Quote:my argument is this:

Marcedes Lewis is a good overall TE.  Yes, he's overpaid.  I think it would be unwise to get rid of him and create another massive hole on this team when we already have a lot of other needs to fill.  He's overpaid but we are WELL under the cap, so him being on this team isn't limiting us in what we can do in free agency.

 

The Coordinators are kind of like Gus Bradley.  We can't judge them just yet.  I firmly believe the primary impairment for success is our lack of talent.  Our coordinators and coaches have developed young guys (Branch, Pasztor etc) where that hasn't happened in years previously.  This is one of the first time in years where we've had at least somewhat of a pass rush through parts of the year.  That alone is huge improvement.   I'm not claiming they did a great job, I'm saying that they did an OK job given the guys they had to work with.

 

Marcedes is an average TE. Average. Go through all the starting TE in this league and you'll see it. And paid like a top 5 TE in this league. Again with this "were well under the cap so its okay to overpay him" is just ridiculous. Among other things, I don't think that sends a good message as far as future contracts coming up. Players could point to Marcedes contract and say, well shoot, you're willing to pay him league best money for being only average, so why not me?.... And thats only one of the many reasons why he should be either out the door or given a major pay cut. (not restructure, accept pay cut or gone)

 

As for the other argument I disagree. The position coaches bear the brunt of player development. The Coordinator takes some credit due to scheme aiding in putting those players in position to succeed, no doubt. But in the case of a DL improving his QB sack total for instance, a lot of that can be traced to DL coaching he's getting. 

 

I just don't see how you can give the DC a pass when he presides over a defense that gave up 450 points and was unable to really contain ANY of the good offenses we played. Usually in a year like this, theres at least that ONE game or 2 where you can point to and say that "Wow, the defense really overachieved that game and held a great offense down" or they outright contribute to an upset victory over said good team. We had none of that this season. The only games we were impressive on D was against the bad teams, and thats actually typical for Babich if you look at his history in Chicago. His tenure while as DC there constantly gave up too many points. And he had the personnel, so what were seeing now is a continuance of his past. 

 

Quote:first 8 games we were outscored on average 33-11 ...0wins, 8loss

last 8 games we were outscored on average 23-20... 4wins, 4loss

 

A big part of that was the opposition we faced.  It is also clear improvement.  For a historically bad team early on that preaced "improvement"... they have shown improvement.  At least enough to keep their jobs IMO (the coordinators).

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