Better off today than August 1st Last Year?

[MO Hawk]

I was thinking about this and about how I feel about things today as opposed to a year ago at this time. A few things come to mind such as recent injuries to Baldwin and Jordan etc.: So with all the off season moves and looking at the first week of training camp:

OL - feel better with new coach and Duane Brown being signed.
RB - not sure, new guy not proven yet, can prosise stay healthy, Carson looks good.
QB - same - better if OL can protect, maybe new OC helps
WR - worse, not much depth, is Baldwin's injury to be worried about?

DL - Way worse, very worried about DL and depth. Also, could Clark Hold out and will Dion play?
LB - same, feel just as good as last year
DB - Way worse - a lot of unknowns, Earl may be gone,

Defense overall - very nervous, they weren't that good last year (last game vs Rams) and I don't know that we've gotten better.

Kicking game
Punter - same, maybe better - Dickson looks good on paper
Kicker - can't be worse than Walsh, but maybe not much better with J

Overall - worse, nervous about this season, wondering if Pete will be here next year at this time. I'm not 4-12 nervous though as USA today would have us believe. Not sure what to predict W-L wise?

Someone tell me the DL and DB's will be OK

 

[Sports Hernia]

I think the offense will be better. Getting rid of the 2 black holes on the coaching staff that sucked the life out of the offense will help greatly. RB position will be better, TE’s will block better.
Better play calling will help as well.
Defense will take a step back IMHO, how much remains to be seen.

Kicking game will be better, especially at punter.

 

[hawknation2018]

OL - Definitely better with Duane Brown, Coach Solari, stronger Ethan Pocic, more experienced Germain Ifedi, and improved depth (Battle, Jones, Fant, Roos, Beavers, Phillips, etc.). They still have issues, but there is nowhere to go but up.

RB - Definitely better with more experienced Chris Carson, first rounder in Rashaad Penny, and healthy C.J. Prosise.

QB - Definitely better with another year of experience, more consistent blocking, and a more intelligent OC.

WR - Potentially better because Tyler Lockett looks healthy, Jaron Brown is probably better than Paul Richardson, and this new depth is really exciting with Keenan Reynolds, David Moore, Amara Darboh, and Cyril Grayson coming on. I don't think Doug Baldwin's injury is a big deal with so much time to recover before the season starts.

TE - Definitely worse without Jimmy Graham in the red zone. But the blocking should be better if Nick Vannett continues to improve and once Will Dissly gains some experience.

The offense overall should be way better with a common sense play caller, better blocking, an actual run game, and the rise of some new dynamic WRs.

DL - Worse, but Frank Clark should have a great year, Jarran Reed is expected to have a breakout season, Rasheem Green is a stud in the making, Marcus Smith is an explosive rusher, Naz Jones has all the tools to be great, Jacob Martin's athleticism and pass rushing skills are intriguing, and Shamar Stephen and Tom Johnson give them veteran leadership and experience. The DL has been giving the OL a lot of problems in camp. Still, losing Michael Bennett and Cliff Avril sucks.

LB - Definitely better with Ken Norton, Jr. coaching up this unit, Pro Bowlers Bobby Wagner and K.J. Wright returning, and the additions of some great athletes in Barkevious Mingo and Shaquem Griffin. To finally have a true SLB again is a huge plus.

DB - Worse. No Kam Chancellor or Richard Sherman. Even if Earl Thomas returns, he will start out looking rusty. On the bright side, we have some pretty good corners in Shaquill Griffin, Byron Maxwell, and Justin Coleman. Neiko Thorpe is a very good athlete and stud on special teams. Tre Flowers in a really intriguing developmental prospect, with great athleticism and freakishly long arms, who should eventually replace Maxwell. Bradley McDougald is a versatile and dependable safety. Mo Alexander is a hard hitting SS. But we don't really know what we have yet in Tedric Thompson or Delano Hill. If Earl returns, this group would have a chance to develop into something pretty good.

Defense looks worse, but they still could be pretty good with Pete Carroll's coaching and development, especially if Earl Thomas returns. A lot of people think they are going to be terrible, but they certainly could be better than expected. I think they finish in the Top 12 in fewest points allowed.

Special teams should certainly be better with a great young punter, a new kicker who is not named Walsh, and the addition of Mingo, Alexander, Flowers, Griffin, Martin, etc.

 

[kf3339]

Just getting rid of our old OC and O-Line coach made the offense better. Add in a very promising 1st round RB and a better O-Line blocking scheme makes that side of the line much stronger this year.

The defense will take a step back, but not by that much from last year. It's not like it was that great in 2017, so not sure there is a major need for concern. I think with Mingo as SLB our LB core will be even better. I see our secondary as close to last year since Sherman and Chancellor were hurt early in the season. The only real issue is with Thomas, but McDougald has that covered. Perhaps not to the same level, but not that much of a drop off. Maxwell will handle the RCB just fine, and Griffin will be even better at LCB from what we had last year. Even with Sherman playing since he never was 100%.

The only real concern is the DL, but there I see a lot of young guys who will step up this season. Reed and Jones could be dominant on the inside and Clark will step up his play to another level. You can even scheme around the thin DE (if needed) to a degree. Not the same, but also not that much different than last season. That isn't to say close to 2012-2016, but that wasn't the question.

Our kicking game will be better with both the punter (Dickson) and whoever is our kicker this season. It can't be any worse.

I think people really need to look at this season as a retool for next season. Not terrible, but not a real contender right now. That is how I see it.

 

[MontanaHawk05]

Unfortunate injury situations right where they needed to NOT happen (WR/DE) have me concerned.

 

[adeltaY]

Unfortunate injury situations right where they needed to NOT happen (WR/DE) have me concerned.

Yeah you're spot on there, Montana.

Also I think many fans are underrating how good PRich was for us. Not saying he was or is a Pro Bowler, but he's definitely shown more than Jaron Brown.

 

[AgentDib]

DBs will be fine. Pete has shown over and over that he can coach up secondary players. If we do have problems at DB, it will probably only be a symptom of our true problem at DL.

DL has to be the major concern for everybody. Green and Martin have exciting upside but are developmental rookies who probably won't have the immediate impact some are hoping for. Reed, Jones, Johnson and Stephens should bolster our run defense but this looks very much like the 2011-2012 defensive line that could shut down the run, pick up a few sacks on edge pressure from Clark and Mingo, but not generate reliable interior pressure.

I'd also put WR as Definitely Worse and TE as Definitely Better but that's partly semantics around Jimmy Graham's impact.

 

[hawknation2018]

Unfortunate injury situations right where they needed to NOT happen (WR/DE) have me concerned.

Yeah you're spot on there, Montana.

Also I think many fans are underrating how good PRich was for us. Not saying he was or is a Pro Bowler, but he's definitely shown more than Jaron Brown.

I'm not sure why you would think that with such certitude. Brown is definitely the more fluid and electifying runner. Their hands are similar. Their straight-line speed is the same. Richardson is better on jump balls, while Brown is better at yards after the catch. Their career numbers are virtually identical, even though Richardson had Russell Wilson throwing him passes.

Richardson: 95 receptions on 160 targets, 1,302 yards, 13.7 yards per reception, 8 TDs
Brown: 86 receptions on 164 targets, 1,177 yards, 13.7 yards per reception, 9 TDs

 

[pittpnthrs]

There was a small glimmer of hope with last years team before the season started. This season,,,not so much. Going to take a couple years.

 

[KiwiHawk]

I'm not sure comparing to August 1 is valid.

Consider that on August 1 we had Sherman, and this year we don't. However, Sherman didn't last the year. So as of August 1, we are weaker this year for not having Sherman, but as at December of last year, we are actually better at CB because we have the guy who replaced Sherman AND we have a backup for that guy.

The Rams game was an example of simply running out of healthy bodies. We had injuries on the DL and had to replace them, which meant less rotation and more playing time per player. When they got tired or hurt, they couldn't sub off because we literally had no replacements.

So while we may not be as good as we were last year at this time on defense, we are a hell of a lot better than we were at the end of last season because we have decent backups for the guys who had to start when Avril, Bennet, Sherman, Chancellor, etc. went down.

 

[Bigpumpkin]

There was a small glimmer of hope with last years team before the season started. This season,,,not so much. Going to take a couple years.

Come on.....can't we even wait to watch a few Pre-season games before such dire predictions?

 

[TwistedHusky]

Last year I don't think we had a chance at making the playoffs.

This year, our 2 biggest weaknesses have been improved, OC and OL.

We aren't going to be a SB contender, not based on what we know now.

But we should have a better run game than last year, better offense overall, and one of the key guys holding this team back is gone (OC).

The defense is worse but we expected our secondary to be worse last year because guys were coming off injuries. This year we lost those guys (except for Sherman, that was an unpleasant difference between this year and last).

WR is worse and TE is much worse, but we barely used the TEs we had right so I am not sure how much difference it makes. Losing that OC is going to make a lot of our average offensive players better.

I think it is reasonable to say we have more reason to be optimistic this year than last.

 

[lukerguy]

WR - Potentially better Jaron Brown is probably better than Paul Richardson.

I hope so, but I highly doubt this. PRich was fantastic last year.

PFF had Paul about 20 spots ahead of Jaron..For the money, I'd take Jaron... but if money was not a factor I'd take a younger Prich.

 

[hawknation2018]

WR - Potentially better Jaron Brown is probably better than Paul Richardson.

I hope so, but I highly doubt this. PRich was fantastic last year.

PFF had Paul about 20 spots ahead of Jaron..For the money, I'd take Jaron... but if money was not a factor I'd take a younger Prich.

I think Richardson was a bit overrated, because of Russell Wilson, and I don't expect him to do much with the Redskins.

Brown was catching passes mostly from Blaine Gabbert and Drew Stanton. Of the 64 passes thrown to Brown last season, only 32 were "catchable" passes. He caught 31 of those 32 passes.

 

[MO Hawk]

Good point on the Rams game last year and our injury situation. I had forgotten about that.

Another positive that I didn't mention is that overall we are a younger team. Last year age really caught up with us down the stretch. Also, many on the LOB were unknown in their early days.

My big question in drafting and talent evaluation is, "Does Pete still have it?" We will really see this year. I think in his first year here he came out of the college ranks and had a real good perspective/handle on player evaluation having seen so many of the players week in and week out when he was at SC.

 

[James in PA]

Offense will be improved, better backs & better blocking outweighs the loss of Jimmy.

Special teams will be improved

Defense has lost some serious talent. However, like I said before, if there is one side of the ball that this staff can “coach up” it’s the defense. I expect some rough spots early, but they will get better as the year rolls along.

If Russ stays healthy, no way we are worse than 7-9. If some things go our way, I can see 9, possibly 10 wins.


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[Spin Doctor]

Overall our roster looks much worse off than it did in at the same point last year. We've jettisoned many of our proven players due to age, injury, or distraction. We are also contending with injuries at the WR, and DL position. What we're left with are a bunch of unknowns for better or for worse.

Depth wise there are a few areas for concern, mainly DL. Clark has been banged up, and Dion Jordan has neither proven himself, or has been able to stay healthy throughout his career. Wide Receiver is also a concern. I don't think much of Lockett here as a full time receiver. He is a utility/slot guy from what I have seen. On the other side of Baldwin we don't have anyone either. What we have is old man Marshall and a guy who has not done much in his career in Brown. Secondary... Well lets just say that will be an adventure. Don't think they'll be bad, but they certainly won't be what we're accustomed to seeing.

Where are we better? I think the line is better. We've certainly got a lot more proven talent here just by virtue of Duane Brown. Fant is coming back, he started to look pretty good towards the end of 2016. Just by the addition of these two I think we are going to be better here. Don't expect a good line per say, but at least it won't be a dumpster fire, knock on wood.

At kicker we did an addition by subtraction. Walsh was one of the worst kickers in the league, even at Janikowski's worse he has never looked as bad as Walsh did this season. At punter we got a nice battle going between the young rugby player, and Ryan.

Running backs also look better. We've got a first rounder in Penny, and Carson healthy, and looking good in camp. McKissic is a good slasher kind of running back that adds utility.

QB, nothing really to say here, same Russ.

This team has a bunch of holes right now. By seasons end some of them may be filled, others may arise. It's just how the cookie crumbles, so to speak. What I'm getting at is that we're counting on a bunch of unknowns to make a splash. We have some serious depth issues at a few positions. I think if we're going to do anything this year, the offense is going to have to carry the burden. Can't be playing rope a dope for 3 quarters. I expect anywhere from 7-9 to 10-6.

 

[pittpnthrs]

There was a small glimmer of hope with last years team before the season started. This season,,,not so much. Going to take a couple years.

Come on.....can't we even wait to watch a few Pre-season games before such dire predictions?

I dont think the preseason is a good measuring stick. The NFC West has gotten decisively better except for the Seahawks who have replaced all-pro players with backup talent, yet some fans think we're a playoff team. Makes sense to me.

 

[TwistedHusky]

1s on 1s in preseason is a good measuring stick.

Pete does not do anything exotic anyway, so when people point out that preseason is not applicable because the playbook is limited, the defense is not blitzing, etc - the obvious answer is that we pretty much play a base defense and our offense is often more limited by its own choices than the defense.

So if the offense is solid in the preseason? We should see a reasonably effective offense in real games.

If it struggles? That is a harbinger of things to come. Remember how we struggled in the 1st halves of preseason games last year? And everyone said no worries that our offense was ineffective because it was only preseason? It appeared to follow us into the real games.

We don't do anything exotic, we don't make lots of adjustments so the results you see with 1s vs 1s in preseason are very likely the results you will see after kickoffs when the season starts.

I feel that even with a worse roster overall, we at least patched some gaping holes that killed us last year. And one of those gaping holes was the unwillingness, or at least the complete lack of urgency, to score TDs in the first half. Just doing that one little thing is going to make it easier to win if the defense cannot literally hold the opposing team to FGs or a single TD for 3 solid quarters every game.

 

[xStickybudz]

There was a small glimmer of hope with last years team before the season started. This season,,,not so much. Going to take a couple years.

Come on.....can't we even wait to watch a few Pre-season games before such dire predictions?

I dont think the preseason is a good measuring stick. The NFC West has gotten decisively better except for the Seahawks who have replaced all-pro players with backup talent, yet some fans think we're a playoff team. Makes sense to me.

You have to get younger... holding on to aging vets with huge contracts just because they were all-pros doesn’t make sense we didn’t make the playoffs with those vets in he line up so...