Mitch
Crawled Through 5 FB Fields
It's a snow day here in Foxboro, MA. So I am fired up for some football talk. Here are some thoughts:
* I think that we are starting to see a bit of a recent Super Bowl trend where younger teams that have found a sudden groove have just the amount of youthful exuberance and confidence to win the whole danged thing. We saw this with the Seahawks, who came within a whisker of winning two in a row. And now we are seeing this with the Panthers. The question is---is it harder for older, more veteran teams to go that extra mile?
For one thing, older, more veteran teams can find themselves feeling all the more desperate----for they know that there are only a limited number of grains of sand in the hourglass. Secondly, older, more veteran teams usually have too much money tied into the veterans at the top of their salary caps in order to have the kind of quality roster depth---which makes it more difficult for them to compensate for key personnel losses due to injury. There is no question that the physical toll of a 16 game season and added playoff games for veteran players is daunting.
Younger teams have the advantage of having a number of key players who have yet to secure big-money contracts. Younger teams don't know any better----they are less apt to feel the desperation that older teams wrestle with. In short, they can play more relaxed and pressure free.
One might say---well, what about the Patriots? What Bob Kraft and Bill Belichick have done so smartly and well is they have managed to keep the roster as young as possible by moving on from aging veterans. And they build the team around the Dorian Grey of the NFL, Tom Brady. Even so, the Patriots, despite making it to the AFC Championship in 10 of the last 15 years (a feat will likely never be matched again), have only won one Super Bowl in the past 10 years!
* So---what about the Cardinals? This year the Cardinals were on a mission and what an exhilarating ride it was. Clearly, their goal was to secure home field advantage throughout the playoffs----and quite frankly, how many times does a 13-2 team find itself a game out of the top seed in Week 17? This season was like the perfect storm for the Panthers---their division isn't as nearly as strong as the Cardinals'---this year they had to play versus the AFC South, the weakest decision in the NFL, while the Cardinals had to play the AFC Central, which produced two playoffs teams. The Panthers took full advantage and they answered the bell, week after week. Will they be able to answer the bell one more time?
* Steve Keim and Bruce Arians have pretty much said in unison that their focus this off-season is to upgrade the pass rush, to shore up the offensive line and to "get younger at certain positions." The fact that they are going to make a conscious effort to get younger at certain positions---is an indication that they completely understand how an infusion of youth can rejuvenate a team. Wasn't it curious that a cadre of the best players in the NFC Championship game for the Cardinals were David Johnson, J.J. Nelson, Rodney Gunter and Tony Jefferson? Curious too that the player who made all the difference in last year's Super Bowl was an undrafted rookie CB named Malcolm Butler.
* BA said something that I found very curious---he said that he didn't think that the answers to upgrading their pass rush would be found in free agency. Hmmm. If that is indeed the case---might we expect a trade? Perhaps even a trade up in the first round? It should be very interesting to see what moves the Cardinals make. I think there are some good pass rushers in free agency---but maybe Keim and Arians have been a little disgruntled by such recent FA misses like Ted Ginn and Sean Weatherspoon. At this point Keim and Arians may be convinced that home grown talent is the way to go, with a sprinkling of short term veteran prove it contracts.
* What also should be fascinating about this off-season is just how intent Arians is at coaching up the likes of Jonathan Cooper, D.J. Humphries, Troy Niklas, Andre Ellington, Ed Stinson, Xavier Williams, Josh Mauro, Kareem Martin, Shaq Riddick, Alani Fua and Justin Bethel. Man---if those players could step up this year---think of how good this Cardinals' team could be and how much money they can save versus the cap by not having to sign more free agents than they have to.
* Assuming that the Cardinals sign their restricted FAs---here is a current projection of the 2016 Roster with starters in CAPS:
QB PALMER (Barkley, TBD)
RB JOHNSON (Ellington, Williams, Taylor)
TE FELLS (Niklas, Momah, Christian)
LT VELDHEER (Crisp)
LG IUPATI (Watford)
C SHIPLEY (TBD)
RG COOPER (Fullington)
RT HUMPHRIES (Watford)
WR FLOYD (John Brown, Nelson)
WR FITZGERALD (Jaron Brown, Shipley)
LDE GUNTER (Rucker, Stinson)
NT PETERS (Williams)
RDE CAMPBELL (Mauro, Redding)
LOLB GOLDEN (Martin, Wagenmann)
LILB MINTER (Gabe Martin)
RILB BUCANNON (Fua)
ROLB OKAFOR (Riddick, TBD)
LCB PETERSON (Brooks)
SS JEFFERSON (Prater)
FS MATHIEU (Swearinger)
RCB BETHEL (Asa Jackson)
P BUTLER
K CATANZARO
LS TBD
* Free Agent & Draft Priorities: OLB/DE, CB, C, QB DE, S, LS.
* Your thoughts? Any questions?
* I think that we are starting to see a bit of a recent Super Bowl trend where younger teams that have found a sudden groove have just the amount of youthful exuberance and confidence to win the whole danged thing. We saw this with the Seahawks, who came within a whisker of winning two in a row. And now we are seeing this with the Panthers. The question is---is it harder for older, more veteran teams to go that extra mile?
For one thing, older, more veteran teams can find themselves feeling all the more desperate----for they know that there are only a limited number of grains of sand in the hourglass. Secondly, older, more veteran teams usually have too much money tied into the veterans at the top of their salary caps in order to have the kind of quality roster depth---which makes it more difficult for them to compensate for key personnel losses due to injury. There is no question that the physical toll of a 16 game season and added playoff games for veteran players is daunting.
Younger teams have the advantage of having a number of key players who have yet to secure big-money contracts. Younger teams don't know any better----they are less apt to feel the desperation that older teams wrestle with. In short, they can play more relaxed and pressure free.
One might say---well, what about the Patriots? What Bob Kraft and Bill Belichick have done so smartly and well is they have managed to keep the roster as young as possible by moving on from aging veterans. And they build the team around the Dorian Grey of the NFL, Tom Brady. Even so, the Patriots, despite making it to the AFC Championship in 10 of the last 15 years (a feat will likely never be matched again), have only won one Super Bowl in the past 10 years!
* So---what about the Cardinals? This year the Cardinals were on a mission and what an exhilarating ride it was. Clearly, their goal was to secure home field advantage throughout the playoffs----and quite frankly, how many times does a 13-2 team find itself a game out of the top seed in Week 17? This season was like the perfect storm for the Panthers---their division isn't as nearly as strong as the Cardinals'---this year they had to play versus the AFC South, the weakest decision in the NFL, while the Cardinals had to play the AFC Central, which produced two playoffs teams. The Panthers took full advantage and they answered the bell, week after week. Will they be able to answer the bell one more time?
* Steve Keim and Bruce Arians have pretty much said in unison that their focus this off-season is to upgrade the pass rush, to shore up the offensive line and to "get younger at certain positions." The fact that they are going to make a conscious effort to get younger at certain positions---is an indication that they completely understand how an infusion of youth can rejuvenate a team. Wasn't it curious that a cadre of the best players in the NFC Championship game for the Cardinals were David Johnson, J.J. Nelson, Rodney Gunter and Tony Jefferson? Curious too that the player who made all the difference in last year's Super Bowl was an undrafted rookie CB named Malcolm Butler.
* BA said something that I found very curious---he said that he didn't think that the answers to upgrading their pass rush would be found in free agency. Hmmm. If that is indeed the case---might we expect a trade? Perhaps even a trade up in the first round? It should be very interesting to see what moves the Cardinals make. I think there are some good pass rushers in free agency---but maybe Keim and Arians have been a little disgruntled by such recent FA misses like Ted Ginn and Sean Weatherspoon. At this point Keim and Arians may be convinced that home grown talent is the way to go, with a sprinkling of short term veteran prove it contracts.
* What also should be fascinating about this off-season is just how intent Arians is at coaching up the likes of Jonathan Cooper, D.J. Humphries, Troy Niklas, Andre Ellington, Ed Stinson, Xavier Williams, Josh Mauro, Kareem Martin, Shaq Riddick, Alani Fua and Justin Bethel. Man---if those players could step up this year---think of how good this Cardinals' team could be and how much money they can save versus the cap by not having to sign more free agents than they have to.
* Assuming that the Cardinals sign their restricted FAs---here is a current projection of the 2016 Roster with starters in CAPS:
QB PALMER (Barkley, TBD)
RB JOHNSON (Ellington, Williams, Taylor)
TE FELLS (Niklas, Momah, Christian)
LT VELDHEER (Crisp)
LG IUPATI (Watford)
C SHIPLEY (TBD)
RG COOPER (Fullington)
RT HUMPHRIES (Watford)
WR FLOYD (John Brown, Nelson)
WR FITZGERALD (Jaron Brown, Shipley)
LDE GUNTER (Rucker, Stinson)
NT PETERS (Williams)
RDE CAMPBELL (Mauro, Redding)
LOLB GOLDEN (Martin, Wagenmann)
LILB MINTER (Gabe Martin)
RILB BUCANNON (Fua)
ROLB OKAFOR (Riddick, TBD)
LCB PETERSON (Brooks)
SS JEFFERSON (Prater)
FS MATHIEU (Swearinger)
RCB BETHEL (Asa Jackson)
P BUTLER
K CATANZARO
LS TBD
* Free Agent & Draft Priorities: OLB/DE, CB, C, QB DE, S, LS.
* Your thoughts? Any questions?
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