell Wright better, but moving forward, that HAS to be their top priority, right?

Nixon took it out early and often and from 7-8 yards deep. To his credit, he usually got it to the ~22 or so, but...there are SO many holding and block in the back penalties just normally, it's a bad call just in general. A yard or two deep...fine. You were an AP. But you can't keep forcing it. Now your 2nd post is actually a decent post. I don't need to see YPC between the tackles to know that Jones is a lot better(I would think we'd agree). But Jones is special and surprisingly strong runner inside. Dillon has just gotten North and South more this year and he's lowered his shoulder to try and gain additional yards and Henry wouldn't be getting more yards in those cases. I will allow that last year Dillon tried to bounce it more and tried to be more elusive. He hasn't really gotten that chance this year. So sure, there's a chance it's just terrible OL play in front of him in Myers, Newman and then really just decent G play at RG. On top of that, Tom is not a RT that moves guys. He stays in front of guys and he seals the edge...he doesn't move guys like...Darnell Wright in Chicago for example. That's why I thought(when Bakh was expected to be healthy) Center was his best position. So maybe thats' part of it.

Did anyone notice that Bakh underwent surgery and then has another surgery planned to finally alleviate the issues he's been having with Cartlidge? THIS surgery(not the one he had, the next one) will allow him to continue playing and he really wants to keep playing in GB. He was practicing and they were planning on him playing for ATL until the day of, but not he's likely out for the year...but he definitely wants to come back? https://www.acmepackingcompany.com/2023/9/28/23895182/green-bay-packers-news-david-bakhtiari-injury-update-knee-surgery-salary-cap-dead-cap-contract You know what? I'll welcome him back. He needs to sign a 1 year deal with a veteran minimum and we'll add incentives. That's it. Otherwise, he can go to and join his body on the turf at Met Life. I'll say, it's that much more insane that this guy has been so good in the few games he has played given apparently how bad his knee is hurt, but he can prove how much he wants to play for the Packers with his wallet. You got 3 years 72M and you earned that based on previous performance. Now, play '24 based on your previous performance.

It might be, but that dude really does have a preternatural feel for the game and is a really good defender. He's a Draymond type of player. He can't score, but I don't think we need the 4 shooters and Giannis set up. It's a lot to ask, but if we're going to be moving a lot more off-ball, he may end up almost being a de facto PG in the half-court. I think it'd be a bit of a waste to do the same thing, just with Dame though. Ie, Giannis brings it up 40%, Dame 40% and then Middleton 20% and they play ISO and then kick out. Running a real half-court offense while letting them Unleash the Dogs of War in the open court seems like a good idea to me. But, I'm more of a FB/Baseball guy when it comes to the Xs and Os. So I could be way off.

Hell, I might still trade up! If you could get Fashanu, I'd do it(but I'd settle for the next best). If the Packers did this...I actually would storm Gutey's office! I'm convinced he wouldn't be so foolish. https://www.nbcsportschicago.com/nfl/chicago-bears/bears-news/2024-nfl-mock-draft-bears-pick-qb-caleb-williams-with-no-1-pick/509725/ We need a safety. But not that bad. And Savage may be having a nice bounce back. But I'm still willing to give up that early 2nd to move up in this scenario. It's just too important. I'd much sooner try and get by with Rudy Ford and Savage than Tom and Walker or Jones. And again, with Walker, I think you kill two birds...

I think Walker has been very solid. I think he and Tom were decent tonight. I don't think Walker is an elite OT despite his performance vs the Saints and the Falcons(who really have no pass rush threats). Walker's grade at LT is roughly the same as Nijman's the last couple years. That's not good enough. ESPECIALLY on a team that if you're looking at your premium positions QB-Seems like a check WR-Check TE-Check Edge-Check CB-Check...and Check(I think Valentine is a capable starter and Stokes...hopefully he comes back). MLB-Check DL-You definitely want to address the DL before you need to. You could still do that. OL? There are some positions where solid is good enough, OT isn't one of them. Maybe we don't need to trade up, but we still need to address OT and C. And in doing so, I think we'll address OG. Walker can move inside and play Guard, likely at an elite level. You want to trust Walker/Jenkins/?/?/Tom or do you think a former 5 star recruit who's dominating in the SEC(Latham, Mims) or the Pac 12 in Sumataria...OR for ND(Alt) with Walker at RG and then hopefully a Center in the 2nd rd? One of those looks...'good enough' to me, the other looks like an OL that can stack up with Detroit. You build a dominant DL, literally EVERYTHING feeds off that. You're fine getting by with Walker if you can't have Bakh, but you absolutely need to be aggressive and go get a bookend for Tom. Otherwise you need to be much better everywhere else. Take Trent away from SF. Take Mailata away from Philly? We've faced ONE elite edge rusher and we were sliding protection to him depending on what side he was on and we were getting destroyed everywhere else. The only other argument that makes sense to me is if there's a great DL on the board, but I'd still move up for whoever we have graded as an elite OT. I don't know who'll that will be by the end of the year, there's a lot of talent this year, but you need guys who can block ELITE pass rushers, not the trash that Chicago, ATL and NO outside of an aging Cam Jordan have thrown at you. What about Myles Garrett, Nick Bosa, TJ Watt, Parsons? A guy like Alt is a stud in pass pro and vs the run. He absolutely dominated two draft prospects, one who's mocked in the top 10 as of now when they played OSU. THAT is the type of player you need. Tristan Wirfs changed the Buccs offense almost as much as Brady; Bakh's injury is the single biggest reason we failed in 2020, 21 and '22 IMO. Not a place to get by with 'good enough.'

No, I imagine not. And...from what the grades say, there's one and then a BIG drop off. I like the idea of signing a Safety(depending on how Stokes, Valentine play and what happens with Savage) and then most your top draft capital on moving up...maybe twice for a OT and a C. Or, Connor Williams from Miami is a very good FA Center. Immediate plug and play, but he'll...be expensive to pry away from Miami. *Edit-Miami IS about 40M over the cap...so being such a weak draft class after Van Pran, maybe that's the way to go.

The day after Week 18? Should be now. Promote Greg Williams. I mean...it was ONE offer and he considered it and then decided he wanted to stay at Madison. I'd think that'd be a desirable job for him.

Yes...and Tom would probably be an elite Center. And that was what I argued for...when I thought Bakh would play. So I what do you try? Rhyan or JRJ at Center? Rhyan is quicker. I guess you could try Jones at OT and Walker at OG. I think he'd be able to play well there(at least better). Jones with that frame can move guys and he'd at least make edge rushers take the long way to the QB. But short of TB trading Wirfs(I'd give up 2 1sts for that and not blink)...I just don't think many answers are coming. Walker needs to improve at LT Jenkins healthy at LG Myers try and not #$%$ it up at C JRJ-solid at RG Tom-He is really impressive and still needs about 10 more pounds of good weight.

Newman is more consistently below average, but Myers annoys me more because he's solid at times and at other times looks completely hapless.