(03-04-2024, 05:53 PM)rpr52121 Wrote:

(03-02-2024, 12:25 AM)Jag149 Wrote: Agreed. The real issue last year was when Kirk got hurt. Zay got nicked up "practicing" against the Lions and never got really healthy. What we need to go with our core receiver set is a big body burner. someone about 6'4".  When everyone is healthy Kirk, Zay and Engram are our core group. Ridley last year was a 20 million dollar receiver with a 5 cent head. He could not be counted on to be where he was suppose to be. That can be covered up if the QB has more time, unfortunately that was not the case in 2023.

Agree they don't need Ridley, but I do think they need a lot more depth and flexibility in that receiver room. I just don't think you can expect TE/WR's to play more than 13 games a year anymore. Yes some do, but it is more the exception. As good as Kirk is and "the role" Zay is for this team, the offense should not have floundered to the levels it did while they were out. I get that their injuries were more the final straws after the O-Line issues, the predictability of the running game, and Lawrence's injury.

But it just seems more and more that Pedersen/Taylor are not great at a full offensive scheme/design pivot mid game or even mid season. That is acceptable, but then you have to have depth at the TE/WR that should be able to prevent the offense from face planting as much as it seem to do in 2023 when the teams faces honestly predictable injuries.

Exactly. They went into the regular season hoping that Ridley, Kirk and Jones would all stay healthy for 17 games. Ridley managed to hold up, the other two didn't. That then left us with Agnew, an oft injured special teams player that has limited experience at WR, who also didn't finish the season because of his proneness to injuries as well. 

After that?

It's Tim Jones, a guy that flashes in preseason but nowhere else. Parker Washington, a rookie, who was also working his way back from a knee injury earlier on during the year and limited with practice, and then, Elijah Cooks, a big bodied receiver that never found his footing to make an impact right away, yet, out of a draftclass that had thirteen or fourteen selections in it, he ended up being the lone undrafted player they kept on the active roster. 

I think WR is a bigger need than people care to realize or admit right now. Even if they address two positions on the offensive line, they still have to show competence, gel, etc. We had no threat of a running game at all last year, which also didn't help anybody. 

Depending on what happens with Ridley? WR to me becomes an immediate need within the first two to three rounds for this football team. This is with me HOPING they manage to address some of the IOL positions and IDL needs in free agency before they get there in the draft. It's tough. Baalke and Pederson thought they were close after that 2022 run. 

They were wrong. This team still has an uphill battle and a long way to go and they really blew it last year with that draft in my opinion.

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