Quote:
Originally Posted by RunKC
It seemed underwhelming bc there were no major moves aside from Jawaan Taylor. I think Veach was very smart this off-season bc he only overpaid for a RT, arguably a top 5 most important position on this team with the philosophy we employ.
But he did not overpay anyone. I have to commend Beach for sticking to his guns with Orlando Brown Jr. Paying him $23 million would have been a big mistake and he knew that.
They had big needs at WR, DE and tackle and they got those guys with the first 3 picks. I wanted Anton Harrison, but I’m cool with Donovan Smith.
We seemed to keep the WR corps together while adding another 2nd rd talent to boost the talent.
If we got Harrison, I’d imagine we would have taken someone like Isaiah McGuire at 95, but I’m very much fine with what we did bc I really like Felix.
The Bengals are out biggest hurdle to getting back to the SB this year and it was proven that you need a quality pass rush to slow their offense down. I love that we got some speed and bend off the edge with Felix and Thompson
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I commend Veach as well for not overpaying for Brown or JuJu. But I think literally every one of us would take Orlando Brown at LT for $16m/year. Hell, I think we'd all take him for $18m/year. Veach's inability to get him down, only for him to trot off and make our biggest rivals better for less, is potentially a disaster that could bite us in the end. That being said, it does take two to tango, and who knows what negotiations looked like behind closed doors.
There is no earthly reason, by the way, why you should be cool with Donovan Smith taking the starting LT job. It's going to collapse, and he's going to get benched. You don't sign competent left tackles in the middle of May for $4m.
We did
not keep the WR corps together. JuJu was our best receiver in the Super Bowl, and he's a Patriot. Mecole had his best season, and he's a Jet. They are replaceable talents, not All Pros or anything. We've upgraded over Mecole with Toney, but it's not clear to me we have an answer to replace JuJu -- Rashee Rice is largely getting redshirted this year. Skyy Moore was far readier than he is now, and had a more NFL-ready skillset.
I do agree with your last paragraph. This team should be able to absolutely wear down offensive tackles all season. Our opponents' tackles are going to be asked to take on FAU one snap, then Karlaftis another, before putting Chris Jones in front of them. It's too much, and I do like our abilities there.
But the DT position is perilous (aside from the All Pro that we don't have under contract beyond this year). I suspect the team will be chomping at the waiver wire all season long, looking for a stout DT who can stop the run.