Is Adam Peter's Strategy Off-Course?

[SkinsLife]

2024 success was the biggest curve ball in hind sight... Peters thought the team was close and decided to go all in to win a superbowl. He misread the team success... to being a one off lucky season. Then 25 caught up and we realized that the team is nowhere close with the current personnel.
1. D coordinators had a full year game tape on this O
2. lots of injuries, compared to rarely few last year
3. harder schedule
4. 24 draft is looking weak, 25 is looking OK but not great.
5. Older FAs are showing their age..

We need to a mini blow up, where they trade veterans for draft pics and build right (like Rams)

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

2024 success was the biggest curve ball in hind sight... Peters thought the team was close and decided to go all in to win a superbowl. He misread the team success... to being a one off lucky season. Then 25 caught up and we realized that the team is nowhere close with the current personnel.
1. D coordinators had a full year game tape on this O
2. lots of injuries, compared to rarely few last year
3. harder schedule
4. 24 draft is looking weak, 25 is looking OK but not great.
5. Older FAs are showing their age..

We need to a mini blow up, where they trade veterans for draft pics and build right (like Rams)

See, I disagree entirely with this. He didn't go all in at all. If anything, he was overly cautious. Let's look at the moves we made in the 2025 off-season:

Deebo Samuel trade: 2025 5th round pick for what might be a one year rental. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that Deebo's production this year will be better than at least 30 of the 32 players picked in the 5th round, and it's a 5th round pick. This isn't a big swing.
Tunsil trade: This was the biggest move of the off-season. The Commanders got Tunsil + a 2025 4th for a 2025 3rd and 7th + 2026 2nd and 4th. Is this a big swing? Yes. But I'd argue any team at any point who has the ability to get a top 5 LT should go for it. Also, the Commanders were picking 29th in the draft, so getting a blue chip prospect in the draft wasn't a possibility. They wanted to protect Daniels better, and that's a fine move.

Here are the other 2025 Free Agents. Point to the one which is an "all-in" type of move:
Bobby Wagner: Linebacker (Re-signed)
Marcus Mariota: Quarterback (Re-signed)
Zach Ertz: Tight End (Re-signed)
Javon Kinlaw: Defensive Tackle
Jonathan Jones: Cornerback
K.J. Osborn: Wide Receiver (Re-signed then released)
Deatrich Wise: Defensive End
Nate Herbig: Guard
Clelin Ferrell: Defensive End
Tress Way: Punter (Re-signed)
Jeremy McNichols: Running Back (Re-signed)
Will Harris: Safety
Michael Deiter: Center (Re-signed)
Noah Brown: Wide Receiver (Re-signed)
Sheldon Day: Defensive Tackle (Re-signed)
Trenton Scott: Offensive Tackle (Re-signed)
Noah Igbinoghene: Cornerback (Re-signed)
Jacob Martin: Defensive End
Eddie Goldman: Defensive Tackle

I bolded the only 4 new FA signings which are starters, and that's even iffy with Jonathan Jones, he played a bit before he got hurt, but was more of a reserve.

We've seen "go all-in" once in the last 30 years: The 2000 Redskins signing the entirety of the 1992 pro-bowl team including Bruce Smith, Mark Carrier, Jeff George Deion Sanders and others. That was going all in. Just going all in badly.

What Peters did is re-sign a bunch of players from last year, traded a mid-round pick for a WR2, and then made one big trade for Tunsil.

That does not constitute going all in.

If they had traded for Hendrickson, signed Stephon Diggs to 3 year, $69m dollar deal or traded for DK Metcalf, thrown big money at Josh Sweat, those would have been examples of going all in. They did none of those things.

Also, the Rams, FWIW, didn't have a first round pick for the better part of a decade because they kept trading them for players. They have re-built well, but they did go all-in for a while. They got a SB out of it, now they have had to re-set.

The difference is Peters started with nothing.

The other good news is just about all of the FAs we signed were on 1 year deals, so there is no implication for them long term. Hell, even the Terry deal was essentially a 1 year extension. He'll be on the team next year, then they have an easy out.

 

[bowhunter]

The proverbial proof is lying in our 3-5 pudding. AP relied upon the unreliable. The gamble on when Father Time pays a visit to the oldest roster in the league got called. We all drank the Koolaid right along with him and convinced ourselves that the simple addition of a true NFL QB and an energetic coach could do the unthinkable. I'm voting "Win now was a fools errand" and will be the first to admit that I was the #1 fool. We now have a good number of glaring holes and significantly less draft ammo to correct that. On top of that, aside from the #2 overall pick, AP hasn't shown himself to be overly gifted in choosing how we utilize the few picks we have. So for the 2026 draft, we have TWO picks in the first 5 rounds (and more than 2 holes to fill. ) So yeah, I'm not optimistic that it's fair to blame our less than rosy outlook on on anything other than gambling and losing.

Now that^^ is much more realistic than I am. I'm a Rose colored glasses, Koolaid drinking, Diehard, loyal, watch every game until the end kinda guy here. So I'll still be around in 2029 when we have a better chance than we do next year.

 

[method man]

I think they have overoptimized for special teams ace types who are great on teams but may not have the skills to step in and provide competent play on defense.

Safety is an example of this. We have three guys in Reaves, Butler and Owens who are here for teams. Out of the three, maybe Reaves can provide solid play on D. However, we have seen Butler as a defender before and it is ugly. Owens’s football IQ is too low to work on D as well.

 

[SkinsLife]

See, I disagree entirely with this. He didn't go all in at all. If anything, he was overly cautious. Let's look at the moves we made in the 2025 off-season:

Deebo Samuel trade: 2025 5th round pick for what might be a one year rental. There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that Deebo's production this year will be better than at least 30 of the 32 players picked in the 5th round, and it's a 5th round pick. This isn't a big swing.
Tunsil trade: This was the biggest move of the off-season. The Commanders got Tunsil + a 2025 4th for a 2025 3rd and 7th + 2026 2nd and 4th. Is this a big swing? Yes. But I'd argue any team at any point who has the ability to get a top 5 LT should go for it. Also, the Commanders were picking 29th in the draft, so getting a blue chip prospect in the draft wasn't a possibility. They wanted to protect Daniels better, and that's a fine move.

Here are the other 2025 Free Agents. Point to the one which is an "all-in" type of move:
Bobby Wagner: Linebacker (Re-signed)
Marcus Mariota: Quarterback (Re-signed)
Zach Ertz: Tight End (Re-signed)
Javon Kinlaw: Defensive Tackle
Jonathan Jones: Cornerback
K.J. Osborn: Wide Receiver (Re-signed then released)
Deatrich Wise: Defensive End
Nate Herbig: Guard
Clelin Ferrell: Defensive End
Tress Way: Punter (Re-signed)
Jeremy McNichols: Running Back (Re-signed)
Will Harris: Safety
Michael Deiter: Center (Re-signed)
Noah Brown: Wide Receiver (Re-signed)
Sheldon Day: Defensive Tackle (Re-signed)
Trenton Scott: Offensive Tackle (Re-signed)
Noah Igbinoghene: Cornerback (Re-signed)
Jacob Martin: Defensive End
Eddie Goldman: Defensive Tackle

I bolded the only 4 new FA signings which are starters, and that's even iffy with Jonathan Jones, he played a bit before he got hurt, but was more of a reserve.

We've seen "go all-in" once in the last 30 years: The 2000 Redskins signing the entirety of the 1992 pro-bowl team including Bruce Smith, Mark Carrier, Jeff George Deion Sanders and others. That was going all in. Just going all in badly.

What Peters did is re-sign a bunch of players from last year, traded a mid-round pick for a WR2, and then made one big trade for Tunsil.

That does not constitute going all in.

If they had traded for Hendrickson, signed Stephon Diggs to 3 year, $69m dollar deal or traded for DK Metcalf, thrown big money at Josh Sweat, those would have been examples of going all in. They did none of those things.

Also, the Rams, FWIW, didn't have a first round pick for the better part of a decade because they kept trading them for players. They have re-built well, but they did go all-in for a while. They got a SB out of it, now they have had to re-set.

The difference is Peters started with nothing.

The other good news is just about all of the FAs we signed were on 1 year deals, so there is no implication for them long term. Hell, even the Terry deal was essentially a 1 year extension. He'll be on the team next year, then they have an easy out.

I mostly agree with you. All in was not the right term... but my point stands. The mistake was trying to solve major holes with average at best (at this point in their career) stop gaps. I dont have a problem with the Debo and Tunsil trades in a vacuum, but the issue is that neither will still be on the team when/ we become good enough to be superbowl bound.
I do have an issue with the Ertz, Wagner, Brown stop gaps that were nothing special last year and got slower in 25 vs rookies or draft pics. Rams didnt have a 1st rd pick for a few years... but .. they won a superbowl due to their existing talent (they were truly a QB away) and they hit on a bunch of their mid round pics.. something Peters has not done. This team does not have any special talent.. and even with JD, were were never a QB away. Talent evaluation and coaching is also weak here... something i hope changes here soon.

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

I mostly agree with you. All in was not the right term... but my point stands. The mistake was trying to solve major holes with average at best (at this point in their career) stop gaps. I dont have a problem with the Debo and Tunsil trades in a vacuum, but the issue is that neither will still be on the team when/ we become good enough to be superbowl bound.
I do have an issue with the Ertz, Wagner, Brown stop gaps that were nothing special last year and got slower in 25 vs rookies or draft pics. Rams didnt have a 1st rd pick for a few years... but .. they won a superbowl due to their existing talent (they were truly a QB away) and they hit on a bunch of their mid round pics.. something Peters has not done. This team does not have any special talent.. and even with JD, were were never a QB away. Talent evaluation and coaching is also weak here... something i hope changes here soon.

But my counter to this is what else do you do? You have to use veteran stop gaps because if you're essentially building a team from scratch, what other option do you have?

They could have moved on from Ertz and Wagner this season, but then bring in who at what price? You can't go top of the market at all positions of need, because we needed all positions. So Peters had to pick and choose and use stop gaps while he, well, fills the gaps.

They identified Luvu, Biadacz and Allegretti as guys they wanted longer term deals with last year. Luvu and Biadacz were immediate hits, and Allegretti was great for the amount of salary they paid him.

This year, it's Kinlaw and Wise.

Peters is being judicious so he doesn't get stuck in a bad cap situation or if he signs a guy who doesn't work out.

And Tunsil will probably, assuming they extend him in the off-season, be the LT for 3-4 more years. LTs play well into their 30's. Deebo, no. But he was a 5th round pick. So what?

And saying the Rams didn't have a first round pick for a few years, they didn't have a first round pick from 2017 - 2023, that'5 years, they picked a guy in 2024 (Jared Verse), and then they didn't have a pick in 2025 either. That's no first round picks in 6 of 7 years. That's WILD.

And it's way too early to judge either of the drafts Peters had. It's the instant gratification society we live in, but it takes 3 years to judge a draft class, we're not even at 1.5. And the mid-round picks are the ones who take the longest to develop.

 

[Chris]

Peters inherited the most uncomfortable of positions…smack in between that proverbial rock and hard place.

 

[Chris]

For the record my vote is for- All of the Above.

 

[method man]

I think the strategy is fine. Don’t forget Ron left this roster with basically no talent. McLaurin and Cosmi were about the only locked in starters. There were a few other guys who were maybe ok but not many.

So Peter’s had no choice but to sign a whole bunch of guys who were later in their careers for short contracts to fill out the roster.

There aren’t enough talented guys in FA to build a full team by offering bug money contracts to good players.

The general strategy seems to be to keep as much flexibility with the cap as long as possible. Then draft guys and eventually it switches.

But when you essentially are given an expansion team, there’s only so much you can do.

The one probably then ran into was the were so far ahead of schedule the took a shot to fix the secondary. It didn’t work. I didn’t mind the attempt. It just didn’t work out.

I will never have a problem Trading for a top-5 LT.

So I think the strategy is fine.

I think the strategy is fine. Don’t forget Ron left this roster with basically no talent. McLaurin and Cosmi were about the only locked in starters. There were a few other guys who were maybe ok but not many.

So Peter’s had no choice but to sign a whole bunch of guys who were later in their careers for short contracts to fill out the roster.

There aren’t enough talented guys in FA to build a full team by offering bug money contracts to good players.

The general strategy seems to be to keep as much flexibility with the cap as long as possible. Then draft guys and eventually it switches.

But when you essentially are given an expansion team, there’s only so much you can do.

The one probably then ran into was the were so far ahead of schedule the took a shot to fix the secondary. It didn’t work. I didn’t mind the attempt. It just didn’t work out.

I will never have a problem Trading for a top-5 LT.

So I think the strategy is fine.

Ron sucked at talent evaluation but he was able to get this team to a 500 finish in 2022 w Heinicke who you have said was not an NFL caliber QB. So, given your premise, the roster wasn’t as bare as you seem to think it is given how similar the 2023 team was to the 2022 team.

If we go player by player in the 2023 starting lineup, this was not the 2025 Titans. Was it a great roster? No. However, it had plenty pf useful pieces. You see that either AP or the prior FO under Harris’s orders got Day 2 picks (4 of them) which are not easy to get, or AP just chose to let the players go in FA and some have thrived with their new teams (Curl, BSJ & Forbes)

Offense

QB - Howell - Traded for a 3rd
RB - BRob - Started here in 2024 and then traded for a 6th
WR - Terry - resigned
WR - Dotson - traded for a 3rd
WR - Samuel - signed a multiyear deal with the Bills
TE - Thomas - retired
LT - Leno - retired
LG - Charles - retired after winning starting job w Tennessee out of camp in 2024
C - Gates - backup on the Eagles in 2024
RG - Cosmi - big extension
RT - Wylie - started last year and now primary OL backup

Defense
DE - Young - traded for a 3rd
DT - Allen - starter last year
DT - Payne - still here
DE - Sweat - traded for a 2nd
ILB - Davis - on a PS somewhere
ILB - Barton - signed a multiyear deal with TN
Buffalo Nickel - Curl - multiyear deal w Rams (would’ve been best S here)
SS - Quan - still here
FS - Butler - special teamer here
CB - BSJ - excellent advanced stats in LAC
CB - Forbes - starting for LAR after being released
CB - Fuller - signed a multiyear deal w Miami. Released after season ending injury

 

[HailYeah]

I’m just hoping that they don’t use the injuries as an excuse and instead look at the team as still needing a ton of work. I have faith in AP and I understand the need to add some vets to help the younger guys along, but it would have been beneficial to bring in some more youth. I’m talking younger vet’s looking for their second contract. Not the von millers of the world, especially when you already have wagers and ertz types.

 

[Boone]

I think we are overcomplicating things. As with most things in life, Occam's Razor usually applies.

The simplest explanation for Adam Peters not being able to catch lightning in a bottle in year 2 is that, having turned over 60+ percent of the roster coming in to the first season, it takes more than one offseason to completely rebuild a roster.

Fans like to point to teams with new regimes who find a way to win right out of the gate and say 'See! It doesn't take 4 or 5 years to rebuild!' but in almost every instance, winning of that type isn't sustainable. Sure - a great new coaching staff can come in and change the lockerroom and practice culture, and get the roster performing much better, pretty quickly. Or suddenly obtain a QB who makes a substantial difference that temporary obscures the reality of a team not being especially good.

But to truly rebuild a roster into one that is a sustained winner - I think it takes a lot more time than what Peters has had to work with. I am still confident they know what they are doing and that they will build a great team around Jayden.

 

[DieselPwr44]

I think we are overcomplicating things. As with most things in life, Occam's Razor usually applies.

The simplest explanation for Adam Peters not being able to catch lightning in a bottle in year 2 is that, having turned over 60+ percent of the roster coming in to the first season, it takes more than one offseason to completely rebuild a roster.

Fans like to point to teams with new regimes who find a way to win right out of the gate and say 'See! It doesn't take 4 or 5 years to rebuild!' but in almost every instance, winning of that type isn't sustainable. Sure - a great new coaching staff can come in and change the lockerroom and practice culture, and get the roster performing much better, pretty quickly. Or suddenly obtain a QB who makes a substantial difference that temporary obscures the reality of a team not being especially good.

But to truly rebuild a roster into one that is a sustained winner - I think it takes a lot more time than what Peters has had to work with. I am still confident they know what they are doing and that they will build a great team around Jayden.

And herein lies the frustration: they never do a true rebuild here and this has been going on for 30+ years.

Instead of staying focused on the true task at hand, as soon as they have a modicum of success,the focus veers to adding some aging veterans because of some we're ahead of schedule BS and ready to make a run.
Hell, even in their introductory press conference both Quinn and Peters bristled at the word rebuild and started calling it recalibration.
And to me, that's worrisome and speaks to an unwillingness to stick to a plan.

When looking at this roster in the last off-season, given the success of 2024, ask yourself a question:
In his prime with the Patriots, Belichick was always good at letting veterans go right before they fell off the cliff in performance.
Would he have kept guys like Ertz and Wagner? How about Terry? Peters hemmed and hawed with signing Terry and while fans might have been upset at the time, probably should have trusted his gut and traded him.

Right now, Peters has wasted a season and put the club that much further behind.

 

[burgold]

They may not being a true "rebuild," but they absolutely engaged in a true "tear down."

As to the "rebuild" thing, I'm not so sure we aren't in a true one as we speak. As VoR showed, we went cheap in free agency. Even our big spend (Kinlaw) received a modest contract. It was so modest that Allen, the guy he was replacing, was signed to a more expensive deal. Now, Peters has been a little trade happy in signing Deebo, Tunsil, and Lattimore, but I'd argue that the Lattimore and Tunsil moves could be viewed as part of a rebuild. My bet is that Peters envisions Tunsil as being his Trent Williams, a franchise left tackle that locks that position for five years. Likewise, I think he hoped that Lattimore would give us that lockdown corner for a few years (he was wrong.)

Now, you can also argue that Deebo and Lattimore feel like short term/win now moves and I couldn't really argue, but really on the free agency side almost every signing looks like it was made with the hope that some young pup emerges to take over. We just need more pups.

 

[Kel Varnsen]

I’m not concerned about Peters. This year has sucked because of the injuries, plain and simple. I think the worst thing he could do is overreact to the injuries and throw it all out the window. The only bad move he has made was the Lattimore trade. At the time, it seemed like a good move getting a corner that would help on a defense that was really struggling. You have to swing for the fences sometimes and while I don’t think the cost was huge for Lattimore, the results have not been good making it a whiff. Other than that, I have no issues with any of his moves. No one bats 1.000 and he’s going to make some mistakes. I’m not going to overreact to every mistake as if the strategy is wrong. Especially when the results have been far beyond what has been expected.

 

[commva2]

I voted but I think it's a combination of those choices.

Whatever the reason is, we need help and young blood on defense. We MUST retain our draft picks (and add more, not the other way around)!

Keep in mind, JD will only get expensive and we have a very short window. Can't play patch and go, we should have stuck to plan after season ended but that first year messed that up big time and I am not complaining. We know we'll have to tighten up on our budget soon. We need to infuse the roster with young, talented players through draft and we know GMAP can draft well! Last year's draft was awesome on top with filling obvious needs (OT can be argued). We just need to hang on to our draft capital going forward 🙏

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

The proverbial proof is lying in our 3-5 pudding. AP relied upon the unreliable. The gamble on when Father Time pays a visit to the oldest roster in the league got called. We all drank the Koolaid right along with him and convinced ourselves that the simple addition of a true NFL QB and an energetic coach could do the unthinkable. I'm voting "Win now was a fools errand" and will be the first to admit that I was the #1 fool. We now have a good number of glaring holes and significantly less draft ammo to correct that. On top of that, aside from the #2 overall pick, AP hasn't shown himself to be overly gifted in choosing how we utilize the few picks we have. So for the 2026 draft, we have TWO picks in the first 5 rounds (and more than 2 holes to fill. ) So yeah, I'm not optimistic that it's fair to blame our less than rosy outlook on on anything other than gambling and losing.

Now that^^ is much more realistic than I am. I'm a Rose colored glasses, Koolaid drinking, Diehard, loyal, watch every game until the end kinda guy here. So I'll still be around in 2029 when we have a better chance than we do next year.

I'm not entirely sure that's true too. Yeah, it's the oldest roster, but the guys who are hurt are not really the older players:

Daniels (24): Missed 3 games
Terry McLaurin (30): Missed 5 games
Noah Brown (29): Missed 6 games (on IR so will miss more)
Deebo Samuel: (29): Missed 1 game
Deatrich Wise (31): Missed 5 games (on IR so will miss more)
Dorance Armstrong (28): Missed 3 games (on IR so will miss more)
Will Harris (29): Misse 5 games (on IR so will miss more)
Javontae Jean-Baptiste (25) Missed 4 games (on IR so will miss more)
Ekler (30): Missed 6 games (on IR so will miss more)

The really old guys on the roster, Wagner, Ertz, etc. haven't missed games. The guys who have missed games are in their late 20's and early 30's. Which is kindof the prime or right after it for most of those guys.

As I mentioned above, I don't think this was a "go all in" roster.

If you want to pick a nit, I'd say they should have moved on from Noah Brown and found another answer to WR3 who doesn't have the same injury history. That would be a very logical criticism. Maybe keep OZ and D. Brown, and let Noah walk. I don't think OZ was coming back after Noah Brown signed.

Otherwise, on the DE front, they just got unlucky.

Daniels also missed 2 games with a knee and 1 game with a hamstring. And he's one of the youngest players on the team.

Sometimes, it's just bad luck.

I do think the team needs to get younger. I think it's time for the Wagner and Ertz experiences to slowly end. Maybe they should move on from Deebo after the season. However, I do think the average age thing is a little over-blown. Josh Johnson being 39, Wagner and Ertz materially increase the average age. Johnson doesn't play. So it's a little bit misleading.

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

Ron sucked at talent evaluation but he was able to get this team to a 500 finish in 2022 w Heinicke who you have said was not an NFL caliber QB. So, given your premise, the roster wasn’t as bare as you seem to think it is given how similar the 2023 team was to the 2022 team.

If we go player by player in the 2023 starting lineup, this was not the 2025 Titans. Was it a great roster? No. However, it had plenty pf useful pieces. You see that either AP or the prior FO under Harris’s orders got Day 2 picks (4 of them) which are not easy to get, or AP just chose to let the players go in FA and some have thrived with their new teams (Curl, BSJ & Forbes)

Offense

QB - Howell - Traded for a 3rd
RB - BRob - Started here in 2024 and then traded for a 6th
WR - Terry - resigned
WR - Dotson - traded for a 3rd
WR - Samuel - signed a multiyear deal with the Bills
TE - Thomas - retired
LT - Leno - retired
LG - Charles - retired after winning starting job w Tennessee out of camp in 2024
C - Gates - backup on the Eagles in 2024
RG - Cosmi - big extension
RT - Wylie - started last year and now primary OL backup

Defense
DE - Young - traded for a 3rd
DT - Allen - starter last year
DT - Payne - still here
DE - Sweat - traded for a 2nd
ILB - Davis - on a PS somewhere
ILB - Barton - signed a multiyear deal with TN
Buffalo Nickel - Curl - multiyear deal w Rams (would’ve been best S here)
SS - Quan - still here
FS - Butler - special teamer here
CB - BSJ - excellent advanced stats in LAC
CB - Forbes - starting for LAR after being released
CB - Fuller - signed a multiyear deal w Miami. Released after season ending injury

I mean, ok, but Dotson hasn't done anything in Philly really to justify the third round pick, Young hasn't done anything to justify a 3rd round pick, Samuel is ok with the Bills, but nothing super special, Wylie is a replacement level starter, Allen is "ok" in Minnesota, Sweat hasn't really lived up to his contract, Curl was easily replaced by Chinn last year, BSJ is doing fine as a backup with the chargers, and Forbes, I don't really know how he's doing. Fuller was old and a FA.

That 2023 team had virtually no talent apart from McLaurin and Cosmi that was worth building around. Sweat if you wanted to keep him and over-pay him.

 

[bowhunter]

I'm not entirely sure that's true too. Yeah, it's the oldest roster, but the guys who are hurt are not really the older players:

Daniels (24): Missed 3 games
Terry McLaurin (30): Missed 5 games
Noah Brown (29): Missed 6 games (on IR so will miss more)
Deebo Samuel: (29): Missed 1 game
Deatrich Wise (31): Missed 5 games (on IR so will miss more)
Dorance Armstrong (28): Missed 3 games (on IR so will miss more)
Will Harris (29): Misse 5 games (on IR so will miss more)
Javontae Jean-Baptiste (25) Missed 4 games (on IR so will miss more)
Ekler (30): Missed 6 games (on IR so will miss more)

The really old guys on the roster, Wagner, Ertz, etc. haven't missed games. The guys who have missed games are in their late 20's and early 30's. Which is kindof the prime or right after it for most of those guys.

As I mentioned above, I don't think this was a "go all in" roster.

If you want to pick a nit, I'd say they should have moved on from Noah Brown and found another answer to WR3 who doesn't have the same injury history. That would be a very logical criticism. Maybe keep OZ and D. Brown, and let Noah walk. I don't think OZ was coming back after Noah Brown signed.

Otherwise, on the DE front, they just got unlucky.

Daniels also missed 2 games with a knee and 1 game with a hamstring. And he's one of the youngest players on the team.

Sometimes, it's just bad luck.

I do think the team needs to get younger. I think it's time for the Wagner and Ertz experiences to slowly end. Maybe they should move on from Deebo after the season. However, I do think the average age thing is a little over-blown. Josh Johnson being 39, Wagner and Ertz materially increase the average age. Johnson doesn't play. So it's a little bit misleading.

Well if you believe that the average age of an NFL player is 26.6 years old, only JD5 and JJB are below that mean. I do hope that AP makes some splash FA moves this off-season. Find some ways to grab a true #1 WR , ED and CB, and front loading as much as possible in order that JDs mom can back up the truck in 2-3 years. We have limited to no draft ammo to play with, so he must maximize use of limited assets.

 

[HTTR]

A little off topic, but has the schedule really been supper hard?

Giants - bad
Packers - good
Raiders - bad
Falcons - ok 3-4
Chargers - ok 5-3
Bears - ok 4-3
Dallas -ok 3-4-1
KC - good

We’ve played 2 good teams. The next best team we played is probably the Chargers who were super injured themselves and we beat them.

On paper at the beginning of the season this looked harder. We got thumped by a sub-.500 Dallas team, lost to a sub .500 falcons team. And fumbled the game away to essentially a .500 Falcons teem. They would also be below .500 if we hadn’t fumbled the last time.

This really hasn’t been that bad yet.

The 3 game stretch we’re in now with KC, Seattle and Detroit is tough.

But I’d argue the schedule hasn’t gotten tough yet.

You are leaving out that GB, Atl, LAC, Dallas, and KC were all road games. Those are all tough games. Yes including Dallas—division games on the road are always tough.

 

[Voice_of_Reason]

You are leaving out that GB, Atl, LAC, Dallas, and KC were all road games. Those are all tough games. Yes including Dallas—division games on the road are always tough.

Eh. Even Vegas has stopped giving home teams a 3 point advantage. We beat LA on the road, should have beaten Atlanta.

All things considered, it could have been a lot worse. We could have had the Eagles and Detroit early in the season.

All games in the NFL are tough because it's set up for parity. There are no cream puffs, really. And what we've played was very manageable assuming we were more healthy and playing well. We weren't and we weren't, so we are where we are.