Looking back at 2017, how foolish was it

Manwiththeplan

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that some people actually thought we had a shot at the SB with:

Byron Jones and Jeff Heath starting at safety, and guys like Carroll and Thomas starting at corner with a couple rookies as depth.

I know this is probably playing into your point, but who is Thomas?
 

kskboys

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It wasn't unreasonable to expect that 2017 team to contend in the NFC. We ended up disappointing, but even with the distractions and the hiccups at DB and OL coming out of camp, the team wasn't bad. It just wasn't good.

We do neglect the defense and ought to have expected headaches with replacing 3/4 of the starting secondary when we could have done something to limit that back in the 2016 draft. We messed up putting the team together going light at LB and not having the LG role filled coming out of camp.

And we were killed at OT3. They should have known they were exposed there before the season started and made a move. They did sign Bell which looked smart on paper given the role he was expected to play, but it wasn't enough.

Safety wasn't really a problem last season. DB was early, but then we also had the two highest drafted rookies injured in camp and missing a lot of the installation and early reps on defense.

Sorry, Idge, it didn't. Bell is not a good player and never was. Drafting some OL prospects w/ our 5 picks in the 6th and 7th rounds would've been a much better plan. Get some big guys who can at least hold their own. A Sam Tevi type. (I named him because he's someone I had my eye on). Kyle Fuller was OK for HOUS in the 7th. Might notta worked out, sure, but it would've been a better plan than thinking Green and Bell could play.
 

kskboys

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Fans won't like to hear this, but I never had us having a shot especially with our toughest schedule that I can recollect in the past 5+ years.
A high number of posters predicted an 8 or 9 season win. This was highly predictable.

I'm hard on this front office, but dumping the secondary and starting over was very necessary and a great move.
 

kskboys

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You come off a 13 win season, you expect to compete the next year
We dumped 3/4ths of our starting secondary, lost 2/5ths of our OLine, and had a 2nd yr QB. We did compete, but 9-7 was very easy to see coming.
 
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