- Joined
- Jun 2, 2013
- Messages
- 2,195
- Name
- Fanotodd
Sure 'WE' don't have a clue as to how good a unit it might be. Nobody does. But 'THEY' see these guys everyday and should have a good handle on what to expect. A considerably better handle than we have. They saw something in Blythe nobody else (NFL teams) did. They 'found' Edwards in round 5. They saw something in Corbett Cleveland didn't. Well, Cleveland did.....they spent a 2nd round pick on him but in year 2 had already given up. They saw something in Alaric Jackson nobody else did. Now of course, there may have been another team or two who did but didn't pull the trigger on any of them. My point is, they've been doing this O line thing since 2017. Every year it has been different. And every year, except last season's historically injury plagued debacle, they've won. Were they "great lines"? No. Were they exceptional lines? That's a matter of opinion. Were they 'decent' lines? Without a doubt.
2017 Whit-Saffold-Sullivan-Brown-Havenstein
2018 Whit-Saffold-Sullivan-Blythe-Havenstein
2019 Whit-Noteboom-Allen-Blythe-Havenstein (Edwards, Corbett, Evans)
2020 Whit-Edwards-Blythe-Corbett-Havenstein (Noteboom)
2021 Whit-Edwards-Allen-Corbett-Havenstein (Noteboom, Shelton)
2022 Noteboom-Edwards-Allen-Shelton-Havenstein (Anchrum, Jackson, Nsekhe, Skura, Brewer, Aboushi, Evans, Arcuri, Kolone)
One of those years are not like the others but the fact is, they have fielded decent O lines from the get go.
I mentioned it twice. Mainly because it's been mentioned close to 100 times by others with aghast. I merely pointed out we carried the same amount of dead money in 2021 as we will in 2023 and that was a SB year. Show me where I said, "We can win at a high level again in 2023"? Certainly, I'm not suggesting anything like the 2021 outcome in 2023 but there's no reason we can't be better than expected. Maybe considerably. And unlike the after affects of 2021, 2024 ($0.00 dead money) will not be like 2022 ($26.653 mil). So maybe the proper outlook for this year is (pardon the pun) we're playing with house money. We're not expected to do a damn thing until 2024. But if we accidentally have a good draft, find a UDFA or two, pick up a couple/three complimentary UFA's and play well, won't that be nice? It beats the hell out of the "Stillwell Angel" approach to fandom.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FUB8SrlQAE
"We were borrowing from the future to pay the 2021 dead cap"? No we were mortgaging the future with the hope of going back to back in 2021 and 2022. So what does that mean for 2023 in a negative sense? Absolutely nothing. I've suggested this may well have been the plan going into 2022, even if we won it all again. We were going to be well over the cap in 2023 regardless of our 2022 record and results. Maybe even worse had we picked up somebody before the trade deadline.
"We had amazing health and guys like Kupp, Stafford, AD were in their prime"? So they're 2 years past their prime? Or does "prime" last a number of years? I believe Kupp, Donald and Stafford are still dangerous weapons that have to be accounted for by defenses going into 2023. You don't?
"OBJ & Von". Yes great fortuitous mid season pickups. Just like Fowler in 2018 and Ramsey in 2019. So you're saying if the Rams do better than most of Ramsnation thinks this year, there won't be guys like that available? We've done it every year we've needed to do it. Or we won't have the money to pick them up? We have $0 dead money in 2024 and tons of cap space ($38 mil). Bet me.
Outstanding post. Nailed it for all of us koolaid drinkers. I am not admitting defeat until AFTER the game.
…I’m just not as confident as most recent years.