Foundation of the Team - Moving Forward

I heard a lot of talk from Pete in his "state of the team" presser recently and he seems to be really excited about where the team is, stating that he feels he has everyone he needs to put a championship team together. So I'm just interested, who is the "new foundation" of the team?

Unfortunately Kam and Cliff are likely gone, Mike B. thinks he's gone, we have Sherm coming back from injury. I thought I would look at the roster and especially the young guys and see what we have across the board and what we need moving forward.

Please delete this thread if this has been discussed elsewhere.

Here are the new players that I feel are "up and coming" and "solid core guys" that can lead the team forward and have contributed.

Chris Carson RB
Shaq Griffin CB
Justin Coleman CB
Naz Jones DT
Jerran Reed DT
Dion Jordan DE
Nick Vannett TE
Ethan Pocic OG

And how they fit into the team and where we are "light" in depth.
QB - Wilson. Who knows with Davis/Boykin going forward.
OL - Brown and Britt are solid. Ifedi needs to move to guard. Fant is coming back from injury - move him to RT? Can Pocic play better at guard in 2018?
RB - Carson and Davis and draft a new guy. Biggest spot of need moving forward IMO. Procise, McKissic. Rawls gone.
TE - Who knows what happens with Luke Wilson. Impressed with Vannett this year.. Need more depth with Jimmy possibly moving on.
WR - Baldwin, Darboh, Moore. Lockett and Richardson are FA?
DT - Jones, Reed, Richardson back?
DE - Frank, Dion Jordan, Bennett back? Can Q Jeff contribute more in 2018?
LB - KJ, Wagz. Need to jettison Wilhoite and draft his replacement. Garvin, Alexander
CB - Healthy Sherman, Coleman, Griffin. Assuming Lane is gone. Resign Maxi. Thorpe.
SS - Need to resign McDougald. Can Hill step up and actually play in 2018?
FS - Earl. Will Thompson develop?

Kicker - Walsh is gone
Punter - Ryan is fine, had a down year.


I guess my point by doing this was to see what exactly Pete is so thrilled about. There's hope for the new guys, but haven't seen enough 1st and 2nd year contributors overall playing to really get excited.

Thoughts?

[tweet]https://twitter.com/bcondotta/status/948570664088215552[/tweet]

Nice to see they are getting right on it. I love John Ryan, but he was pretty bad most of the season.

I want to be sold on Chris Carson... but I'm not. Just not enough there to go on yet, especially considering he's a seventh round rookie that had a good-not-great college career.

My point is that I'm hesitant to consider him a core player. Certainly hopes he materializes into the player that flashed early in the season.

OP didn't mention Malik McDowell on the d-line
Is he a complete non factor? The fan base seems to have moved on from him, but he's still technically part of the team. At this point I'm thinking if he does come back it's purely a bonus.

That would be an incredible bonus. I guess we'll believe it when we see it. Fingers crossed.

Ryan will end up like hauschka. We will undoubtedly get a shanker while Ryan goes elsewhere and nets 55.

I love how we are so knee jerk to pull the plug on a guy who had a bad year in the kicking game but our loser coaches stay around after years of regression.

CHawkTailGator":2onowyq6 said:

RB - Carson and Davis and draft a new guy. Biggest spot of need moving forward IMO. Procise, McKissic. Rawls gone.

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IMO McKissic was what they wanted a healthy Procise to be, more or less. I actually think he did great with what he had despite his numbers as a versatile player. Move Procise to WR and that might help him stay healthy longer and it would help our WR need. Rawls I'm a little iffy about. If he can just stay disciplined and stop being so jumpy then I truly believe he might be able to get close to his rookie year. But that's still an iffy chance so I'm neutral there.

CHawkTailGator":2onowyq6 said:

TE - Who knows what happens with Luke Wilson. Impressed with Vannett this year.. Need more depth with Jimmy possibly moving on.

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I think they're going to let Jimmy go. It's clear to see they still havent figured out the blatantly obvious way to use him to his maximum potential and for that kind of price to waste his talent, I don't see it happening but I could be wrong depending if the light switch flicks on and they have an epiphany with how they use him.

CHawkTailGator":2onowyq6 said:

SS - Need to resign McDougald. Can Hill step up and actually play in 2018?
FS - Earl. Will Thompson develop?

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I've been excited to see both Thompson and Hill ever since I saw their highlight reels from college. I think they both fit, they just need to be a sponge to Kam and Earl and soak up every little bit of knowledge and tips that they can, like Griffin did with Sherman.

CHawkTailGator":2onowyq6 said:

Punter - Ryan is fine, had a down year.

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I don't see Ryan staying unless he takes a pay cut which probably won't happen. I could be wrong and he could be very loyal and do that, but based on reports I'm seeing that the 'Hawks are trying out other punters, it seems unlikely that he'll be on the roster next year.

oldhawkfan":2fow7phk said:

OP didn't mention Malik McDowell on the d-line
Is he a complete non factor? The fan base seems to have moved on from him, but he's still technically part of the team. At this point I'm thinking if he does come back it's purely a bonus.

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At this point I'm not expecting him to play so that way if he does, it's a delightful surprise as opposed to expecting him to play at some point only to find out our top draft pick last year was wasted

oldhawkfan":2a342v44 said:

OP didn't mention Malik McDowell on the d-line
Is he a complete non factor? The fan base seems to have moved on from him, but he's still technically part of the team. At this point I'm thinking if he does come back it's purely a bonus.

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After seeing his arrest video I think the head injury is the least of the kids problem.

He has serious mental / authority / respect issues that are severe enough to count him out in my book.

That is 2 strikes before even completing his 1st training camp, and both show serious judgement problems.

Hearing that audio of him calling those cops "p*&&y a** Crackers" was next level. Dude has major issues.

SoulfishHawk":1m8zhgat said:

Nice to see they are getting right on it. I love John Ryan, but he was pretty bad most of the season.

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True, Ryan had a down year. But remember the last kicker we didn't resign cause he had a down year. We followed up with Walsh.