Excited to see our preseason depth

[ukcolt]

I am actually really looking forward to this preseason. It feels as if we will actually still be watching some quality football, especially on offense.

The offensive line will have the likes of Freeland, Goncalves, French, Bortolini, Witt as the 2nd string lineup.
And then you have Sills, Hambright, Pinter and Lewis Kidd, all of whom have had some real gametime experience in the regular season as the third string.

That in my opinion is at least 11 guys who deserve to be on opening day NFL rosters.


The TE group goes 5 deep all of whom again are NFL roster ready for any team. Problem here is that i am not sure who is really a true starting calibre guy, hopefully Woods is the guy to step up.


WR's, take out Pittman and Downs, and then you have Pierce, Mitchell, Dulin and Gould taking 2nd/3rd team reps after that not sure that there is much to get excited about.

We have a genuine NFL starting quality backup QB option with Flacco, to run things effectively. Then you have the usual 3rd, 4th stringers where the play will likely drop off immensely.

RB is our biggest area of concern regards depth, but hopefully with the supporting cast around them, they will be able to produce, as the offensive line will hopefully be able to holdup in preseason for a change! We have 3 guys Sermon, Hull and Goodson, none of them have proven anything significant in the NFL as of yet. Hopefully one of them proves their worth as Taylor's backup.


On defense, our defensive line is so incredibly deep it is almost stupid.

At DE the starters are going to be Paye and Ebukam. To begin with at least we will be using Latu outside of the starters, probably with Dayo as well. They are then backed up by Lewis (started 16 games in his career) and Genard Avery (he has started 17 games), these are followed by the promising Isaiah Land and Titus Leo.

DT we obviously have the clear starters in Buckner and Stewart, but we will get to see Davis, Adebawore, Johnson, Bryan and rookie 7th rounder Laulu.

That totals 8 DE's, if you remove Leo, all of the rest of them in my opinion are bona fide NFL opening day roster talented guys. The DT's where i have 7 listed, again remove Laulu and then i think you have 6 guys who are highly likely capable of making opening day rosters.

Now the LBer room is a different matter, i think our 2 starters are fine Speed and Franklin, Carlies is a rookie 5th round pick who is a bit of a project, After that i suspect the likes of Stuard, Olubi, McGrone, and the rest of the names i had never heard of when i looked at the roster, are likely going to struggle to make most rosters. Olubi, did show a little something last year, but i am questioning just how good or not that he is. Although to be fair to Ballard, he seems to be able to spot talent at LB in the lower rounds. You could add Harrison into this group, but i believe he is a bit of a hybrid player and he is mentioned in the safety group.

The corner back room has lots of questions, Kenny Moore and Brents are the unquestioned guys. I think Flowers and Jones make the back ends of most rosters, Jaylin Simpson is a rookie project who is at the bottom of the roster, but the remaining guys I am not so sure about. So the likes of Darrell Baker, Micah Abraham, Lammons, Ameer Speed, are all unlikely to make most NFL rosters. This is a position i am looking forward to seeing, but I am not especially confident that i will like what i see in preseason. I might not even like the starters.

At safety i am comfortable with Blackmon, so long as he is fully back from injury. Cross, Thomas and Harrison are probably 1 spot each too high on the depth chart, as in none of them should be starting, all are fine as depth pieces. Denbow, Dabo, and the other names i don't know, are all guys who would struggle to make NFL rosters. It is a real shame about Daniel Scott, had high hopes for him being the 2nd starter.

So i think we are strong at offensive line, with the potential of having to cut 3 guys who could quite easily make most rosters. Strong depth at TE, likely to cut 1 guy who should be an NFL player. WR's QB's and RB, we have just about the required numbers, with all players likely to be cut, not deserving of opening day roster status.

On defense there are 13 defensive line players who i think are good enough to play on opening day, but we are only likely going to keep 9 maybe 10 guys. We are going to be shedding so real quality talent here. Guys with the potential to be part time starters and not just bottom of the roster guys. Maybe we try to trade a few players here. After that i would say the LB's, CB's and Safeties are all probably underwhelming in terms of depth, and i actually think we could end up trying to bring in additional talent to fill out the roster. Going to be cutting guys who are just not rosterable for most teams.

[Mr. Session]

I agree with just about everything. I can't wait for camp and feel that I am in a good place as a fan. I'm very excited, and my expectations are pretty high. Latu and Mitchell feel like we are adding some pieces instead of filling holes.

I need one of these other RB's to assume Moss' role. I do not want to see Taylor getting ridden into the dirt. My expectations are high this year; He should be playing in the playoffs.

Someone from this TE room needs to assert their presence as well. MAC needed to go last year, respectfully. I think we've seen what Granson has to offer. The other guys need to step up and give AR another weapon. Consistency. Maybe Granson is still that guy, given he's the only one that has shown any of that.

I say it's division/wildcard or heads roll, and the players are included in that. If these guys can't figure it out, this year, I think they need to commit to turnover. The player's lack of production will be inexcusable after the $ has been dished out like it has, and I won't feel sorry for them.

[apballin]

I’m definitely curious to see what they do with Harrison, he played great at LB I’d like to see him stick there

[ukcolt]

Agree regards TE's, MAC is on his last legs with the Colts. Granson, is an OK player, but has he already reached his ceiling? Woods, Ogletree and Mallory all have room for development, so maybe it's time to go with them and allow them to develop, especially in preseason.

[Dam8610]

I think/hope Jelani Woods is poised for a breakout. If that happens, we'll all know who TE1 is.

[YDFL Commish]

Originally Posted by apballin

I’m definitely curious to see what they do with Harrison, he played great at LB I’d like to see him stick there

I actually think that there's a shot that Carlise ends up as LB 3.

[IndyNorm]

Overall good comments. Couple of things to add:

- I expect Sills to be on the 2nd team. He filled in well at OG last year.

- Woods could be the guy at TE. He certainly has the athleticism to do it, but more than anything else he needs to stay healthy.

- Sermon played well when given the chance down the stretch last year. He'll definitely get the first crack at RB2 and could be good there. Although not as good as Moss for sure.

- I expect Harrison to start out at LB like he did last year until the injuries at S piled up.

- Don't be surprised if Jaylin Simpson gets moved to FS, especially if Cross and Thomas struggle again this year.

- The secondary is definitely the weak spot of our roster, at least on paper. Still scratching my head on why Ballard didn't bring anyone in other than a couple of late round draft picks. Of course we were saying the same thing about OL last year and that worked out, so fingers crossed this does as well.

[Racehorse]

Originally Posted by IndyNorm

- The secondary is definitely the weak spot of our roster, at least on paper. Still scratching my head on why Ballard didn't bring anyone in other than a couple of late round draft picks. Of course we were saying the same thing about OL last year and that worked out, so fingers crossed this does as well.

My guess is that he is waiting for cap cuts and to see where the guys are during training camp.

[ukcolt]

Originally Posted by IndyNorm

Overall good comments. Couple of things to add:

- I expect Sills to be on the 2nd team. He filled in well at OG last year.

- Woods could be the guy at TE. He certainly has the athleticism to do it, but more than anything else he needs to stay healthy.

- Sermon played well when given the chance down the stretch last year. He'll definitely get the first crack at RB2 and could be good there. Although not as good as Moss for sure.

- I expect Harrison to start out at LB like he did last year until the injuries at S piled up.

- Don't be surprised if Jaylin Simpson gets moved to FS, especially if Cross and Thomas struggle again this year.

- The secondary is definitely the weak spot of our roster, at least on paper. Still scratching my head on why Ballard didn't bring anyone in other than a couple of late round draft picks. Of course we were saying the same thing about OL last year and that worked out, so fingers crossed this does as well.

Sills was solid, but I would like to think that they would want to be looking at Freeland, Witt, Goncalves, Bortolini and French, in terms of development. I would also imagine that they are going to want to see how Pinter is after his injury.

As I said originally, we have a lot of experience and mid round draft picks as depth this year, so are in a really good position. Over the past thirty or so years of watching preseason football, it has been hard to watch, as our offense has always struggled because the 2nd string o-line has been so poor, that it has been almost impossible to run any sort of cohesive offense. Marry that with a competent QB and I think this preseason is going to be really fun to watch.

Winning in the preseason means nothing, but I do believe that we have the best depth in the trenches that i can ever remember, on both sides of the ball.

[IndyNorm]

Originally Posted by ukcolt

Sills was solid, but I would like to think that they would want to be looking at Freeland, Witt, Goncalves, Bortolini and French, in terms of development. I would also imagine that they are going to want to see how Pinter is after his injury.

As I said originally, we have a lot of experience and mid round draft picks as depth this year, so are in a really good position. Over the past thirty or so years of watching preseason football, it has been hard to watch, as our offense has always struggled because the 2nd string o-line has been so poor, that it has been almost impossible to run any sort of cohesive offense. Marry that with a competent QB and I think this preseason is going to be really fun to watch.

Winning in the preseason means nothing, but I do believe that we have the best depth in the trenches that i can ever remember, on both sides of the ball.

I don't disagree w/ your depth comments, but you don't have any pure OGs on your 2nd unit. Freeland, Goncalves, and Witt are all OTs, and Bortolini and French are OCs. I suppose some of them could be moved, but I doubt they'd be able to beat out a solid OG w/ starting experience in Sills.

Also, I wouldn't count on Pinter making the roster. He showed in '22 that he's completely incapable of playing OG, and he's at best the #3 OC but more likely the #4 OC on the roster. The only way I see him making the roster is if we have multiple injuries at OC, which I obviously hope we don't have.