Galian Beast
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Front Office -
I think the Front Office made a couple glaring mistakes in the off season. It starts with the decision to franchise Bryant and let Murray walk. I felt like it would have been much wiser to sign Bryant earlier, especially since they ended up overpaying him anyways. I think you could have traded Murray and at least got some value for him.
I think they should have released Carr and saved a lot of money going forward. I made numerous suggestions on who I felt they should have gone after, and maybe they wouldn't have been great, but I think they would have been better.
And the last mistake is in the evaluation of Weeden as the most improved player on the team in the offseason. Not sure what they saw to suggest that, but it wasn't the case. We should have gone after Matt Moore or Colt McCoy, either of whom I believe given the time to learn the system could have guided this team to the playoffs in Romo's absence.
Coaching Staff
Can't say that I'm enjoying this coaching staff, certainly not like I was in 2014. I think there certainly need to be changes here. I've never liked Garrett and even if this team finds success, I believe it will be in spite of him. It's a rare day that I've ever seen him out coach an opposing coach. I think we have one of the most vanilla offenses in the NFL, and can't imagine that Detroit was this cornbread. I'd love to replace Garrett with either Sean Payton if he becomes somehow available or Josh McDaniels who I think given a better environment than Denver, would excel. No one better to bring along a quarterback than him.
With the rest of the coaching staff and as to whether to keep them or not, my question is have you developed a single player drafted outside of the first round into a quality NFL player within three years?
Scott Linehan - Really liked what he did in 2014, hated what he did this year. I'd give him one more year, but wouldn't mind if he was replaced if the Head Coach is replaced.
Wade Wilson, QB Coach - Should absolutely be gone.
Gary Brown, RB Coach - Murray and Dunbar (He should stay).
Derek Dooley, WR Coach - No one, he should leave.
Michael Pope, TE Coach - No one, he should leave.
Frank Pollack, OL Coach - Tougher question. I guess you could say he developed Parnell, but I was never big on him in the first place. Thought he was the biggest downgrade on the team this year from Callahan. I would consider replacing him.
Rod Marinelli - I think he has largely transformed this defense and with an offense, would have produced a top 10 defense. A few bad injuries put him behind the gun as well. I'd certainly give him another year. Only reason why I might fire him is that he doesn't seem to be evolving with the NFL. His loyalty to players like Church, Heath, and Hayden, is pretty frustrating to me.
Jerome Henderson, Secondary - Technically, I'd give him credit for Scandrick, but for the secondary as a whole, I think this guy definitely needs to leave. Not sure why he was retained in the first place. We haven't had a good secondary since like 2009.
Joe Baker, Safeties - No one, should be fired.
Matt Eberflus, Linebackers - I think he should be retained. Done pretty good things with pretty much all of our linebackers.
Ben Bloom, Defensive Ends - You can kind of say he has developed Lawrence, but it was too slow, and hasn't done nearly enough with Gregory despite the injury. Maybe he gets another year, but I wouldn't be shy about looking around.
Leon Lett, Defensive Tackles - Definitely should be fired, but we definitely need to invest more in the tackles. Angry that I didn't see more from Crawford this year.
Rich Bissacia - Should have been fired a long time ago.
Players
Who should stay and who should go
Gone
Morris Claiborne
Mackenzy Bernadeau (we should draft a backup center at a much cheaper price, cost us nearly 3 million last year)
Jeremy Mincey
Matt Cassel
Kyle Wilber
Danny McCray
Jeff Heath
Tyler Clutts
Robert Turbin
Cut
Brandon Carr
Barry Church
Stay
Greg Hardy (I sign him for the right price for another year, to ensure that both Lawrence and Gregory can make due without him).
Rolando McClain (I resign him for another year, to buy us time to draft his replacement)
Lance Dunbar (For the right price)
James Hanna (For the right price)
Jack Crawford (For the right price)
Ron Leary (Tender)
Free Agency/Draft
My Goal for Free Agency would be to drastically increase the speed on offense and add a catalytic player on defense.
I would love to get a speedy receiver in the draft, but I am not convinced that this coaching staff could develop that player in the time Romo has remaining. I would much rather draft a running back than a wideout.
I think free agency is where we need to get a receiver, and I think the obvious choice is Alshon Jeffery. Not necessarily the fastest receiver in the game, but he is a big play receiver, who would back the defense off. I would also consider making a trade for Josh Gordon who will likely be an RFA. Highly risky player, but combined with Bryant would certainly give us an imposing offense. In 2013, he had 30 plays of 20 yards or more, leading the league. He also lead the league with plays of 40 or more with 9.
You trade for Josh Gordon (obviously not selling the farm to get him, maybe a 4th or 5th round draft pick) and you draft Ezekiel Elliot in the 1st round and combine that with Bryant, Beasley, and Williams, and this offensive line, and I think you probably have the best offense in the NFL. You would also retain McFadden in this scenario, with Dunbar.
So I'd try to get either Gordon as risky as that could be or Jeffery, if you could not pull the move off.
I do not think addressing the quarterback position in the first round is a prudent decision. There is no amazing QB in this draft, and drafting one in the first round would be a terrible reach. I do think there are options out there to address the QB position in free agency or a trade.
Bradford is a free agent.
Kaepernick may be released, and would be a free agent.
Matt Moore will once again be a free agent.
RG3 and Manziel are actually good options for backups as well, despite what people may think about them.
Especially if we put all these pieces around them, none of these quarterbacks should fail to win a few games.
The defense doesn't need nearly as much help. I believe we have half of the defense now with Scandrick and Jones. You get Weddle or Berry in free agency, and now you're 3/4ths to a decent secondary. The question becomes what do you do about the 4th spot. I don't see many likely options in free agency, so you would probably have to address this a couple times in the draft. One thing you could do, though I wouldn't be a huge fan of it is get Weddle or Berry play them at FS, play Wilcox at SS, Jones and Scandrick at CB.
You also definitely need to bring in a 1 technique finally. Mebane or Ngata might be options here. I know a lot of people don't like Ngata, but he is definitely still a huge upgrade from Hayden. Fairley might be a cheap option as well.
I don't think you need to transform the defense next year. I think you get Scandrick back, you get probably a better Lawrence and Gregory, and probably a better Hardy and Crawford. Hopefully you have Sean Lee and McClain for the whole year, and a better Hitchens and Wilson, not to mention Jones. I think this defense is probably on the right track, and playing with a lead more, they will be able to be more aggressive as a result.
A few additions here and there that don't break the bank probably give us a great defense. One thing we might keep an eye on is whether or not the Bills keep Mario Williams before we keep Greg Hardy. Williams is a much better player than Hardy, though I think we can get Hardy to come back for a lot cheaper. Williams is also 30 now, turning 31 in January.
I think the Front Office made a couple glaring mistakes in the off season. It starts with the decision to franchise Bryant and let Murray walk. I felt like it would have been much wiser to sign Bryant earlier, especially since they ended up overpaying him anyways. I think you could have traded Murray and at least got some value for him.
I think they should have released Carr and saved a lot of money going forward. I made numerous suggestions on who I felt they should have gone after, and maybe they wouldn't have been great, but I think they would have been better.
And the last mistake is in the evaluation of Weeden as the most improved player on the team in the offseason. Not sure what they saw to suggest that, but it wasn't the case. We should have gone after Matt Moore or Colt McCoy, either of whom I believe given the time to learn the system could have guided this team to the playoffs in Romo's absence.
Coaching Staff
Can't say that I'm enjoying this coaching staff, certainly not like I was in 2014. I think there certainly need to be changes here. I've never liked Garrett and even if this team finds success, I believe it will be in spite of him. It's a rare day that I've ever seen him out coach an opposing coach. I think we have one of the most vanilla offenses in the NFL, and can't imagine that Detroit was this cornbread. I'd love to replace Garrett with either Sean Payton if he becomes somehow available or Josh McDaniels who I think given a better environment than Denver, would excel. No one better to bring along a quarterback than him.
With the rest of the coaching staff and as to whether to keep them or not, my question is have you developed a single player drafted outside of the first round into a quality NFL player within three years?
Scott Linehan - Really liked what he did in 2014, hated what he did this year. I'd give him one more year, but wouldn't mind if he was replaced if the Head Coach is replaced.
Wade Wilson, QB Coach - Should absolutely be gone.
Gary Brown, RB Coach - Murray and Dunbar (He should stay).
Derek Dooley, WR Coach - No one, he should leave.
Michael Pope, TE Coach - No one, he should leave.
Frank Pollack, OL Coach - Tougher question. I guess you could say he developed Parnell, but I was never big on him in the first place. Thought he was the biggest downgrade on the team this year from Callahan. I would consider replacing him.
Rod Marinelli - I think he has largely transformed this defense and with an offense, would have produced a top 10 defense. A few bad injuries put him behind the gun as well. I'd certainly give him another year. Only reason why I might fire him is that he doesn't seem to be evolving with the NFL. His loyalty to players like Church, Heath, and Hayden, is pretty frustrating to me.
Jerome Henderson, Secondary - Technically, I'd give him credit for Scandrick, but for the secondary as a whole, I think this guy definitely needs to leave. Not sure why he was retained in the first place. We haven't had a good secondary since like 2009.
Joe Baker, Safeties - No one, should be fired.
Matt Eberflus, Linebackers - I think he should be retained. Done pretty good things with pretty much all of our linebackers.
Ben Bloom, Defensive Ends - You can kind of say he has developed Lawrence, but it was too slow, and hasn't done nearly enough with Gregory despite the injury. Maybe he gets another year, but I wouldn't be shy about looking around.
Leon Lett, Defensive Tackles - Definitely should be fired, but we definitely need to invest more in the tackles. Angry that I didn't see more from Crawford this year.
Rich Bissacia - Should have been fired a long time ago.
Players
Who should stay and who should go
Gone
Morris Claiborne
Mackenzy Bernadeau (we should draft a backup center at a much cheaper price, cost us nearly 3 million last year)
Jeremy Mincey
Matt Cassel
Kyle Wilber
Danny McCray
Jeff Heath
Tyler Clutts
Robert Turbin
Cut
Brandon Carr
Barry Church
Stay
Greg Hardy (I sign him for the right price for another year, to ensure that both Lawrence and Gregory can make due without him).
Rolando McClain (I resign him for another year, to buy us time to draft his replacement)
Lance Dunbar (For the right price)
James Hanna (For the right price)
Jack Crawford (For the right price)
Ron Leary (Tender)
Free Agency/Draft
My Goal for Free Agency would be to drastically increase the speed on offense and add a catalytic player on defense.
I would love to get a speedy receiver in the draft, but I am not convinced that this coaching staff could develop that player in the time Romo has remaining. I would much rather draft a running back than a wideout.
I think free agency is where we need to get a receiver, and I think the obvious choice is Alshon Jeffery. Not necessarily the fastest receiver in the game, but he is a big play receiver, who would back the defense off. I would also consider making a trade for Josh Gordon who will likely be an RFA. Highly risky player, but combined with Bryant would certainly give us an imposing offense. In 2013, he had 30 plays of 20 yards or more, leading the league. He also lead the league with plays of 40 or more with 9.
You trade for Josh Gordon (obviously not selling the farm to get him, maybe a 4th or 5th round draft pick) and you draft Ezekiel Elliot in the 1st round and combine that with Bryant, Beasley, and Williams, and this offensive line, and I think you probably have the best offense in the NFL. You would also retain McFadden in this scenario, with Dunbar.
So I'd try to get either Gordon as risky as that could be or Jeffery, if you could not pull the move off.
I do not think addressing the quarterback position in the first round is a prudent decision. There is no amazing QB in this draft, and drafting one in the first round would be a terrible reach. I do think there are options out there to address the QB position in free agency or a trade.
Bradford is a free agent.
Kaepernick may be released, and would be a free agent.
Matt Moore will once again be a free agent.
RG3 and Manziel are actually good options for backups as well, despite what people may think about them.
Especially if we put all these pieces around them, none of these quarterbacks should fail to win a few games.
The defense doesn't need nearly as much help. I believe we have half of the defense now with Scandrick and Jones. You get Weddle or Berry in free agency, and now you're 3/4ths to a decent secondary. The question becomes what do you do about the 4th spot. I don't see many likely options in free agency, so you would probably have to address this a couple times in the draft. One thing you could do, though I wouldn't be a huge fan of it is get Weddle or Berry play them at FS, play Wilcox at SS, Jones and Scandrick at CB.
You also definitely need to bring in a 1 technique finally. Mebane or Ngata might be options here. I know a lot of people don't like Ngata, but he is definitely still a huge upgrade from Hayden. Fairley might be a cheap option as well.
I don't think you need to transform the defense next year. I think you get Scandrick back, you get probably a better Lawrence and Gregory, and probably a better Hardy and Crawford. Hopefully you have Sean Lee and McClain for the whole year, and a better Hitchens and Wilson, not to mention Jones. I think this defense is probably on the right track, and playing with a lead more, they will be able to be more aggressive as a result.
A few additions here and there that don't break the bank probably give us a great defense. One thing we might keep an eye on is whether or not the Bills keep Mario Williams before we keep Greg Hardy. Williams is a much better player than Hardy, though I think we can get Hardy to come back for a lot cheaper. Williams is also 30 now, turning 31 in January.
