Cowlishaw's argument itself is weak: he's obviously going back too far, and he's jumping the gun on 2012. But it's still the case that this team lacks sufficient depth at key positions, even after a couple years of solid personnel management. We had a couple of significant whiffs in putting the OL together, and a couple of position groups just destroyed by consecutive injuries. And the new CBA and the cap penalty certainly put a necessary crimp that's hurt us a lot more than the organization would ever admit.
Our team was seriously top-heaving in 2010. It's better now, but not enough better. It's a damn shame, because even a little luck on the DL last season with Ware/Ratliff/Spencer/Crawford/Bass probably would have gotten us the East title and a home playoff toss-up. That would have been enough time to buy the extra season I think we're going to need to add depth on defense. As it is, we're going to need a great draft and a couple of shrewd value VFA acquisitions to give ourselves a shot. If we don't get it, we're going to blow it all up and start from scratch and the seasons won't be interesting for another 3 or 4 years if we get the QB and find a HC who's capable of working effectively under the within what's a really challenging management organization.
