Defensive backfield is awful and we're lucky the TE dropped the other pass when he got 5 yards past all of them. That's going to be the down fall. I'm starting to wish they would have paid Norman and used at least two of those CB draft picks on other areas of need. Unless you are New England or Pitt, who have their collective houses in order, the window of opportunity doesn't stay open for very long.
The D-line just can't seem to get to the QB anymore. I think Bradberry is going to be a fine CB, but putting him out there with no free safety help in the middle and he is toast. Norman definitely defends that slant pass for the TD.
I don't know what's wrong with CAP... but this is why it's time to draft a viable starting RB next year and I hope we get one. Fozzy had a good outing but that fumble. I cringe every time he runs the ball. And butter fingers Ginn was back out there yesterday. The total lack of effort on that kick return was unacceptable.
I thought Luke did fine. He had 11 tackles and the INT. The line can't get penetration. Most of the tackles for loss was when Coleman blitzed off the end. But that's going to leave one of the rookie CBs exposed to that slant.
Dude, really pessimistic. A few thoughts.
1. Our safeties have been meh. See my post above, the slant wasn't open due to Coleman, Boston was out of place, came in on the TE who already had two guys on him. He hung Bradberry out to dry and Rivera confirmed that Bradberry did it correctly that Boston was supposed to be there.
2. As awful as you think our DBs have been, they are #3 in passer rating at 66.7, which is only 1.5 points behind Arizona and 0.1 behind Denver (Redskins are 25th with 108.6 with Norman playing well). We are #7 in yards passing per game and tied for first with 4 INTs (with Arizona) even with giving up an 80 yard TD on a bad coverage of the TE. 20% of our total yardage was that one play. If we cover the TE, we are #1 in passer rating and #1 in yardage. Hardly awful.
3. Pressure is an issue, we are 15th (1 behind 8th) with 4 sacks, but honestly without the pressure, the secondary has done well.
4. Luke and TD have made some mistakes and been out of place. They've also played really, really well at all other times. Part of the out of place could be our DL not playing up to snuff and letting the OL get downfield on the LBers. That said, Charles Johnson has been pretty solid so far. We just need to get the DTs and Ealy to bring the pain and we'll be good. We started a bit slow last year too, gotta bring it this week.
5. We have a big window. Anyone concerned about the window needs to relax. First, KB has 3 years left. Two more on the rookie deal and a 5th year option since he's a 1st rounder at about $8M in 2018. Don't worry about KB. He will be extended, but not until 2018 at the earliest and we won't be deciding between him and Funchess. Same goes with Shaq and Butler. Their 5th year options are cheaper since we draft at the end of the 1st round, so we'll get another 4 years from Shaq and 5 from Butler at a reasonable amount.
6. About the window. We've got $22M in cap to carry over to 2017. We only have one guy (Short) to worry about for 2017 and we can franchise him. So, with absolutely no problem at all, we can afford our entire team in 2016 and 2017. For 2018, that is where the magic has to happen, but let's say we use the franchise tag, only $8M in 2016 carryover. Well, now we are in 2018 and we carried over $8M from 2016 and right now we have $40M open in 2017 and again, Short is basically the only expensive guy not signed in 2017. We also likely say goodbye to Stewart and save another $5M.
So, if you are following all of this, we now have everyone from 2016 signed in 2017 plus some rookies (we'll use Stewart plus maybe Dickson/Tolbert's cap savings for the 2017 rookies). I won't even mention that I am really looking forward to that draft with an extra 3rd rounder in our pocket. I'm betting we come away with an impact RB and DE in that draft. Let's also say that with the extra cap from the normal growth we resign Charles Johnson for a couple years, worth keeping in rotation. Now, we enter 2018 with $48M in extra cap space in addition to the fact that we only have $85M in contracts in 2018 (about $70M under the cap).
In conclusion, while we have Turner, Short, Star, Norwell, Ealy and TD (retired?) in 2018 and KB, Funchess, Kalil (retired?) and Olsen in 2019, I think we will have the cap space to sign almost all of them. $70 under the cap per year plus lest say another $16M per year with the carry over and you've got $80+ per year for the guys above, ignoring all the draft picks/FA pick ups like Oher and Coleman.
Turner = $10M per year
Short = $15M per year
Star = $9M per year
Norwell = $6M per year
Ealy = $9M per year (he's a big wild card, Short/Turner/Star are at the top of their positions (pass rushing DT, G, NT), but Ealy could be relatively cheap if he doesn't blow up or could be $15M per year if he starts getting double digit sacks this year and next. I like him, but the SB was his apex. I don't think he'll command top dollar.
TD = ?
KB = $15M per year
Funchess = $8M per year
Olsen/Kalil = ?
That's $72M per year even taking all of them back. Even without doing a whole lot of work, I think we can afford this team for a while and with new draft picks/who knows, we've got the wiggle room to be competitive easily through 2020/2021 when Cam/Luke's deals are up. You've easily got 5-6 years without a whole lot of worry about cap situations.