Fill in the BLANKS.

[Born2Steel]

Thinking about the glaring needs on this defense. With only 6 picks so far in the 2018 draft, and a fairly weak FA field, how do we best stop the bleeding?

DL - Normally carry 6. Heyward, Tuitt, Hargrave, Alualu, Walton, and .......
OLB - Dupree, Watt, Chickillo, and ......
ILB - VW, Matakevich, Fort, and ......
CB - Burns, Hilton, Sutton, Gay, Allen, and.......(I'm under the impression Haden is a FA, but I didn't see his name)
Safety - AND ...... Just kidding but that's really how I feel about this group.
Davis, Mitchell, Golden, and .......

Even on offense we have a gaping hole.

RB - Conner, and ........

These are some missing pieces, yet to resign FAs, places for draftable upgrades, etc. Not an easy solution puzzle but I bet together we can solve it.

[tube517]

CB - Burns, Hilton, Sutton, Gay, and.......(I'm under the impression Haden is a FA, but I didn't see his name)

Brian Allen should be on the roster next year unless he goes to Bell or Bryant's house and watches "How High" for a weekend.

Tomlin and the team love Haden. I know he has a huge cap hit but I think they will find a way to keep him.

[Born2Steel]

Brian Allen should be on the roster next year unless he goes to Bell or Bryant's house and watches "How High" for a weekend.

Tomlin and the team love Haden. I know he has a huge cap hit but I think they will find a way to keep him.

Correct. Forgot about Allen. The CB group is actually pretty strong right now. Weird huh?!

[BlackAndGold]

Thinking about the glaring needs on this defense. With only 6 picks so far in the 2018 draft, and a fairly weak FA field, how do we best stop the bleeding?

DL - Normally carry 6. Heyward, Tuitt, Hargrave, Alualu, Walton, and .......
OLB - Dupree, Watt, Chickillo, and ......
ILB - VW, Matakevich, Fort, and ......
CB - Burns, Hilton, Sutton, Gay, and.......(I'm under the impression Haden is a FA, but I didn't see his name)
Safety - AND ...... Just kidding but that's really how I feel about this group.
Davis, Mitchell, Golden, and .......

Even on offense we have a gaping hole.

RB - Conner, and ........

These are some missing pieces, yet to resign FAs, places for draftable upgrades, etc. Not an easy solution puzzle but I bet together we can solve it.

DL: I can see them bringing back McCullers just to add a guy. Definitely can see them adding a draft pick in rounds 5-7.
OLB: Kion Adams plus a draft pick
ILB: I'd like to see them add someone like Demario Davis who Imo could cheaper than someone would expect via FA. Plus draft one in the first two rounds
CB: That position is fine. Haden will be back, 4 young guys that are expected to imporve. Could see Gay being cut for cap reasons but I like him as a vet player.
Safety: Maybe gay is moved to safety to add depth? Like the ILB position, draft one in the first two rounds

RB: Bell will be tagged. As I mentioned in the draft thread, low on the priority list for me.

[Born2Steel]

Eventually, I'm hoping to put some names where we currently see, "draft pick", and "FA" (Wishlist guys). I know it's too soon now, but that still leaves those spots blank for now. We will get more details as the offseason plays out too.

[Psycho Ward 86]

Mitchell is the first thing that needs to go. He's impeding this team in so many ways it makes my head spin. Its not just his play on the field, the amount of salary cap space he's been eating up to be mediocre is just too much. Im not going to value his bullshit "communication skills" if he sucks at his job. There are still a lot of chemistry problems between him and the cornerbacks passing off receivers between zones so to me, this is just another category that makes me want to throw him in the bin. Then there are his laundry list of injuries and his excessive trash talking he can never back up. Take Brian Allen for a spin at safety (generally considered easier to play and he played that before he played cornerback anyways), we have nothing to lose by trying. Then draft a safety high and/or find a free agent (thats going to be a rough search with our lack of cap space)


If were going to suck at safety, id rather not spend a fortune to do it. Good riddance

[FrancoLambert]

Having McCullers make the roster again....

Please.

[Born2Steel]

Having McCullers make the roster again....

Please.

Levon Hooks just signed a futures contract, if that helps.

[SteelMember]

____ Haley!

____ Butler!

____ Smith!

____ Termlin!


He's the easier, and more popular game of fill in the Blanks...

[Mojouw]

Thinking about the glaring needs on this defense. With only 6 picks so far in the 2018 draft, and a fairly weak FA field, how do we best stop the bleeding?

DL - Normally carry 6. Heyward, Tuitt, Hargrave, Alualu, Walton, and .......
OLB - Dupree, Watt, Chickillo, and ......
ILB - VW, Matakevich, Fort, and ......
CB - Burns, Hilton, Sutton, Gay, Allen, and.......(I'm under the impression Haden is a FA, but I didn't see his name)
Safety - AND ...... Just kidding but that's really how I feel about this group.
Davis, Mitchell, Golden, and .......

Even on offense we have a gaping hole.

RB - Conner, and ........

These are some missing pieces, yet to resign FAs, places for draftable upgrades, etc. Not an easy solution puzzle but I bet together we can solve it.

DL - draft pick or random FA. Someone to play in emergencies and for Mitchell to set on the same developmental track as Walton.
OLB - Dupree/Watt/Chickillo/Adams/Draft Pick - the FA edge market stinks.
ILB - VW/Eric Reid/Draft Pick/Fort/Matakevich (Shazier on PUP or IR to see where his rehab goes) - not sure if Reid can hold up at ILB at 215 #'s, but he might make it work and his athletic profile is the closest to Shazier on the FA market. Plus 'cause of protests his market is likely to not really develop.
CB - Burns/Haden (not a free agent but a high $$ team option essentially)/Hilton/Sutton/Allen - William Gay rides off into the sunset. Youth needs to play to develop.
Safety - Davis/Mitchell/Draft Pick/FA (who?) - Golden, Wilcox go for sure if I run things. Mitchell if I can sign someone (Boston, Burnett, Joyner, a lucky fan...)

Then to round out the draft picks, you take a TE and what...? RB? OL for Munchak to work with so that when Finney replaces Foster someone replaces Finney? WR because of injury and keep the pipeline going? QB if someone falls?

You point out an interesting problem. They only have so many draft picks and I can find homes for 4-5 of them in the top 35 players on the depth chart. That is asking the team to hit another massive home-run with a draft class. One could argue that you need 2-3 defensive starters out of one class...too much to ask in my opinion.

[Born2Steel]

DL - I do think we will end up taking a draft pick here. Don't we HAVE TO cut McCullers at this point?
(My favorite today is Trenton Thompson of Ga)

OLB - We do have 4 on the roster now, so maybe not as huge a need as I thought. I would still love to see a draft pick at OLB.
(I'm an Ade Aruna fan at OLB)

ILB - I think we need 2 here. I would love to sign a low profile, good track record FA like Gerald Hodges, and grab a draft pick as well.
(My favorites so far are Jerome Baker and Christian Sam, and Josey Jewell)

Safety - This is a mess right now. I think have to get a FA and a draft pick here as well.
(REALLY hoping Derwin James falls to us)

CB - I'm really good with this group for now. Get Haden re-signed of course.

So, that's 4 of our draft picks going to the defensive side of the ball. And you are correct, 3 of those NEED to be homeruns. I might even spend a 5th draft pick on defense just to increase our odds of hitting.

[Mojouw]

DL - I do think we will end up taking a draft pick here. Don't we HAVE TO cut McCullers at this point?
(My favorite today is Trenton Thompson of Ga)

OLB - We do have 4 on the roster now, so maybe not as huge a need as I thought. I would still love to see a draft pick at OLB.
(I'm an Ade Aruna fan at OLB)

ILB - I think we need 2 here. I would love to sign a low profile, good track record FA like Gerald Hodges, and grab a draft pick as well.
(My favorites so far are Jerome Baker and Christian Sam)

Safety - This is a mess right now. I think have to get a FA and a draft pick here as well.
(REALLY hoping Derwin James falls to us)

CB - I'm really good with this group for now. Get Haden re-signed of course.

So, that's 4 of our draft picks going to the defensive side of the ball. And you are correct, 3 of those NEED to be homeruns. I might even spend a 5th draft pick on defense just to increase our odds of hitting.

I can't argue with any of that. FYI - my understanding is that Haden is signed and will be for a few more seasons. The only question is that he then carries a yearly cap hit of something like $11 million with no dead cap money. So while he is on the roster and not able to go anywhere else, that $11 million of "free" cap room is just sitting there if he is off the roster.

For the draft, if reasonable arguments can be made to spend 4-5 picks on the defense out of 7 total picks (1st, 2nd, 3rd, NO 4th, 2 fifths, NO 6th, and 2 7ths) and several immediate contributors needed -- well damn that is a pretty big hole to climb out of in one draft cycle.

They are going to have to do at least one of the following:
1. Accept the safety pairing of Mitchell and Davis for one more year
2. Skip drafting an edge rusher and bet a bunch of chips on Dupree
3. Sign a major impact ($10-15 million per year) FA on the defensive side of the ball
4. Restructure the heck out of some contracts to sign a handful of mid-level FAs to fill out the depth chart at LB, S, RB, and WR.

[Six Rings]

Thinking about the glaring needs on this defense. With only 6 picks so far in the 2018 draft, and a fairly weak FA field, how do we best stop the bleeding?

DL - Normally carry 6. Heyward, Tuitt, Hargrave, Alualu, Walton, and .......
OLB - Dupree, Watt, Chickillo, and ......
ILB - VW, Matakevich, Fort, and ......
CB - Burns, Hilton, Sutton, Gay, Allen, and.......(I'm under the impression Haden is a FA, but I didn't see his name)
Safety - AND ...... Just kidding but that's really how I feel about this group.
Davis, Mitchell, Golden, and .......

Even on offense we have a gaping hole.

RB - Conner, and ........

These are some missing pieces, yet to resign FAs, places for draftable upgrades, etc. Not an easy solution puzzle but I bet together we can solve it.

Top needs are ILB ( 3 down player also needs to play nickel ) Safety, and DT/NT.

So BPA at each spot for the top three picks.