(10-13-2021, 08:05 AM)JagFan81 Wrote: Ive complained for a few years that we let too many players walk after rookie deals as we view them as not good enough or not worth the cash but i also think we have done a bad job at developing that talent through poor coaching and endlessly changing coaches that stops us developing systems and fine tuning plays for individual players. Its painful seeing 'busts' for us go to other teams and have success and something we are seeing more and more.
We have had a number of talented players come here in recent years and then left through trades or contracts expiring and not replaced them with similar or better quality players which then means we have to spend future draft picks and cap trying to find better replacements. Its just a cycle of diminishing returns.
No team has 1st round picks at every position and every team needs to find those 4th round and later picks that they can develop into starter quality. No team is perfect at this but we seem to struggle and not be able to do this far worse than any other franchise and we need to figure out why or we will be stuck in this loop.
Exactly!
I describe this dynamic as drafting on a treadmill. All of that effort expended only to not go anywhere.
It takes time to develop talent. To actually find quality talent and develop it with coaching and experience, only to let them walk away in their primes makes it impossible to accumulate talent, have continuity or progress as a team. It makes it difficult to have an experienced team or have experienced team leaders. The team is always having to overcome inexperience. When you let them walk and then botch things when drafting their replacement, it makes matters far worse.
When the Ramsey controversy flared up, everyone said we were better off without him, he could be replaced, he was a cancer, etc. Same with Ngakoue.
Well are we better off without them?
Since Ramsey left, our pass defense has gone into the toilet. We've highly drafted two players to ostensibly replace him: CJ Henderson and Tyson Campbell. After just over a year past drafting him 9th overall, Henderson has been traded for a 3rd rounder. Campbell was taken in the 2nd round and has played horribly thus far, and has already missed a game or two with injury. Our record since he last played a game for us (Tennessee in week 3 2019) is 6-28...1-20 since teams have had a full offseason to prepare for the team without him. Conversely, since acquiring this cancer, the Rams went 6-3 in 2019 (finished 9-7 overall) , 10-6 last year, making the divisional round of the playoffs, and are considered a Super Bowl contender in the NFC.
In Ngakoue's last full season with the Jaguars, 2019, he had 8 sacks. Josh Allen, then a rookie, was freed to have 10.5 sacks. Since he was traded in 2020 along with Campbell, the pass rush has gone into the toilet. Smoot was our leading sacker with 5.5. In five games this year, we've accumulated only a handful of sacks.
It seems to me if Ramsey and Ngakoue were cancers, then the cure of purging them from the roster is worse than the disease itself. Perhaps the next time someone offers us the snake oil of addition by subtraction of talented and productive players from the roster, we should give a hard pass.
Worst to 1st. Curse Reversed!
