bigjohn

Well there’s your Mingo sighting.

Missed a hold on the other side, not that it matters.

Who are the three players ranked above McCafferey in that class?

The NFL is the league best built for quick turnarounds. Every year there are players that pop out of nowhere and go from no-names to solid starters. If we can get a couple of those, stay healthy, and get decent QB play we can win 5 games. Add a couple starters next season, looking at 8-9 wins. Repeat, knocking on the playoffs door. If Bryce doesn’t improve, add 2 years.

Thinking long term, if we start out sluggish the first two games because of lack of preseason reps and go 0-2, what does it matter? Are we going to be a playoff team either way? Get through the preseason with no injuries to starters and get a good evaluation of Bryce and others in those first few games. If we struggle, so be it. If we show improvement (especially if Bryce shows he can be that guy), when injuries mount as the season goes on at least we will have some answers. Not sure this is what I’d do, but maybe this is the thought process.

Not saying I necessarily agree with the approach, but I do understand some of the reasoning. -We are so thin at some positions, a couple of injuries could make a huge difference. We have such a depth issue, we'd be picking up other teams cuts to start for us. -With the 17 game season, you can almost make the argument that importance of the first few games is much less than normal. -Coach may be thinking "We probably aren't making the playoffs anyway, but either way it's more important for us to play better the second half of the season, and we stand a better chance of that if we avoid extra live bullets in the preseason". -Gives a much chance to see if any of the backups can play at all. Just some of the thoughts. Those joint practices are better for evaluating talent in some ways anyway. If it were me, I'd definitely play the starters a series or so in this game. But I also think some of us are so starved to see these guys, we want that for ourselves. If we open up the first game with a 14-3 lead at half, I wonder what the reaction would be (besides most of us being drunk off our ass in disbelief)?

This x 100.

We still have an NFL team. Our offense will be unwatchable. We are set at punter and kicker.

I’ve said before, but how was everyone so wrong about Bryce? He was going to be a top 5 (probably top 2) pick.

Five wins. Meh.

Everyone talking talent evaluation on Bryce and I get that, but EVERYONE had him as one of the first two QBs picked.

I can agree with Gamble. Kasey took too much flack for the SB. Up until his last couple years, Jordan Gross was VERY unappreciated by a lot of fans. After he left, people realized what it meant to have a stable, really good LT.

Just my two cents worth about culture. It can absolutely make a difference in wins and losses. With the same group of talent, great culture versus crap culture can make a difference at ANY level. If we had a couple of Thomas Davis/Jake Delhomme type of personalities in that locker room along with a coaching staff that set that standard, we would be several wins better immediately. We would not be championship level due to our lack of talent, but we would certainly be better.

Tepper needs to take a Team Culture 101 class.

Let’s be honest. Most of us are going to think ANY hire Tepper makes is bad. I hope Dan does well.

Beane worked his way up from towel boy to assistant GM, without having the advantage of playing in the NFL or “knowing people”. That’s pretty darn impressive to me.

Show me any reputable sources that had him being undrafted, which is basically what the folks here bashing Bryce are saying—that he doesn’t being on a roster.

I just keep going back to how all of the experts and mock drafts had Bryce being drafted in the top 5, and 95% had him going #1 or #2. Hard to see how everyone was wrong.

EVERYONE had Bryce at #1 or #2. And that was before the s2 test (although that may well have sealed the deal at #1).

Rae Carruth would like a word.

Yes... How many of these guys gave up on Brown after the first year?

I still think he has a chance to be good. Not worth the trade up (my opinion, only a generational QB would have been worth that but we were starved for a franchise WB). Give him a good O-line, another receiver or two, and some coaching and we will see. Again, not worth the move up but we can’t do anything about that miscue now. The right situation I think he can be ok. I just can’t see how the entire league missed on this pick— that’s mostly what I’m basing this on.

Was just getting ready to say about time for Icky to get beat again…

Chuba just wiffed on another block. Goddamitt.

About time we had a receiver make a play. Thank you Adam!