Quote:It's disingenuous to call either Bortles or Fowler a miss at his point in time, IMO.  Fowler tore an ACL, which is a huge deal for a defensive lineman, especially one who is heavily reliant on speed.  It's also his first 14 games in the NFL.  There's also the issue of our defensive scheme, which seems to put almost nobody in a position to be successful.  Our coaching has certainly had an impact.

Yeah, Fowler hasn't shown me anything, but too soon to call him a bust, just very underwhelming to this point.


 

Bortles has been awful this year, but when asked, said that nobody on staff had even mentioned his mechanics to him.  He looked great last year (despite the garbage time arguments) and many had pegged both he and Carr as the next great QBs.  Carr improved, he regressed.  It's possible he's not fixable, but he does have talent.  30 other teams missed on Carr, as well.

Agreed. He gets one more year to battle better internal competition and get it together. If not, bye. This is one reason I think the Jags are more attractive to some coaches. If Bortles comes back a gamer, it is gravy. If not, the new coach isn't handcuffed with him. 


 

Our receivers have clearly given up--especially A-Rob.  We scheme nobody open.  We just line them up across from the corners and expect them to beat the coverage.  This entire team has an attitude that screams they've given up--and that reflects leadership.

I would put it a bit differently, but not too much argument. To me it seems the guys genuinely like Gus, but are totally perplexed that their efforts aren't working out better. To me, a lot of that is on coaching, and I get the feeling the guys have little confidence in that area of Gus's job. Total conjecture, but that is my feel. It isn't that they've thrown in the towel, more that they have no faith in the coaches abilities.


 

Joeckel is clearly a bust, but it was the right pick.  That entire draft was awful.  The fact that Cyprien is even average is a victory in my book.

Maybe terminology, but I am gonna brave the rotten tomatoes and say that neither Joeckel nor Cyprien were busts. Obviously, you want your high draft picks to be worthy of a second contract with the team. But to me a bust is an RJ Soward, a Jerry Porter, someone like that. There are disappointments and busts. Disappointments are players that don't live up to what you paid for them, but contributed. Alualu was a bit of a disappointment. Cyprien is a disappointment. Joeckel was a disappointment, but with him, I factor in the non-resigning of Monroe and feel a good bit better. Dave has had a number of disappointments, but the only real flat out busts I can recall are that Watson guy, and Slowby.  Heck even Beadles, as bad as he was was a semi-productive body. Beadles and Gerhardt are the two regular starters I put closest to bust status. 


 

Players have come to this team, looked good, and become worse as time went on.  It's coaching.  The talent gleaned in the later rounds speaks for itself.  It's possible that Caldwell remains unsuccessful, but you can't pin all the problems on him.

Or even most problems. The fact that we have at least a decent talent level (and to my mind one of the better in the division speaks well. To me, our cap situation is equally important, and I think he has done a great job there.