I have faith the oline can be average without pouncey and survive the first 8weeks. I have zero faith that the LBs will be average, in fact they may be worse with the shuffling that the coaches have done.
This franchise has failed to address the LB, safety, and TE position through the draft(1st and second round prospects that is) and it has hurt us for a while now
This is a byproduct of bad drafting and bad FA signings. This is probably just as big of a problem as any that Philbin inherited: We couldn't draft and we are aweful at finding FA contributors. The long term impact of all of this starts to show its ugly head with deficiencies in starters and backups team wide. We have had a talent problem for a long time. It has eroded this team since Jimmy left. Wanny started the process and it never has subsided completely. Each new year compounds the deficiencies, yet we are still given the same amount of resources to address the new problems and the old problems. It's a debt you can never repay unless you A) Get lucky or B) Start from scratch.
You cannot continue to pour draft resources and FA resources into the same position or group year after year and not expect it to impact the rest of the team. We have wasted so many resources trying to fix the OL that we have depleted other positions of talent. We've not replenished the other positions with talent and backups. Now, we are razor thin at a few positions in the starter talent discussion.
I know Wheeler, Ellerbe and Wallace are bad marks for us during Philbin's tenure and his presence has yielded average drafts and average FA signings overall. And we were so bad that "average" was an improvement.
Now that Ireland has been shown the door and Hickey has arrived..... we are seeing even more improvement. Hickey's draft has been, thus far, probably the best draft since Jimmy left. The amount of contributors he has gained from drafting and UDFA is astonishing for us. That's not to say he is the best drafting GM in the league, but it is to say he was able to draft players better than we had on our roster. And that is improvement.
I think signing Albert, Mitchell, Moreno and Finnegan make us a much better team and on the plus side of grading our FA. Some signings may not be world beaters, but when you net a lot of improvement from your signings... it's a good year.
Here's the truth. Hickey needs at least 1 or 2 more off seasons to completely give Philbin what he needs. Unfortunately, Philbin was saddled with Ireland and that wasted his first 2 years. He is still the HC and he must coach on the field. But when you look at the different areas that impact his tenure, you can see that Hickey gives Philbin more chances to succeed than Ireland. In fact, reflecting on the offensive line debacle from last year, starting with Long's departure all the way to McKinnie's arrival, you could see where Ireland was not trying to help Philbin. Ireland's ego played too much into his decisions and he didn't make obvious efforts to give Philbin solutions and alternatives to the OL problems we had.
Hickey's Year 1 is the best offseason we've had, measuring all offseasons to THIS POINT in the year each year, since Jimmy.
Now ask yourself, how long has it been since Jimmy was here?
Do you honestly think we can fix this in one year? No. But we have pieces. And Hickey is filling in around them nicely. It will take more time but we are finally on an upward path. We have starters and we have depth. That's more than we've been able to say in a long time.
I believe next year Hickey will continue churning over the LBs. Wheeler and Ellerbe will soon enough be distant memories. Misi, McCain and Tripp represent what the future core will resemble. And I think Hickey will plug some upper round talent in their next year to give us possibly better options than them. But plucking a 5th rounder and UDFA to bolster depth and threaten the starters is a massive indicator that Hickey has an eye for talent. And it's also great to know after Round 3, Hickey is still firing bullets at our roster with talent and looking for ways to maximize his draft value.
It sucks knowing we have had so much to fix. But it also feels great knowing these days are sliding into our rear view mirror.
