04-17-2025, 02:25 PM
(04-16-2025, 07:04 PM)Nate (formerly eliminate08) Wrote: Hernandez is coming off an ACL tear so he might not be able to even practice until the season starts.
But yeah, Risner and Scherff should be on our minds for sure after the Draft whether we draft a Guard or not.
We need the insurance in case the rookie and others are not ready.
I'd be comfortable with Patrick starting at the start of the season if Hernandez isn't ready yet. But his injury was in Game 5. All tears are different. I think the issue is more that he cannot pass a physical now. But in 4 months he should be fine.
In terms of FA, Guard (Hernandez, Scherff, Risner) and Safety (Blackmon) are the only real spots where I see a starter level player that makes sense for us in terms of need/price. Hilton, I guess, at slot, but it seems like we have moved on.
Though guys like Smith at DE, Dobbins at RB, and, to a lesser extent, Simmons/Bell at S could provide some situational depth. I might be willing to take a flier on Chubb at RB3, as well.
But outside of that, I don't see much in FA left. After the draft and post-June 1 cuts will see some vets become available, but we should not count on that. Cannot tell who.
I still think we need 2 Gs, pass rush help at DE & DT, and some help at S. I think Rds 1-4 could hit 4 of those, but 5 is pushing it. Not to mention TE1, CB1, RB depth, OT depth, LB help, WR depth, and PK.
We are gonna have to ride with some guys we'd have liked to replace (Pratt, Stone, Volson, McPherson). Maybe ALL of them. Hope they bounce back.
And hope some of our young guys level up: Mims, C. Brown, Yoshi, Murphy, Jackson, Jenkins, Turner, D. Hill, CTB, Battle, even Ossai.
And we need to nail these picks. I am strongly in favor of taking a safe double on early picks (Emmanwori, Starks, J. Campbell, Zabel, Jackson, Harmon, Watts, etc.) than swinging forcthe fences on guys like Stewart and M. Williams, or even Nolen & Green.
No flags. At least in terms of production, attitude, or ability. A niggling injury I can handle. And given our Burton choice last year, I flat out don't trust whomever iur background checker is at the FO. I hope we have a new one.
