Fans always get hyped when we add so and so free-agents and so-and-so rookies and proclaim a great year coming. There's only one problem: the other 31 teams in the league are doing so. Yes, our team is improving. The question is, how much have we improved in relative to the rest of the league?
Quote:Additionally he could only build from what was available.
I can't think of someone he's missed out on taking so far.
It's not like Andrew Luck or Randy Moss were available in the 2013 draft, and I think he did really well with the 2014 draft, too. Still, none of the guys taken this year will probably be immediate impacts.
You can't think of someone he's missed out so far? Its still early and these guys careers can change, but if we're going to play hindsight (like we love to do with our former GMs)
1 - Ansah > Luke
2 - Bernard, Alonso, Lacy > Cyprien
3 - Mathieu, Allen > Gratz
5 - Stacy > Robinson
6 - Ellington > Evans
Quite frankly, the top of last year's draft was all promise rather than impact. Luke's season got cut short, Cyp started out slow before turning it up in the 2nd half, and Gratz was in and out of the lineup due to injury. That's our top 3 picks last season. Ace was probably the best pick in the 4th round. This 2013 class lives on "hype" of what they can be, rather than what they actually did last season.
I don't see a problem with the rankings. We had some good pick ups and good picks. But we don't know how good they will be.
Quote:Fans always get hyped when we add so and so free-agents and so-and-so rookies and proclaim a great year coming. There's only one problem: the other 31 teams in the league are doing so. Yes, our team is improving. The question is, how much have we improved in relative to the rest of the league?
Not every team improves. Some teams get old, injured, or cap strapped and get worse.
So far, our team has none of those things working against it.
Last year the Jaguars couldn't get off the field because we couldn't stop the run. With the FA acquisitions of Bryant, Clemons, Hood, and Watson the team will be able to stop the run. This should prevent a lot of the blowouts and make the team much more competitive. The OL also looks much improved with the additions at LG and RG. It may take them a few games to gel, but both the run blocking and the pass blocking should be better. And a one cut runner like Gerhart fits the blocking scheme better than MJD. The team was 22 in passing last year. With the additions of Lee and Robinson with the appearance that the other Robinson learned to catch during the offseason, the team should rank somewhere around 20-15 on passing offense.
So I think the roster is significantly improved from last year. I'm not predicting playoffs, but the roster is significantly improved from last year.