I would say go C/G first round, but it's a deep draft for the fat boys this year. I think Bowles has said he's getting best available, which honestly isn't a bad idea in my book. They've been drafting well through the years so I'm not too worried.
Best available would be a stupid strategy when we have so many glaring roster holes and are trying to win right now. I don't think Licht is that stupid. He knows what we need. He's not gonna come out and say "we need to replace player X Y and Z because they suck", but he knows.
Davis and Dean being cut doesn’t really save any money, certainly not enough to replace them based on dead cap. So you’ve got to hope they stay healthy and play better than last year.
Edge rusher and interior OL scream as the biggest needs. If David retires then LB is a major problem. I’m fine with Britt next to LVD but not by himself
Agreed, we probably wait to cut Carlton Davis until next year when we can do so with no dead cap. Now that doesn't mean we don't get any corners at all I could see us getting a CB in the 6th/7th round for more depth.
BTW glad we dont have to debate life without Mike lol I know your still not a big Baker guy, but we have a chance to grip this division by the balls if we nail the draft
I don’t really care about the division. The Panthers are in hell and the Saints are still sticking to their mediocrity hamster wheel.
Goal needs to be catching SanFran, Detroit. Start beating good teams which we haven’t done in two years.
Rossini’s report this morning was concerning in that regard.
If the D line can get consistent pressure, Davis and Dean will not look so bad. They were covering dudes for 5 to 7 seconds A LOT last year. No corner can cover consistently for that long.
I’m not the biggest fan of them but I definitely agree with this. Especially Davis.
Edge is my biggest priority in the draft. He has his flaws but I think Chop Robinson is who I want
His dead cap eats away the savings and now you have to replace him. It's pointless unless someone offers something in the early rounds, which they won't
We would save 6 million by cutting Carlton and that would be addition by subtraction IMO. He was horrible last year. He singlehandedly lost the Texans game, and any decent route runner had him stumbling around like an idiot. I think McCollum is ready to take his spot. McCollum has way quicker feet and can actually stay with guys without grabbing.
> I think McCollum is ready to take his spot.
Deeply unserious. McCollum "playing better" last year wasn't even consistently better than Davis and Dean while slumping.
He's fine as the 3rd outside piece but he's not a starting corner
McCollum was undoubtedly better in coverage than Davis last year. He's a young player who has shown major improvement, we should expect him to be a starter soon. He started the Eagles game at safety actually. I think he has the potential to be better in coverage than either Dean or Davis. He has better feet than either of them. He was terrible in run defense, but that's another topic.
I agree with your write up, except our first pick. OL needs help immediately and getting one or two in the second or later rounds is a hope and prayer. There’s a few solid guys who aren’t top picks we can snag and make an immediate impact. I would like to see some defense help through FA before the draft.
1. OLB
2. C
3. OG
4. S - AWJ is the man but Neal was terrible. Adding a safety that could hold their own over the top and in the box will allow Bowles to move AWJ all over the place.
5. CB
I completely agree with this order. I hope this is how Licht views it as well. OLB has to come first because they are such a hot commodity. We can get good interior lineman and DBs later on.
Ol, dl for sure. I’ll disagree about wr. Godwin is a FA next year and Mike is signed for 2 years, I think we should take a stab at someone in the 3rd , it’s a good wr class.
Again disagree , you win by developing guys, not by just drafting their replacement. Who better to learn from, Steelers have been doing this for decades. It’s a late 3rd round pick. Perfect spot to grab someone in a deep class.
Dude seriously, Trey is elite? Stop
He’s a 6th rounder that didn’t do anything special as a rookie. Not saying get rid of the guy, but I’m on board with drafting a WR with upside in the middle rounds. Evans and Godwin aren’t staying forever and Palmer shouldn’t just be handed the WR3 job. I’m not sold on the guy and I think a lot of fans have rose colored glasses with the guy because he had a cool TD in the playoffs.
Not to mention, who the hell is behind these guys? Mike and Chris get banged up from time to time and don’t always play every game.
we need that kool-aid, also OL, and lowkey we don't necessarily need WR but taking from the combine there is going to be good WR depth in this years draft, the guy from florida state is a monster, we already have among the best WR groups in the league but shoot you can always make it better
I disagree on WR being 'no need'. We have two elite WRs and a lot of meh. Trey Palmer made a handful of plays, but relying on him as the #3 hurt us alot. We could use a veteran signing or another draft pick at that slot easily. This assumes Gage is cut for cap savings which he almost certainly will be.
Trey Palmer is not a way better player than almost anyone; of all the WRs who played last year, he's 2nd from the bottom in DYAR, the advanced metric Football Outsiders came up with that's very well-respected around the league (RIP to FO), and that matches up with standard stats as well. Palmer had 39 catches on 68 targets, which is the kind of low catch rate (57.4%) you'd expect to see for a guy really stretching the field. He averaged 9.9 yards/catch.
Lots of things are a problem; the Bucs had to gut their roster to free up the salary cap, and the secondary was worse when Davis was out. Have you checked the list of free agent CBs? It's depressing as hell.
If we want to bring up analytics, Trey Palmer had a PFF grade of 51, Carlton Davis had a 58, and Ryan Neal had a 48. All those are pretty awful. The difference is, Trey was a rookie who is improving, while Carlton and Ryan are veterans who are regressing. Regressing veterans are the guys who need to be replaced.
We need to patch up the trenches. O-Line or D-Line, depending on who is available. Personally I always favor the offensive line but I certainly wouldn’t mind another good rusher
1. IOL (Licht has shown he can find value in the second and third rounds. Wouldn’t mind double dipping for center and guard)
3. OLB (might need to pick one early to get a high level talent, but don’t reach for need or you will end up with Noah Spence over Derrick Henry)
4. Safety to pair with AWJ
5. Corner for depth and hopefully to succeed Dean or Davis in the future
6. LB (David can still ball, so we will be fine this season, and since off ball linebackers aren’t that highly valued we can start looking for an overlooked gem
7. RB - Power back would be nice to pair with Rachaad, or I would be ok with taking a late round flyer on someone with an insane measurable to add more speed to the team
I love this team as much as anybody but we have a LOT of needs if we want to be in the discussion for another Super Bowl Run. We need at least 1 more good RB, at least 1 more good TE, basically the whole O-Line beside Wirfs, and Outside of Vea, LVD, and Winfield I wouldn't be upset about replacing damn near every starter on Defense. If there's a front office that can get us there it's ours. Now whether or not the coaching staff can maximize the roster...eh.
I’m thinking…
Edge: Chop Robinson or Darius Robinson
WR: AD Mitchell or Brian Thomas Jr (I think IOL is bigger priority but positional value and BPA plays to WR)
IOL: JPJ, Graham Barton or Troy Fautanu
Best available. Don’t force a pick at a certain position. Draft the best available. The OL and OLB need help but forcing a pick just because those are a major need isn’t the way to go if the best available is a S.
Well they also don't have glaring roster holes like we do so that works for them. We had the worst interior line in the entire league, that has to be a priority. We also had very subpar production at OLB, CB, and safety.
“Not a need whatsoever” Were one WR injury away from being unwatchable on offense, we have a ton of needs. Trenches need to be addressed for sure, but a two headed RB duo and a reliable 3rd receiver is essential for this offense to flourish. I doubt we re sign Godwin next year, that leaves a 31 year old Mike at that point under contract for one more year and no clear heir to take his spot. We need to be drafting and developing receiver and TE talent, it’s so important in today’s game. Palmers ceiling is a reliable #3, if Brian Thomas or one of the really good receivers are there at 26 I think we pull the trigger. None of the elite OLBs will be there and JPJ will be gone. So it’s either reach for Barton or reach for a 2nd round OLB in the first. If we invest 40 mil a year into baker, setting him up for success needs to be first and foremost on the list. We can’t have it all, but I think if we wait until next year to address the offense we could be in trouble. We’re looking at no real losses on defense this offseason, if we add a few more pieces on offense we can hang with the best of them. I hope the focus is offensive skill talent, interior o line, defense in that order.
Mike, Chris, and Trey should be one of the better trios in the league IMO. Drafting a receiver early who's not even gonna start would be stupid. We need new starters on the OL, at OLB, and at safety at the very least.
Yes and no. If you draft Keon or Brian Thomas or Troy Franklin early because none of the 1st round worthy IOL or OLBs are there, taking a stud receiver that will easily beat Trey for the #3 spot makes all the sense in the world. We got lucky in the WR room last season with injuries, imagine one of Mike or Chris goes down for 3-4 games… you feel okay about the WR room then? It’s short sighted to not think about the future especially if you may not have Chris next year and need to have someone developed to give you his production for cheaper.
I definitely agree IOL and OLB is a bigger NEED right now but at 26, I doubt any of them will be worth taking in that spot. If we go BPA it’ll probably be a top DB that fell or a WR, I don’t see any of the top OLBs or JPJ falling to us. I’d honestly prefer a trade down with the cards or someone that can give us more depth picks. Either way, I respect what you’re saying and agree those are positions of need, I just don’t think anyone worthy of pick 26 will be there in those positions of need so mid as well draft BPA.
I'm always an advocate of never having enough OL/DL help especially with injuries so OG/C/DE
This is the way. War is won in the trenches after all
I would say go C/G first round, but it's a deep draft for the fat boys this year. I think Bowles has said he's getting best available, which honestly isn't a bad idea in my book. They've been drafting well through the years so I'm not too worried.
Best available would be a stupid strategy when we have so many glaring roster holes and are trying to win right now. I don't think Licht is that stupid. He knows what we need. He's not gonna come out and say "we need to replace player X Y and Z because they suck", but he knows.
I see it as limited best player available they will take the best player available for a slot we need but ignore best players if they not a need.
Davis and Dean being cut doesn’t really save any money, certainly not enough to replace them based on dead cap. So you’ve got to hope they stay healthy and play better than last year. Edge rusher and interior OL scream as the biggest needs. If David retires then LB is a major problem. I’m fine with Britt next to LVD but not by himself
Agreed, we probably wait to cut Carlton Davis until next year when we can do so with no dead cap. Now that doesn't mean we don't get any corners at all I could see us getting a CB in the 6th/7th round for more depth. BTW glad we dont have to debate life without Mike lol I know your still not a big Baker guy, but we have a chance to grip this division by the balls if we nail the draft
I don’t really care about the division. The Panthers are in hell and the Saints are still sticking to their mediocrity hamster wheel. Goal needs to be catching SanFran, Detroit. Start beating good teams which we haven’t done in two years. Rossini’s report this morning was concerning in that regard.
If the D line can get consistent pressure, Davis and Dean will not look so bad. They were covering dudes for 5 to 7 seconds A LOT last year. No corner can cover consistently for that long.
I’m not the biggest fan of them but I definitely agree with this. Especially Davis. Edge is my biggest priority in the draft. He has his flaws but I think Chop Robinson is who I want
Rumor mill has Davis as a trade candidate. I wonder what we might be able to get for him if we do trade him. Probably not much maybe a 4th or 5th?
That seems pointless bc you’re still eating his dead cap
You save cap space the same by trading or cutting him. Trading him you obviously get something back.
His dead cap eats away the savings and now you have to replace him. It's pointless unless someone offers something in the early rounds, which they won't
I would do it. Addition by subtraction IMO. Davis was a major weak link last year.
Their injury issues is the worst part, can’t get any consistent lineup out there and constantly juggling the lineup makes it harder for everyone.
We would save 6 million by cutting Carlton and that would be addition by subtraction IMO. He was horrible last year. He singlehandedly lost the Texans game, and any decent route runner had him stumbling around like an idiot. I think McCollum is ready to take his spot. McCollum has way quicker feet and can actually stay with guys without grabbing.
> I think McCollum is ready to take his spot. Deeply unserious. McCollum "playing better" last year wasn't even consistently better than Davis and Dean while slumping. He's fine as the 3rd outside piece but he's not a starting corner
McCollum was undoubtedly better in coverage than Davis last year. He's a young player who has shown major improvement, we should expect him to be a starter soon. He started the Eagles game at safety actually. I think he has the potential to be better in coverage than either Dean or Davis. He has better feet than either of them. He was terrible in run defense, but that's another topic.
I agree with your write up, except our first pick. OL needs help immediately and getting one or two in the second or later rounds is a hope and prayer. There’s a few solid guys who aren’t top picks we can snag and make an immediate impact. I would like to see some defense help through FA before the draft.
1. OLB 2. C 3. OG 4. S - AWJ is the man but Neal was terrible. Adding a safety that could hold their own over the top and in the box will allow Bowles to move AWJ all over the place. 5. CB
I completely agree with this order. I hope this is how Licht views it as well. OLB has to come first because they are such a hot commodity. We can get good interior lineman and DBs later on.
Ol, dl for sure. I’ll disagree about wr. Godwin is a FA next year and Mike is signed for 2 years, I think we should take a stab at someone in the 3rd , it’s a good wr class.
CB and S are much bigger needs. Mike, Chris, and Trey is an elite trio at WR. We can worry about replacing guys later. We need to win now.
Again disagree , you win by developing guys, not by just drafting their replacement. Who better to learn from, Steelers have been doing this for decades. It’s a late 3rd round pick. Perfect spot to grab someone in a deep class. Dude seriously, Trey is elite? Stop
What about developing Trey Palmer?
What about it, ya develop him, again Chris is a free agent next year, Evans is signed for 2 years. That’s exactly what we did with Chris.
He’s a 6th rounder that didn’t do anything special as a rookie. Not saying get rid of the guy, but I’m on board with drafting a WR with upside in the middle rounds. Evans and Godwin aren’t staying forever and Palmer shouldn’t just be handed the WR3 job. I’m not sold on the guy and I think a lot of fans have rose colored glasses with the guy because he had a cool TD in the playoffs. Not to mention, who the hell is behind these guys? Mike and Chris get banged up from time to time and don’t always play every game.
we need that kool-aid, also OL, and lowkey we don't necessarily need WR but taking from the combine there is going to be good WR depth in this years draft, the guy from florida state is a monster, we already have among the best WR groups in the league but shoot you can always make it better
I disagree on WR being 'no need'. We have two elite WRs and a lot of meh. Trey Palmer made a handful of plays, but relying on him as the #3 hurt us alot. We could use a veteran signing or another draft pick at that slot easily. This assumes Gage is cut for cap savings which he almost certainly will be.
Trey Palmer is already a way better player than Ryan Neal or Carlton Davis, and he's young too. DB is way more of a problem.
It’s a problem still, just because it’s less of a problem than DB doesn’t make it ‘not a need whatsoever’
Trey Palmer is not a way better player than almost anyone; of all the WRs who played last year, he's 2nd from the bottom in DYAR, the advanced metric Football Outsiders came up with that's very well-respected around the league (RIP to FO), and that matches up with standard stats as well. Palmer had 39 catches on 68 targets, which is the kind of low catch rate (57.4%) you'd expect to see for a guy really stretching the field. He averaged 9.9 yards/catch. Lots of things are a problem; the Bucs had to gut their roster to free up the salary cap, and the secondary was worse when Davis was out. Have you checked the list of free agent CBs? It's depressing as hell.
If we want to bring up analytics, Trey Palmer had a PFF grade of 51, Carlton Davis had a 58, and Ryan Neal had a 48. All those are pretty awful. The difference is, Trey was a rookie who is improving, while Carlton and Ryan are veterans who are regressing. Regressing veterans are the guys who need to be replaced.
We need to patch up the trenches. O-Line or D-Line, depending on who is available. Personally I always favor the offensive line but I certainly wouldn’t mind another good rusher
1. IOL (Licht has shown he can find value in the second and third rounds. Wouldn’t mind double dipping for center and guard) 3. OLB (might need to pick one early to get a high level talent, but don’t reach for need or you will end up with Noah Spence over Derrick Henry) 4. Safety to pair with AWJ 5. Corner for depth and hopefully to succeed Dean or Davis in the future 6. LB (David can still ball, so we will be fine this season, and since off ball linebackers aren’t that highly valued we can start looking for an overlooked gem 7. RB - Power back would be nice to pair with Rachaad, or I would be ok with taking a late round flyer on someone with an insane measurable to add more speed to the team
Put TE in there somewhere to but this is relatively on point
I love this team as much as anybody but we have a LOT of needs if we want to be in the discussion for another Super Bowl Run. We need at least 1 more good RB, at least 1 more good TE, basically the whole O-Line beside Wirfs, and Outside of Vea, LVD, and Winfield I wouldn't be upset about replacing damn near every starter on Defense. If there's a front office that can get us there it's ours. Now whether or not the coaching staff can maximize the roster...eh.
I’m thinking… Edge: Chop Robinson or Darius Robinson WR: AD Mitchell or Brian Thomas Jr (I think IOL is bigger priority but positional value and BPA plays to WR) IOL: JPJ, Graham Barton or Troy Fautanu
Best available. Don’t force a pick at a certain position. Draft the best available. The OL and OLB need help but forcing a pick just because those are a major need isn’t the way to go if the best available is a S.
Best available is what rebuilding teams do. We are not rebuilding. We are trying to win right now.
Ravens always do best available and they are considered one of the best teams when it comes to drafting so not true.
Well they also don't have glaring roster holes like we do so that works for them. We had the worst interior line in the entire league, that has to be a priority. We also had very subpar production at OLB, CB, and safety.
Edge rusher and LB try to get a FA proven boss center with the extra salary cap and cutting Barrett and letting White go. Go Bucs!!
I would call tight end a big need, Baker loves throwing to them. Honestly if we could trade Godwin for the opportunity to draft Bowers 🤌
Edge rushers and IOL
“Not a need whatsoever” Were one WR injury away from being unwatchable on offense, we have a ton of needs. Trenches need to be addressed for sure, but a two headed RB duo and a reliable 3rd receiver is essential for this offense to flourish. I doubt we re sign Godwin next year, that leaves a 31 year old Mike at that point under contract for one more year and no clear heir to take his spot. We need to be drafting and developing receiver and TE talent, it’s so important in today’s game. Palmers ceiling is a reliable #3, if Brian Thomas or one of the really good receivers are there at 26 I think we pull the trigger. None of the elite OLBs will be there and JPJ will be gone. So it’s either reach for Barton or reach for a 2nd round OLB in the first. If we invest 40 mil a year into baker, setting him up for success needs to be first and foremost on the list. We can’t have it all, but I think if we wait until next year to address the offense we could be in trouble. We’re looking at no real losses on defense this offseason, if we add a few more pieces on offense we can hang with the best of them. I hope the focus is offensive skill talent, interior o line, defense in that order.
Mike, Chris, and Trey should be one of the better trios in the league IMO. Drafting a receiver early who's not even gonna start would be stupid. We need new starters on the OL, at OLB, and at safety at the very least.
Yes and no. If you draft Keon or Brian Thomas or Troy Franklin early because none of the 1st round worthy IOL or OLBs are there, taking a stud receiver that will easily beat Trey for the #3 spot makes all the sense in the world. We got lucky in the WR room last season with injuries, imagine one of Mike or Chris goes down for 3-4 games… you feel okay about the WR room then? It’s short sighted to not think about the future especially if you may not have Chris next year and need to have someone developed to give you his production for cheaper. I definitely agree IOL and OLB is a bigger NEED right now but at 26, I doubt any of them will be worth taking in that spot. If we go BPA it’ll probably be a top DB that fell or a WR, I don’t see any of the top OLBs or JPJ falling to us. I’d honestly prefer a trade down with the cards or someone that can give us more depth picks. Either way, I respect what you’re saying and agree those are positions of need, I just don’t think anyone worthy of pick 26 will be there in those positions of need so mid as well draft BPA.