Agreed. Thomas and Sanders will take time to develop. Both need work on their body before they are built for the NFL. They have a place in a rotation but I'm not convinced either can start.
Yeah I think they both are projects to a degree. If Thomas is going to play OLB, he's going to need to stay trim and work on getting cut up. I think there is a chance this can happen with JJ Watt in the building.
Sanders needs to get bigger and stronger, kind of different than Thomas.
Gardeck should be back to close to 100%, and I think if he's even 50% of what he was in 2020, he'll be a surprise some of the naysayers on the board. Kennard has been underutilized and he has demonstrated he's at least a solid player. The naysayers are acting like the Cardinals have nothing on the edge and I don't think that's true, but I also don't think this is a strength.
If I'm blowing the $4m from Nuk and the $10m coming from Philips on any position it would be pass rush. Sadly I don't really like Clowney. I don;t like his mercenary attitude or how he thinks he can just skip camp and turn up when the season starts.
Well in Clowney's defense, none of these teams have really committed to him as well. I'd throw a strong contract offer at him and extend Humphries and another contract to pay for him.
There are a couple of possible trades out there I think.
Romeo Okwara from the Lions. Had 10 sacks the year before last on a bad team. Missed most of last year. Okwara is built to play OLB and Lions are switching to a 4 man front. They just drafted Hutch and Pascal and have Charles Harris starting already.
Long shot. I'd call Carolina about Brian Burns. They are nowhere near competing for anything and they are currently already $11m over the cap in 2023. His 5th year option for next year is $16m and they would shed all of it in a trade. Everyone else eating up money on that roster has a massive amount of dead money if cut or moved on. They can restructure guys obviously but I'd still make the call. They are still hunting for a QB and will want all the capital they can get for one of next years top guys.
Some good ideas here. Okwara could be a beast playing 3-4 here. It's much easier to rush the passer when you have a somewhat competent offense that can score some points.
Burns would be made to order, and few pass rushers intrigue me more, but Carolina is funny in that they don't understand how far off they are and they wouldn't give him up without really good trade compensation. I'd probably only at most a 1st with Carolina throwing in a 3rd for him because of the uncertainty.