We are nearing the middle of June and most of the NFL off-season personnel, coaching, and general changes/events are complete. Teams are back on the field for their off-season activities and the 2010 season is beginning to come into focus. This is the time to reflect on which teams may have improved themselves and which teams may be on a downward slide with their moves over the past 4-5 months. These off-season grades take into account 1) Player trades 2) Free agent additions/losses 3) Coaching changes, including coordinators 4) Front Office changes 5) Draft picks 6) Draft day trades 7) Any off-the-field problems/suspensions 8) Announced Depth Chart Changes Arizona Cardinals: This organization has had massive changes in the roster over the past 16 months since their Super Bowl appearance. I like a lot of the moves they have made in free agency and trades, adding Rhodes, Faneca, and Porter to fill voids. Their draft was pretty good and if Williams and Washington turn into starters right away, their holes on defense may be filled already. However, this team is going to sink or swim based on Matt Leinart. I have never viewed Leinart as a legitimate NFL starter, going back to when he was first drafted. I question them handing him the reigns but apparently they feel he deserves one more shot. If they had a better solution at QB, this grade would have been much higher. Cardinals Grade: C + Atlanta Falcons: I thought the Falcons overpaid for Dunta Robinson but apparently they love the guy. Their draft was mediocre. If Witherspoon is a bust, it will probably cost VanGorder his job because Spoon was the only major change they made to improve their obvious weakness. I understand Peria Jerry is supposed to be back healthy this year but they are going to need him to play at a pro-bowl level just to bring their front 7 up to an average level. Falcons Grade: D Carolina Panthers: There has been so much dysfunction on this team recently that this may be a case of addition by subtraction. This team has gutted much of their roster and I can’t help but think they got rid of the guys that they considered to be ‘the problem’. They have a lot of young talent already on the roster and their draft was decent even though they didn’t have a 1st round pick. Panthers Grade: B Chicago Bears: I’ve always been a Chester Taylor fan and if Peppers is now motivated to play, he could be huge for them. Their draft was insignificant because they didn’t have very many picks left. Martz is a decent O-coordinator but I’m not sure if he is going to be able to work any magic with the lack of talent on the offensive side of the ball. Their continuing neglect of the WR position is perplexing. Bears Grade: D Dallas Cowboys: The Cowboys apparently felt they were in a position of luxury to be able to add more depth at WR with their first pick in the draft. I'm not sure if I feel the same way but it's not my team. If Bryant ends up being a stud then it wasn’t a bad move. If the Cowboys give up 30 points a game this year, then maybe we will question them drafting offense when there appear to be holes on defense. For the most part, this off-season has been very quiet for the boys. The release of Flozell was the biggest news. Nothing really interesting either way with them this off-season. Cowboys Grade: C Detroit Lions: Understandably, the Lions have been one of the busiest teams in the trade/free agent market during the last couple of off-seasons. Their roster does not resemble anything like their 0-16 roster …. And that’s probably a good thing, right? Having said that, I understand their desire to bring in new players, I’m just not sure if they’re thinking through each decision properly. It’s almost as if they’re changing just for the sake of changing. I don’t think getting rid of Sims was necessarily a good thing and I can’t say any of the players they have acquired in their numerous trades this off-season do much for me. Obviously, their draft will be a success if Suh is a beast in the middle. Lions Grade: B – Green Bay Packers: As usual, the Packers were very quiet in free agency, instead choosing to re-sign players and fill holes via the draft and undrafted free agents. It is a formula that has been working for them for several years but will they miss Schneider’s talent evaluation? Kampmann wasn’t fitting in the 3-4 so he should not be a major loss for them. They seem to have a large number of players who are experiencing off-the-field problems, though, and that does not bode well. Packers Grade: C Minnesota Vikings: We still aren’t sure who will be under center for this team when Week 1 kicks off. In general, the Vikes seem satisfied with their roster, making very few changes. Their draft was considered one of the poorest this year but they probably don’t care. This team is built to win NOW and if they don't, they're going to blow the thing up anyway. Vikings Grade: D New Orleans Saints: They had a lot of players they needed to re-sign and they got the large majority of them re-signed, which is a little unusual coming off of a SB win. They decided to let Fujita, Bell, and Grant walk. Their draft was just considered ‘fair’ or their grade would be higher. Gregg Williams showed last season why he is considered one of the best defensive minds in the game and he didn’t get snatched away either. The Saints remain mainly intact, which is a successful off-season. Saints Grade: B New York Giants: This team is going through some major changes on defense. Their 1-year experiment with Sheridan didn’t work out but I really like Fewell as a D-coordinator. I felt he was very underrated in Buffalo, working with a lack of talent. They have gotten rid of a lot of their defensive roster and they will need some young players to step up in order for this to work. Their draft was ok, but they may have reached with the Pierre-Paul pick. Giants Grade: C+ Philadelphia Eagles: This team continued with their ultimate plan to get younger. They traded or released several more older veterans this off-season and they seem to have gotten good value in return. The 2010 season will tell us if they have gutted too many veterans, though, and become ‘too young’. I thought their draft was very good and they ended up with a ton of picks after all their trades. Obviously, Kolb will have to make people forget all about McNabb and that will determine if my grade is accurate or not. If he flops, this grade will look really bad. Eagles Grade: A – Seattle Seahawks: If you are a Seahawks fan, you may not want to read this because I’m having trouble finding anything positive to say other than their draft. First off, I don’t like Carroll as a pro coach. The guy belongs in college football. The 2 jobs are very different. In addition, the Hawks have lost a lot of talent this off-season and their attempts to replace it seems to have blown up in their faces. I’m not sure why Schneider has been so aggressive in trades/free agency when he has no experience with it. It’s almost as if since he’s never been allowed to participate in those things that he is a kid running wild in a candy store even though he has no idea what he is doing. His attempts at trades/FA have been a colossal failure. On the bright side, what Schneider DOES know (drafting), seems to have gone better for him. Their draft is generally regarded as the best of the year. However, will we feel differently if Okung and/or Thomas flop? Seahawks Grade: D San Francisco 49ers: There isn’t a whole lot going on with this team this off-season other than a major shake-up in their secondary. It’s obvious that the coaches felt like the problem with their defense was with the talent instead of the scheme. I think it was the right decision. Their draft has been regarded as very solid. Frank Gore probably felt like it was Christmas in July with the talent he’s going to have blocking for him. 49ers Grade: B – St. Louis Rams: The Rams continue to make major changes in their roster, and for the right reasons. They needed to part ways with the veterans that weren’t getting the job done and start over. In fact, they probably should have made some of these move a couple of years ago. We really won’t know if this draft was a success until we see if Bradford can be successful at the NFL level. Not weighing too much into the Bradford pick, I like many of the other moves they made this off-season. Their ownership situation needs to get rectified shortly, though, or it could become an issue. Rams Grade: B Tampa Bay Buccaneers: And the official rebuilding project has begun. They took a few baby steps toward rebuilding last off-season but with the purge of veterans this off-season, the rebuilding project is in full mode and it was the right thing to do. Raheem likes a lot of the young talent that was already on his roster and they appear to have had a very solid draft. I do not like the fact that Raheem still feels the need to run the defense along with being HC and, in general, I feel that there has been a lot of dysfunction surrounding this team for a couple of years. I question the talent level on this team but time will tell if their young players are going to be able to succeed. Bucs Grade: C Washington Redskins: The Redskins added a ton of older veterans this off-season and I have a feeling that when the final rosters are set before the season, the Redskins will be the oldest one in the league. The question about all of these older players is, “Are most/all of them washed up?â€. We know Shanahan got very aggressive in free agency his last few years in Denver and it may have been his undoing. Is he just continuing where he left off and why does he think it’s going to work this time? Their draft was poor, as usual, and that’s the main reason this franchise has floundered under Snyder. If I didn’t like McNabb so much, this grade would be an ‘F’. Redskins Grade: D
Eagles at an A-? Little high imo... Redskins a little low. Just bringing in Shanahan and Bruce Allen gives the Redskins a grade higher than a D. McNabb lifts it a little as well. The additions of LJ and Parker....meh...but just the coach and GM lifts it above a D in my book.
yes, if Kolb flops, that A- is going to look very bad. And, I think Shanahan is a good coach but he is a horrible personnel guy and this off-season reeks of his hands being involved in all of the free agent/trade moves, which were a disaster in Denver. The only positive I see for the skins from this off-season is McNabb. IF Shanahan had just focused on coaching, they would be further ahead of where they are, but I think he's meddling again and that's not good ......
We only gave up 15.4 points per game, second to the Jets a02: The only real hole we have on defense is at FS. And even thats not so much of a hole as much as it is marginal. At worst we roll with Alan Ball, who started 4 games when Hamlin was hurt. Ball is the type that will neither help nor hurt your defense
those are fair points. although, they made most of their impact with their run defense. i'm not completely sold on everyone in the secondary. partly, that can be blamed on scheme because phillips likes to play fairly aggressively so he's usually got his OLB's going after the QB and has his ILB's stuffing the run in the middle and it often leaves his DB's on an island. Having said that, I still feel very confident that this team needed a DB or more depth on the D-line way more than a WR.
Our DL is stacked. We are 4 deep at DE and Lissamore could be a good flex DE/NT in our system. IMO, our biggest issue is depth at CB if Ball wins the FS spot. That would make Gordon, Wall or McCann the #4 (exactly......"who") With the draft, outside of McCourty and Wilson, there wasnt a DB worth our pick. And WR was as big a need as CB, if not bigger. Value wise, Bryant was a much better pick than McCourty or Wilson would have been. IMO, I cant grade our offseason until I see Free or Ball/Hamlin play. Free is the reason we didnt make a run at one of the countless LT's available via trade. And the FO would rather roll with Ball or Hamlin that drop alot of cash on a FA FS
i agree that it was a good thing that they didn't drop their shorts for a LT or FS in free agency or trades. That would not have been the right thing to do. And we are on the same page regarding the secondary. It has a lot of question marks. I wouldn't call their d-line stacked though. there is room for improvement. the scheme that phillips runs makes his front 7 look better than they actually are and makes his secondary look worse than it actually is. and i don't agree that WR was a bigger need than CB. With Austin, RW, Crayton, Witten, Barber, Jones, and Choice already on the offense and very capable (if Garrett calls the right plays, which is sometimes questionable), using a first round pick on another ball handler WAS a luxury pick and it would have been smarter to add talent/depth to O-line/D-line/secondary.
CB wont be a need for another year. We need someone to from behind Newman so we can keep Scandrick at "star", and Newman still has a couple more quality seasons. Any CB we would have drafted would have been no more than a #4, and its a weak year for CB's anyways. Our starters have to play Man and Zone equally well, and Wilson and McCourty are desent but not great fits for our scheme With the Bryant pick you also have to remeber that Williams was terrible in 2009, and Austin still has no extention. More question marks at starting WR than CB, where we have 2 Pro Bowl CB's IMO with the players we have DL and CB are area's that should be adressed more in the 2010 draft than the 2009. A good camp and Lissemore push's Savaii off the roster, fullfilling our only immediate need, and Spears and one of Bowen or Hatcher will most likley be extended. We got 60 combined hurries off the bench from Bowen and Hatcher
when i have a few hours free to put it all together. may try tonight depending on what my daily planner (wife) has planned .............. :icon_cheesygrin:
depending on how much the redskins can get for haynesworth and where haynesworth goes could change a couple of the off-season grades ...............
lol...good assessment Captain...except for "liking McNabb so much." Addition of McNabb takes the grade to an F.
it would be a great addition if the Skins had any offensive talent. Lookin forward to Mcnabb being elsewhere and performing well when he has some talent around him.
Couldn't have seen this coming without a crystal ball & some magic mushrooms... It defies reason but the chemistry within the most unique coaching staff in the NFL has been the most surprising. While the thought of having 3 former HCs at OC, DC, & offensive line originally seemed to work against the idea of cohesiveness, it instead seems to have helped pull together & light a fire under both offense & defense despite the obvious shortcomings. Who would have thought that Mike Martz would actually alter his modus operandi to the point that the Bears in the last 8 games are the only team to have rushed more times than pass (238-231)? He's coaching to the strengths while helping defray the weakness like the OL with shorter drops, keeping Cutler on the move more, & finally getting some semblance of the run to cut in helping keep Ds honest. Still wanting to HC in the NFL seems to have made him work on his stubbornness. Rod Marinelli has brought back a passion to the D that's been sorely missed the last few years along with more aggressiveness lacking under Lovie Smith. He's universally respected by all the players football-wise & personally. Of course having Peppers wreaking havoc week in & out along with Urlacher healthy hasn't hurt none either. Much better at bring/disguising the pressure including blitzes than we've seen in a long time. The DL isn't just pillars of salt either with the young talent along with a career year by Idonije. Mike Tice has coached out of his mind with at least 4 different lineups & some mighty shrewd assessments that actually have given us a halfway decent run game & better protection than earlier in the year. Forte/Taylor finally have some room to maneuver that wasn't there for half a season. The move to put Hester back at least on PRs has been a key move but I won't be patting anyone on the back for undoing a move that never should have happened in the first place. He's turning into a decent #3 but at a cost that was ridiculous from the TDs/long runs to the FP that comes from teams trying not to kick him the ball. All that happens from him not even having to touch the ball. Still pissed about that idiotic 'brainstorm'...:icon_rolleyes: STs maven Dave Toub...just outstanding. Been a rock for many a year & saved us more than we've deserved. & kudos to Smith for obviously letting the respective coaches do what they were brought in to do. He's still calling the shots & hasn't let his ego get in the way. Still believe the lack of vision at WR & OL is just short of criminal but am ecstatic with what's been accomplished so far. More than concerned about the playoffs & afraid those same weaknesses'll turn 2010 into a very good regular season memory but stranger things have happened... well, like this year so far.
yep, i knew they had a good draft but i still had questions about raheem's direction and abilities. he definitely had a direction in mind for the team and has done better than i thought he would. yep, i thought a couple of the additions would help but martz and tice have done a much better job with questionable talent than i ever thought they could.
