1a. We only signed 9 UDFAs
- I can't remember the last time we didn't sign 15-20 guys. This means that we don't even have space on the 90-man roster for UDFAs.
1b. How many UDFAs are going to make the roster?
- Usually we have around 4-5. It's hard to imagine more than 1 or 2 making it this year and it's honestly possibly that 0 make it, although I think the LBs have a good chance and maybe the RB from Auburn.
2. Try to project a 53-man roster. You'll cut some surprising players. Some who've had significant playing time recently.
3. Draft picks are going to get cut.
- Definitely from previous years (Ace, Harris, Storm, Chris Smith are all very much on the chopping block, maybe more that I'm forgetting.). And neither of the seventh round picks this are roster locks at all (don't see any of the first 6 getting cut but you never know). We're used to every draft pick making the roster every year, but good teams cut their late round picks all the time.
4. What's our weakest position?
- Looking at the thread about our strongest/weakest position, it struck me that some of our weakest positions now are about as strong as our strongest positions a year ago. I remember when after year 1, Caldwell said that OT was our strongest position on offense when it was just Joeckel and Pasztor, and SS was our strongest position on defense with a second-year Cyprien.
You make a very good point. We may get to the point that we're cutting young, promising players.
Honestly I think our weakest position, partially because it has the highest learning curve, is QB.
If Bortles makes a significant jump in performance, we are going to be in great shape.
Luckily, even the weak positions are loaded with young talent. WR, O-line, CB, Safety are all filled with young players with upside. I know many won't develop, but as long as Bortles does we're gonna be fine.
Perfect scenario would be that one of our young guys (like Chris Smith) plays so well that a veteran (like Chris Clemons) gets cut.
I don't see Chris Smith as being on the chopping block. In limited action last year he appeared to be in, on, or around MANY plays. Ace, probably. Harris, almost definitely. Storm Johnson is an interesting case as he has not really distinguished himself while on the field. Good to see the roster battles, as the competition should bring out the best in everyone.
Quality over quantity.. I'm sure we'll sign a handful of off-season tackling dummies.. Something for us to watch during preaeason..
Ace, Harris, Storm and Sterling to me look like the guys on the chopping block. sterling will probably be on the practice squad.
A wildcard would be if Gratz or Evans were to be cut. I could see it happen.
Next year, Cyprien if he doesn't improve.
I really hope they wouldn't let Chris Smith go. I really like his upside and he flashed a number of times on a limited amount on snaps.
I still would like Clemons around another year, but if it came down to Clem vs Smith, I'd rather roll with Smith. You basically know what you got with Clem. He'll provide some consistent play with at least 1 off sides penalty a game at a costly time. You hope he'll continue to provide 5-8 sacks on the year and ideally best those numbers.
With Smith you really don't know what you have yet. He has a high upside, but he could just be best as a DPR similar to Ryan Davis. He's going to have to be on the field for more then 90 snaps during the entire season to find that out.
Quote:Ace, Harris, Storm and Sterling to me look like the guys on the chopping block. sterling will probably be on the practice squad.
A wildcard would be if Gratz or Evans were to be cut. I could see it happen.
Next year, Cyprien if he doesn't improve.
I feel it's between Gerhart and Pierce, rather than Storm. Storm still possesses upside where as I think Pierce and Gerhart are all but the same player. Both could play that FB/RB role, but I don't see both of them sticking around.
I can't really see Gratz or Evans going anywhere honestly. Evans will back up Cyp and has a lot of experience in this scheme over the last 2 years. He can man either safety position, if worst came to worst.
Gratz will most likely be the 4th CB on the depth chart and you can't have enough Corners.
Quote:I really hope they wouldn't let Chris Smith go. I really like his upside and he flashed a number of times on a limited amount on snaps.
I still would like Clemons around another year, but if it came down to Clem vs Smith, I'd rather roll with Smith. You basically know what you got with Clem. He'll provide some consistent play with at least 1 off sides penalty a game at a costly time. You hope he'll continue to provide 5-8 sacks on the year and ideally best those numbers.
With Smith you really don't know what you have yet. He has a high upside, but he could just be best as a DPR similar to Ryan Davis. He's going to have to be on the field for more then 90 snaps during the entire season to find that out.
I feel it's between Gerhart and Pierce, rather than Storm. Storm still possesses upside where as I think Pierce and Gerhart are all but the same player. Both could play that FB/RB role, but I don't see both of them sticking around.
I can't really see Gratz or Evans going anywhere honestly. Evans will back up Cyp and has a lot of experience in this scheme over the last 2 years. He can man either safety position, if worst came to worst.
Gratz will most likely be the 4th CB on the depth chart and you can't have enough Corners.
I think the team likes rashad reynolds a lot so if he shows good promise and Gratzy has another bubblegum incident or a day like he did against the Cowboys, he might be gone.
It's definitely a good problem to have
Quote:I think the team likes rashad reynolds a lot so if he shows good promise and Gratzy has another bubblegum incident or a day like he did against the Cowboys, he might be gone.
It's definitely a good problem to have
I also think they're very interested in Reynolds. I'm also interested in what he can do and was pretty surprised when we were able to snag him as an UDFA last year. I have no doubt he'll help push whoever they intend to man the Nickel CB position.
It's definitely a very good problem to have. I'm looking forward to the multiple camp battles we're going to have this year.
Storm is as good as gone with Jedd gone. He doesn't play ST either.
I agree that I'd like to see Chris Smith stick around but that depends on how many DTS we need on the roster if marks and miller aren't ready for the opener. We have a lot of promising Leo's and not enough snaps.
None of the draft picks are getting cut, that's just blasphemous to even say. And Chris Smith is safe. In limited action he looked good.
Cant argue with any post yet. Good stuff guys.
Quote:You make a very good point. We may get to the point that we're cutting young, promising players.
Honestly I think our weakest position, partially because it has the highest learning curve, is QB.
If Bortles makes a significant jump in performance, we are going to be in great shape.
Luckily, even the weak positions are loaded with young talent. WR, O-line, CB, Safety are all filled with young players with upside. I know many won't develop, but as long as Bortles does we're gonna be fine.
Perfect scenario would be that one of our young guys (like Chris Smith) plays so well that a veteran (like Chris Clemons) gets cut.
This is all well and good, however there is one thing that is overlooked.
Most of the positions that are no longer considered "weaknesses" are being filled by unproven young talent. While on paper it checks off as not a "need", on the field it is still very much wait and see.
Quote:This is all well and good, however there is one thing that is overlooked.
Most of the positions that are no longer considered "weaknesses" are being filled by unproven young talent. While on paper it checks off as not a "need", on the field it is still very much wait and see.
Wow. Thats true too.
Quote:Storm is as good as gone with Jedd gone. He doesn't play ST either.
I agree that I'd like to see Chris Smith stick around but that depends on how many DTS we need on the roster if marks and miller aren't ready for the opener. We have a lot of promising Leo's and not enough snaps.
What does Jedd have to do with Storm?
Quote:I really hope they wouldn't let Chris Smith go. I really like his upside and he flashed a number of times on a limited amount on snaps.
I still would like Clemons around another year, but if it came down to Clem vs Smith, I'd rather roll with Smith. You basically know what you got with Clem. He'll provide some consistent play with at least 1 off sides penalty a game at a costly time. You hope he'll continue to provide 5-8 sacks on the year and ideally best those numbers.
With Smith you really don't know what you have yet. He has a high upside, but he could just be best as a DPR similar to Ryan Davis. He's going to have to be on the field for more then 90 snaps during the entire season to find that out.
I feel it's between Gerhart and Pierce, rather than Storm. Storm still possesses upside where as I think Pierce and Gerhart are all but the same player. Both could play that FB/RB role, but I don't see both of them sticking around.
I can't really see Gratz or Evans going anywhere honestly. Evans will back up Cyp and has a lot of experience in this scheme over the last 2 years. He can man either safety position, if worst came to worst.
Gratz will most likely be the 4th CB on the depth chart and you can't have enough Corners.
Completely agree with you about Clemons vs. Smith.
Looking back at the clips of his limited action last year, Storm didn't really impress me. He had some nice runs, but the blocking was good; any other back could have gone for the same yardage on those plays. Very limited action though. Hopefully he gets the rock during the preseason to sort it all out.
As for Gratz, yeah, I see him as a lock for a roster spot. You need at least 4 capable CB's on the active game day roster. Last year was rough for him, but I think people overreacted a bit. Based on the commentary on this board, you'd think he was the worst CB in the league. I'm hoping it was just a sophomore slump and he bounces back in a big way.
Quote:Completely agree with you about Clemons vs. Smith.
Looking back at the clips of his limited action last year, Storm didn't really impress me. He had some nice runs, but the blocking was good; any other back could have gone for the same yardage on those plays. Very limited action though. Hopefully he gets the rock during the preseason to sort it all out.
As for Gratz, yeah, I see him as a lock for a roster spot. You need at least 4 capable CB's on the active game day roster. Last year was rough for him, but I think people overreacted a bit. Based on the commentary on this board, you'd think he was the worst CB in the league. I'm hoping it was just a sophomore slump and he bounces back in a big way.
In my opinion, it looked like Storm was pressing too much and still wasn't comfortable with the speed of the game. They got his feet wet a little bit and I'm hoping (as well as most everybody else I'm sure) that he'll take that little bit of experience and grow going into year 2.
As much as we'll all want to see Yeldon in the preseason, I think Storm will be the one who gets the heaviest work load. He's going to need to show that he has greatly improved from his first, to second year and I don't see a lot of opportunities for him to show that in the regular season. We all know it's going to be Yeldon and Denard at the top of the RB chart and they shouldn't play very much during the preseason. Let them both get their feet wet a little bit, mainly Yeldon, but that should be about it for the preseason. No need any extra lumps for them going into the regular season. Storm should be the one who gets a good long look in the preseason.
Another interesting thing to note. For a GM who has consistently downplayed the importance of drafting running backs, he sure has shown that he is serious about upgrading the position in a big way.
He's used 3 draft picks on a RB (5th, 7th, 2nd round), signed Toby Gerhart to a big free agency deal, and recently also claimed Bernard Pierce.
He's also had 3 offseasons now to retool the offensive line. If our running game still isn't a strength on this team, what's that say about Caldwell and his ability?
Quote:Another interesting thing to note. For a GM who has consistently downplayed the importance of drafting running backs, he sure has shown that he is serious about upgrading the position in a big way.
He's used 3 draft picks on a RB (5th, 7th, 2nd round), signed Toby Gerhart to a big free agency deal, and recently also claimed Bernard Pierce.
He's also had 3 offseasons now to retool the offensive line. If our running game still isn't a strength on this team, what's that say about Caldwell and his ability?
I'd say you can't really hold a 5th round converted QB and 7th round pick against him that much.
However, the Gerhart signing and now the Yeldon pick, you definitely will be able to hold those against him. He's definitely putting eggs in the basket with the Yeldon pick. We'll see how much the ankle injury really did, or didn't hurt Gerhart this season.
For somebody who has played down the drafting of RBs, he has definitely shown that he understands the importance of having a good one still. You could also add him being interested in Murray as a FA to the list.
I don't understand how people would be surprised to see Chris Smith cut... considering he was cut last year... and only brought back when Branch got hurt.