I don't think I've ever seen such a violent teardown of a roster. It began with signing dozens of free agents, proceeded to the draft, and continued through (at least yesterday). We've seen a lot of coaching and even Front Office turnover. I've never seen this degree of roster churn in one season. Have to admit I mostly like it, but am surprised.
I'd guess in being as aggressive as they are that some mistakes will be made. Some young players with unrealized potential will surface elsewhere or steady vets will be missed on a team to thin on talent, but there is no question that we are undergoing a top to bottom rebuild. That they want to start as fresh as possible and that they believe what was left behind contained foundational rot and mold so that even some some of the good lumber needs to be looked on with skepticism.
There was an interesting discussion on sports radio I caught a few minutes of yesterday while driving. It basically asked, "If you graded the current wide receiver group a B- what would you grade it with Dotson still aboard?" My initial thought was a B, but all the guys on the radio said that they would still grade the unit a B-. In other words, his absence would not elevate this group at all. I think they're probably wrong, but maybe not by much. In regards to this post, I think that Dotson move represents a key factor. I think there were Washington vets we could have re-signed or kept, their are players cut who could have stayed, but how much better would a guy like KJ Henry make us? Likely, the answer is that we'd be treading water. We'd be keeping a player who would max out at "okay."
Now, "okay" is not a bad thing. You need your blue collar players. You need steady, reliable, hard workers. Still, when looking at the cuts and many of the surprise Rivera draft pick cuts which of them would you keep because you believe they would elevate the team? Which do you think could transcend "okay?" And in sports is okay actually harmful? Does it lead you into that treading water of 8-8-1 that we've been in since Gruden and through Rivera?
So while I'm a little surprised that we gave up on some guys too soon, I'm not upset. Still, who'd a thought that Peters would look at our roster and think, "You know what? Get your marshmallows, boys, because I'm going to start a bonfire."
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