Any optimism for next season?

[Soul Rebel]

Rivera layed down the gauntlet in DC..... Himself, Del Rio and potentially Shurmur is one of the leagues' top DC and OC unit, respectively. 

This is why I want McDaniels. He wants O'Connell, who I really like as a young mind to help McD as OC. McDaniels also wants to tab the Colts DB Coach who did an excellent job shaping that Indy defensive backfield. These are two areas that we need to reshape and I for one, will welcome a new blueprint.

[ImaginaryKev]

Nfl turnarounds happen overnight, just look at the current playoff teams right now. Yeah, totally optimistic. And watching sports is supposed to be fun so I'm gonna be hopeful rather than trying to pessimist about literally everything the team does in order to appear more discerning and smart about football like some of y'all nerds love to do here

[Matt62881]

5 minutes ago, ImaginaryKev said:

Nfl turnarounds happen overnight, just look at the current playoff teams right now. Yeah, totally optimistic. And watching sports is supposed to be fun so I'm gonna be hopeful rather than trying to pessimist about literally everything the team does in order to appear more discerning and smart about football like some of y'all nerds love to do here

Negativity is a cancer that spreads always better to spread posotivity 

[TheSpecialJuan]

I have more optimism going into this season than I did going into the 2019 season. Change is a good thing for franchise. 

[Carl Spackler]

I’ll be shocked if we win four games next season, regardless of the coach. After that, who knows? Depends on how we build the team through the draft and free agency.

[OldNorthPowell]

If Marty is the GM, nope. If he is let loose, yes. That simple for me and I am sure I am not the only one. Tepper has grown close to Hurney, so downward spiral here we come.

[Sgt Schultz]

3 hours ago, ickmule said:

That’s where I’m at too.  

I'm on that train, too.  It only takes McDaniels for me, but my circumstances are unlike the majority of this board.

The saying is the number one cause of disappointment is unrealistic expectations.

We have a lot of holes to fill, and my biggest concern is last year's push for making something happen in 2019 delayed the inevitable for a year.  Building the trenches is not an overnight thing.

The optimist would say that we don't need to have the rebuild done in that manner to be successful.  But I think it is a 2-3 year job to yield solid results.  I'm okay with the wait.

But, if they give Josh the reins..........

[Jacabee]

If we have a healthy Newton back, we can always compete.  Even so, we beat two teams this year that advanced in the playoffs yesterday (one over the almighty Pats).  With that said, whoever is brought in to steer this ship needs to spend much of the off-season taking a good hard look at why the run defense broke down so terribly and at the reverberating effect that poor center play had on the offensive line. Both of those things looked like strengths on paper coming into this season. The other major unknown is just how many holes we'll have to fill once free agency shakes out. 

I'm particularly looking forward to Burns taking over a starting role with a year of NFL strength and conditioning under his belt. Likewise, with a stable QB situation I think Moore could take a step towards dominance in his 3rd year. 

[top dawg]

If Cam comes back healthy, as well as Short and Pie, I don't see any reason why we can't at least make it to 9-7. 

But your question when juxtaposed against the title assumes that optimism can only be tied to a winning season. I would love that, but the way it's looking, I'll just accept being better. That's presuming that Cam has moved on and we have a rookie QB. Expectations should only be so high with a rookie QB.

[raleigh-panther]

Optimism

1. if, oline fixed with first rd LT that is a complete LT who can pass and run block, NFL ready, plus center and guard
2. Cam returns 

3. Free agents for D plus Short returns to form  

4. Coach is Stefanski or Roman.

no optimism in those things don’t happen.  9 and 7 to 8 and 8 if they do 

[stirs]

Too many "ifs" at this point to express anything credible.  Soooo, that means this will be a 20 page thread

[Davidson Deac II]

Of course,  The difference between winning and losing in the NFL is relatively small.  Four or five players added could make a significant difference.  

[CatTower]

I'm very optimistic if we get a QB or we know with certainty, Cam is good to go.  We just need to draft some OL and DL.  Spend money wisely and there is nothing preventing this team from success.  There are many teams in much, much worse positions.  Just look at the Falcons.

[trueblade]

The offseason is too long to spend it dreading next season so I chose to be optimistic, but I readily admit that there is a lack of empirical evidence for it.