Looking at the enormous hole we’re in, I started looking at the “why.” There are lots of reasons, but honestly, one fairly simple one stands out: terrible drafting in recent years.
We did not draft a single contributor in 2022. Channing Tindall is a healthy scratch every week. Ezukanma and Goode aren’t on the 53-man roster. Thompson is a backup who shouldn’t even be that. Our undrafted class were also busts. Kohou is the worst starting nickel in the league, Tanner Conner is fourth string, and Braylon Sanders never panned out.
2023 was not much better. Cam Smith was a bust who’s been surpassed by multiple undrafted players. Elijah Higgins is already gone. Ryan Hayes is out of the league. Three undrafted players made our roster—Bonner, Julian Hill, and Pili—but none has proven to be better than a minimum salary replacement player. Devon Achane was a great pick—he is the only real positive from the entire 2022 and 2023 drafts. It’s no surprise he’s our biggest positive of the season.
It is very early for 2024, but it’s not looking good. Chop isn’t starting even with Chubb out. Paul is in deep freeze behind Lamm. Wright is a rotational back who was inactive when Mostert was healthy. Kamara is a healthy scratch. Both Washingtons are non-contributors who’ve gotten hurt. And McMorris hasn’t played a snap.
Now add to that the fact that our picks in 2021 after the second round were all busts, too (Hunter Long, Larnel Coleman, Gerrid Doaks), and we didn’t find a single positive contributor in the 2021 undrafted class. Robert Jones is the only one still on our roster, and he is terrible.
You cannot compete like this. You can’t build a team exclusively around highly paid veterans and top 10 picks. Great teams find good players in the late rounds and quality starters in the undrafted pools. We don’t. We haven’t acquired a quality young player other than Achane in three years. That’s why we stink.
We did not draft a single contributor in 2022. Channing Tindall is a healthy scratch every week. Ezukanma and Goode aren’t on the 53-man roster. Thompson is a backup who shouldn’t even be that. Our undrafted class were also busts. Kohou is the worst starting nickel in the league, Tanner Conner is fourth string, and Braylon Sanders never panned out.
2023 was not much better. Cam Smith was a bust who’s been surpassed by multiple undrafted players. Elijah Higgins is already gone. Ryan Hayes is out of the league. Three undrafted players made our roster—Bonner, Julian Hill, and Pili—but none has proven to be better than a minimum salary replacement player. Devon Achane was a great pick—he is the only real positive from the entire 2022 and 2023 drafts. It’s no surprise he’s our biggest positive of the season.
It is very early for 2024, but it’s not looking good. Chop isn’t starting even with Chubb out. Paul is in deep freeze behind Lamm. Wright is a rotational back who was inactive when Mostert was healthy. Kamara is a healthy scratch. Both Washingtons are non-contributors who’ve gotten hurt. And McMorris hasn’t played a snap.
Now add to that the fact that our picks in 2021 after the second round were all busts, too (Hunter Long, Larnel Coleman, Gerrid Doaks), and we didn’t find a single positive contributor in the 2021 undrafted class. Robert Jones is the only one still on our roster, and he is terrible.
You cannot compete like this. You can’t build a team exclusively around highly paid veterans and top 10 picks. Great teams find good players in the late rounds and quality starters in the undrafted pools. We don’t. We haven’t acquired a quality young player other than Achane in three years. That’s why we stink.
