I'm mostly with you on this. I get that this is a new group, and that I could be wrong on everything I'm seeing/analyzing. But what I'm seeing is incompetence in building a coaching staff, incompetence in free agency, and incompetence in drafting beyond the easy call of taking Maye. I'm seeing a continuation of the last of the BB years, but without the great defensive mind there to offset some of the collapse.
I really hope I'm wrong, because I hate having shitty sports teams in my area.
Yeah, that's pretty much where I am too. They blew off FA, only signing their own players from a 4-13 team, Gibson, and a bunch of dumpster players, leaving 50 million in cap space. I suppose Maye was the safe pick at 3, although leaving Harrison on the board is tough for a team so devoid of talent on offense. Reach for the 'safe' WR at 2, reach for the 13th best OT at 3 (and tell people it's who you targeted all along), leaving some incredibly talented defensive players on the board, which would have been steals for value. Getting Kool-Aid McKinistry in the 2nd round is highway robbery, making Gonzalez dropping last year look normal.
I worry about the coaching. Van Pelt is a pro, but Jerod Mayo hasn't done anything but say things he has to walk back, because he's clearly not in the loop with the front office. Maybe that will help as a head coach, not even having that responsibility, who knows. Covington is a Mayo nepo hire. I have no idea if he can run a defense, let alone one this good. I'm not sure who the QB coach for Maye is going to be. I'm not sure if the o-line will be well coached. I don't know if the WR group can recover from the disaster that was Troy Brown.
The good news is that we'll find out, and find out pretty quickly. I'm really worried about running five 6' 200 lbs 4.5 40 receivers out there in a timing offense like the West Coast 2 (It's the Mike Shanahan version), with a QB in Maye who's scared to throw into tight windows...when all there will be is tight windows. How will the new offense affect Pop Douglas, who won't have nearly as many option routes anymore?
I'm not expecting miracles, and I won't care if they're 6-11 if they at least look like a functioning operation, which they didn't last year. If you're just bad because you're young, that's completely different than being bad because you're not talented.
