Fair enough to trust the front office. So lets let a vast improvement now to be expected by our offense, as the non primitive measuring stick on such a huge move like adding an elite LT. I personally don't like to count them chickens before they hatch and temper expectations, but to each his own. Again I like the move and hope we don't have to win games on the final play as much next year but I will say this, I suspect getting 13 wins (to top last year) may not be as easy as you think.
Counterpoint, I think you’re not quite grasping how much JD5 makes our offense hum no matter who is at LT. Sure Kliff will call a few more plays that demand the pocket be clean (less screens) but in the end, JD5 makes it work.
It’s not about predicting the future or setting arbitrary markers for improvement. It’s about following good processes.
Paying a reasonable trade price to pair an elite young QB with an elite pass protecting LT is about as “good process” as you can get, it’s like the holy grail of building a strong offensive foundation.
It’s not about what weaknesses Daniels can cover up—those flaws always break through against elite playoff competition even if you neutralize them schematically throughout the regular season. This raises Daniels floor AND ceiling on his rookie contract (and hopefully beyond) which is the most effective force multiplier you can apply in this league.
You’ve always been an “against conventional wisdom” dude and I respect it. You’ve been right before (for instance, they did actually rotate the LT’s last season to ease Coleman in and you advocated for that against conventional wisdom, if I remember correctly).
But there’s a massive difference between developing a serviceable 3rd round LT that Daniels can compensate for with his super powers, and actually giving him the best chance to succeed with a stone wall at his blind side. Imagine what he can do with his arm, legs, and processing power when he’s not expending mental and physical bandwidth mid-play to compensate for mediocre tackle play?
Continuing the force multiplier thing, this cascades across the entire OL as the LT doesn’t need help. That help can go elsewhere and Coleman and his potential (which you rightfully value) can move elsewhere and increase the talent and productivity of the entire line. It’s ideal.
Daniels just had a historically good rookie season and looks like an elite QB. Imagine if he had an extra half second on some of those plays. He and McLaurin are going to eat off of this trade, man. Kliff has never had elite LT play, we haven’t even seen what he can cook up when he’s not scheming around OT play.