Some initial roster thoughts:
QB: I'm surprised they kept 3 on the roster, and then one on the practice squad. I wonder if the 3 on the active roster is some indication Mariota won't be ready for opening day. It will be interesting to see how this develops. Also, for all those who thought Hartman would get scooped up on waivers, nope.
WR: So far we could name this group "Terry and the other guys." For this group to be a success at the end of the year, at least one, if not 2, of it's members are going to have to have career breakout years.
Dyami Brown: In his career, Brown has 29 receptions for 476 yards. He might need to reach those numbers by Halloween for this to be a successful group. Can he? I don't know.
Olamide Zaccheaus: His career high was 2022, where he had 40 receptions for 533 yards. If he's the primary slot guy, he has to at least match that or better.
Luke McCaffery: He's a rookie. He needs to do SOMETHING.
The way I look at the receivers, my expectation is Daniels should pass for somewhere between 3500 and 4000 yards. Dead average last year (16th) was 3600 yards. If we "give" Terry 1100 yards (he might get more, but that's basically where his best seasons have been), that's still 2500 unaccounted yards. Let's say between TEs and RBs, that's another 1000. That's STILL another 1500 unaccounted for yards. So, betwen Brown, ZAccheus, McCaffery and the others, they have to make up that difference. Or more. Because honestly, Daniels should be closer to 4,000 than 3,500. (4,000 yards passing isn't what it used to be. It's an average of 235 yards a game. Which would qualify as a "good but not great" game.
RB: The fact they kept Rodriguez and Wiley on the PS means there could be movement in this group.
OL: The big question is LT. We'll see. I'm actually the one NOT surprised they didn't pick somebody on waivers. Finding a tackle is hard. There really wasn't anybody in FA to go after, and when they couldn't trade up to get one in the back part of the first round, here we are. The chances you get one better than Trent Scott on cutdown day are, "eh, ok, we're signing another Trent Scott." So just keep the Trent Scott you already have.
TE: There were some in the media who were surprised Turner made it through waivers. Not me. A TE who's not a great blocker, route runner and drops balls doesn't seem to be the type of player who gets claimed off of waivers.
Defense:
DL: I'm surprised Big Phil made it. I also think it's telling they kept 2 DTs on the PS, because if Newton isn't ready to eat snaps in the first couple of weeks, they will need to have a 4th DT active on game day, because you can't expect Allen, Payne and Mathis to split all the snaps. I'll be very interested to see how much play time Jamin Davis gets at edge.
LB: Is it ironic not one of the LBs Ron brought in are LBs this year? Davis is the one one still on the team, and they switched his position.
CB: This group concerns me greatly. I KNOW they're going to try and manufacture pressure to take the pressure off the guys on the outside. Having said that, they're going to have to expect St. Juste, Forbes or Davis (most likely) to hold up on the outside at least a little bit. Can they? Dunno.
Safety: Clearly they are going to use the 5 safeties on special teams a lot. Makes sense. It's going to be interesting to see how many they can get active on game days. 2 rookies and one being an undrafted, that might be good for the future. But it's a lot of safeties.
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