Bear Hands

Re: the safety talk - There's a range of roles they fall into. And depending where on the spectrum, the value can absolutely align R1, but its rare. If you identify one that can play 80% snaps off the bat and has the skillset for robber and slot roles, then it aligns. The best slot a lot of the time (Hamilton, Branch, Emman, Pitre) It can be tantalizing but many of the time, those defenses were in a good spot already (BAL, SEA, HOU for example) And for a Fangio-esque defense running two-high-shell, heavy zone w/simulated pressures, and primarily 5 and 6 DB packages, having a guy that can adapt on a package-to-package basis is huge. If you find a guy that can play back, play robber, and play as a slot-defender all in one is one of the most valuable types in the NFL. Inversely, if you don't play that way, a FS has very minimal value. Overall, I would say there is still more inherent value in a 3 down DL or edge rusher. The nice thing about landing one is we have Ransom to pull back deep when they're in the slot. There's a few in R2 that could be interesting in this respect.

Reader would be solid but Evero definitely has his preferences. His types on the DL (all spots) are a bit different than the other Fangio disciples. Even for 0/1, it seems likes the more athletic/fluid types over the power/clogs. And he doesn't mind using undersized guy like Turk opposite DB. I was really interested in Harmon & Tyleik Williams last year. Unfortunately they went way higher than expected so fell between our 1-2 picks. Unsure how this team thought of them. Would be nice to get someone a bit more fierce and a pocket-collapser alongside Brown. 2 of the 3 should have that ability to disrupt on any given play. Of the 1st Rd DLs, I definitely like McDonald but am a bit iffy on Woods & Banks. The two DL after Round 1 that I think could be real finds are Kaleb Proctor & Darrell Jackson Jr.

^^yep

Thought he would be something for GB but just never did anything. Really forgot about him quickly; don’t expect anything but it’s never bad to add more bodies and see what shakes out.

The worst games last year were when we couldn’t do anything on offense, they gave short fields and made terrible mistakes (BUF, NE, SF). But the defense still had huge issues with generating pressure, competent pre-snap communication and overall situational awareness. WR is still a need in my book, a good TE could go a long way and we need OL depth… but the other ILB spot, FS/SD, and IDL are still pretty major impact gaps. Less true gaps on offense, even though overall talent may be less. Neither side of the ball should be “set”, can see picks on either side in the first 3 rounds.

Yeah Tennessee reached like crazy last year. Steelers fans hated the guy, the team let him walk bc of how bad he was. Never made sense to me.

Yup. For a funny comp just look at what TEN paid Dan Moore last year lol - we’re paying half that for a better LT hands down. This is a great move.

He strikes me as the type where he’s a first for some teams that like him. Has a big range of potential grades given his upside.

CJ Allen is being mad undersold here. He’s very much a lock for the 1st and the next LB behind Styles/Reese. Totally in play with the available OL, McNeil-Warren and some others at 19. If you look at our holes and who creates the most, surest, immediate impact it’s Allen and M-W for me. His game is complete, balanced skillset, top defender, leader, all pluses. Hill Jr has the upside but isn’t in his tier. He is more Rodriguez/Lawson/Louis/Golday/Trotter in the offball group. That whole tier will be hard to predict order wise bc it’s in the eye of the beholder/what teams think fits best. All have great skills but aren’t on Allen’s level. No order but Thieneman, CJ Allen, Freeling, Fano, McNeil-Warren, Mesidor, and sure Saddiq will all be in consideration. It will come down to who really gives us the biggest impact and long term fit. It’s a fun group to think on.

Nice write up. Love seeing this type of content in the offseason.

You can move him around in some packages where he can play at star while having Ransom back in 2HS. He’s somewhere between Pitre and Emmanwori IMO. Could be a pretty solid choice.

But I stand by my love for CJ Allen and think he'd be a great fit still.

Maybe they transitioned to him taking that on, and if so, then I'll definitely reconsider my position here. I won't be stubborn about it, hard to prognosticate as fans this time of year. I'm not drawing any lines in the sand. If he did and was able to make the strides we saw, then feck, maybe we've got ourselves the dude on defense. I will say, having the green dot on the more athletic guy helps widen the pool of targets for who can compliment him.

No, not at all, Oluokun was green dot in JAX. Lloyd was the more athletic compliment to him that was given assignments. Olo directed him presnap. For comp, Lloyd was the Bowman to Oluokun as Willis. So yeah, he's a huge boost for us but we still need a guy. So it would be wise to pair him with a guy who can take on the communication role and excels in coverage. People are juicing for Rodriguez but he doesn't quite fit that. CJ Allen or Lawson would. It's a good fit. For being the Will, Lloyd should be the better LB in coverage, but he has lapses. Historically, he has been super spotty but player pretty well in 2025. So it's hard to know. But I don't think he's Mike. So you need a Mike who's got coverage skills IMHO.

Who knows lol, they'll figure it out. No need to expend my energy on something I'm not doing right?

I think spotrac has updated the restructures already. So we now have 31.58.

I'm just targeting the players I like for us. Impact over position. CJ Allen is a green dot. Devin Lloyd isn't. Excels in coverage and on-field communication. And the guy is a brick house. Think he's an animal and perfect piece for the center of the defense.

R1 I like CJ Allen LB, Monroe Freeling OT and McNeil-Warren DB Still have prominent needs at OL, LB and DB I don’t really buy WR or TE in the first 2 this year. Should just avoid pass catchers in R2 in general given our history lol.

Damn so we carved out like $24 mil between him and Ashawn. That’s on top of the 9 mil-ish we had. Pat Jones Jr could save us another 5 (unless I missed that we already cut him)

It may be high but there are some really appealing guys in the draft this year R2-3 for a slot defender. Scott, Abney, Haulcy (especially love for our defense), Rivers, Kilgore, a few others.

We absolutely should get an experienced OT on a 1 year deal. Decker, Josh Jones, heck maybe Beachum. Or just bring Yosh back. Another slot defender like McCreary would be nice too. Then the focus could be on the draft.

McCreary please. Then at least one of my targets gets signed lol

It’s a strong looking defense all of a sudden. A highly competent vet at every level: D Brown, Philips, Lloyd, Horn and Moehrig That’s 5 guys who were arguably (at least) top-12 at their position last season. And not excluding that we have some decent vets here too like BBIII and MJ If we can get even just 1 or 2 of the young guys to develop into a dude, it could be a nice unit. Looking at Ransom, Scourton, Princely, S-W. It would be nice to target a OT, C, ILB and Slot Defender in the draft.

There's still more signings to be had. Come draft, Monroe Freeling T is my favorite pick on offense in R1 for us. Lomu T could be good as well. If we go some one like CJ Allen or McNeil-Warren, then a R2 target like Max Iheanachor T and Caleb Tiernan T would be nice. Center is important but you can get a starter in R3, we don't need to reach there. Lew looks good. Also think we will still do something, need vet insurance even if we're going to draft one.

Yep. Stand corrected on what I was thinking the market would force. Heck of a good deal