(12-07-2018, 07:44 PM)EricC85 Wrote: From the start I had a problem with the way Caldwell came in and "cleaned house" after 2011. Yes the team needed to be rebuilt but his theory of tear it down to foundation and rebuild was flawed from the start. The problem with blowing a roster up and accepting the next 2-3 years are strictly rebuilding years is two fold. For starters you build a culture of accepting a losing record, that was part of Gus Bradley's problem of just trusting the process. Secondly and even more importantly you have to hit 100% on drafts and free agent acquisitions, there is no margin for error.
After 2011 we had a decent secondary, we had Mathis, Cox, Lowery, and Landry. We had enough of a stop gap at LT in Monroe and we had role players at skill positions in Sims-Walker, Shorts, and Thomas. We had Daryl Smith and Poz at LB but a major whole on the outside, we had needs for pass rushers, we needed to find our QB and we needed help on the o-line. Finally we had an over the hill MJD and we needed a RB to replace him. So in come Caldwell and we gut the secondary, the one area we could've waited to upgrade and cut our starting LT again another area we could've waited to upgrade all in the name of this total rebuild.
I'm in the Caldwell has to go camp, but I hope the next guy up doesn't take the nuclear option Caldwell arrogantly did in 2011. We have some good to above average players worth keeping and some that are good enough to fill in until we find upgrades.
We shouldn't accept ever again that we need to lose in order to win, that we need to gut a roster in order to rebuild it, it just doesn't work. No I'm not expecting miracles and no we won't go from where we are now to back to contending over night but we should see gradual improvement each year.
In the end Caldwell's arrogance is why he is the worse GM we've had as a franchise to date.
I think this is really important to take into consideration. We absolutely dismantled that roster and for 3 seasons we drafted high, we took on any young player with potential, we tried projects (shoelaces), and we basically hoped some would turn good. And they did (Hurns) but most teams have some foundation on which to rebuild on. We started from nothing and it takes a few rotations of rosters and drafts and FA additions/loses for the talent to show through.
We know have some players that are career signings and you can build around but we still have plenty of areas we could improve talent and depth wise. Another big problem, as you state, when your in such a rebuild mode, you can't really build an identity or a style as your basically in trial and error. I don't think since Khan has taken over that we have had a true identity which we build and coach around. Gus had a vague Seattle blueprint that never really happened and Marrone was handed and young roster and told to win with them. I know we are trying the run first and elite D but you have to wonder if it was a one season thing.
I look at teams like Seattle, they have such a huge turnover in roster numbers, trying to improve and they seem to look for players who can do one or two things well and how can we work that in. We seem a bit more rigid and the next guy has to play like the starter even if their skill set is different.
