blindzebra
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Win now and build success for the long haul.
We had a plan that we wanted to improve the defense and finish the OL rebuild. Obviously our first choice was grabbing an impact defender first and OL later but after our top 3 were gone we did not reach for a defender or take a bad trade down we adjusted and got possibly the best OL in the draft...certainly the most versatile.
The expensive trade up for Lawrence was a risk but he was the last outside pressure player left and having Selvie or Spencer as your top sack threat sure isn't going to scare DCs. Making that dramatic move up points to winning now while helping long term.
Reports are that we tried to give up a 2015 2nd to get into the end of the 3rd round for Trai Turner to give us an OL of Smith, Leary, Frederick, Turner and Martin for the next 10 years but he got drafted with the deal on the table 2 picks later. Again improve for now and long term success.
Clearly we came into the draft thinking had we stayed healthy last year we'd have gotten in and probably made some noise in the playoffs. One can argue that is a pipe dream but with over two dozen players having to play in your front 7 last year it is a valid thought process.
We lost Hatcher and replaced him with Melton who is younger.
We lost Ware and hope to replace him with Lawrence.
We gave ourselves a viable replacement for Lee, if his injury streak continues, with Hitchens. Obviously there is a dropoff but it is a long way from the cluster frick we saw last year when Lee went down.
The bolstering of the OL improves the offense which helps keep the defense off the field. We took this to the next level by drafting Street who supplies depth outside and UDFA Copeland to basically add another guard as lead blocker in the running game. Longer drives, more TOP and more points all protects the defense.
When Mayock kept saying so and so has a draft plan and you can see it while saying oh, that was a Dallas pick I have to laugh. We had a plan...a very clear one...and when the draft Gods conspired to screw us we adjusted on the fly, and while not having our "dream" outcome, we sure as hell stuck to the spirit of our plan and came close to pulling it off 100%.
Will that be enough to put us over the top? Only time will tell but we are due for a healthy season and with one I can see us winning the East and then it it anyone's to win.
We had a plan that we wanted to improve the defense and finish the OL rebuild. Obviously our first choice was grabbing an impact defender first and OL later but after our top 3 were gone we did not reach for a defender or take a bad trade down we adjusted and got possibly the best OL in the draft...certainly the most versatile.
The expensive trade up for Lawrence was a risk but he was the last outside pressure player left and having Selvie or Spencer as your top sack threat sure isn't going to scare DCs. Making that dramatic move up points to winning now while helping long term.
Reports are that we tried to give up a 2015 2nd to get into the end of the 3rd round for Trai Turner to give us an OL of Smith, Leary, Frederick, Turner and Martin for the next 10 years but he got drafted with the deal on the table 2 picks later. Again improve for now and long term success.
Clearly we came into the draft thinking had we stayed healthy last year we'd have gotten in and probably made some noise in the playoffs. One can argue that is a pipe dream but with over two dozen players having to play in your front 7 last year it is a valid thought process.
We lost Hatcher and replaced him with Melton who is younger.
We lost Ware and hope to replace him with Lawrence.
We gave ourselves a viable replacement for Lee, if his injury streak continues, with Hitchens. Obviously there is a dropoff but it is a long way from the cluster frick we saw last year when Lee went down.
The bolstering of the OL improves the offense which helps keep the defense off the field. We took this to the next level by drafting Street who supplies depth outside and UDFA Copeland to basically add another guard as lead blocker in the running game. Longer drives, more TOP and more points all protects the defense.
When Mayock kept saying so and so has a draft plan and you can see it while saying oh, that was a Dallas pick I have to laugh. We had a plan...a very clear one...and when the draft Gods conspired to screw us we adjusted on the fly, and while not having our "dream" outcome, we sure as hell stuck to the spirit of our plan and came close to pulling it off 100%.
Will that be enough to put us over the top? Only time will tell but we are due for a healthy season and with one I can see us winning the East and then it it anyone's to win.
I think time will determine whether the "detour" was worth it.
