Reed, Lockett, Ifedi, Britt amongst others are great examples of being patient with young players and not judging them on what people think they would be and allow growth to take its course.
Reed was pigeon-holed as run-stuffer with limited pass rush upside and now he’s transforming himself into one of the better pass-rush DTs in the league with 6.5 sacks and 17 QB hits. I’m pretty sure his technique is still eating up double teams.
Lockett, he’s been hot and cold with fans at times, but after his extension the majority questioned his value and thought it was a huge overpay.
Britt and Ifedi, not many lineman come into this league and light it up. I’ve heard both Jones and Brown state it took about 3 seasons for them to “get it”. Britt is now a quality OC/leader. Ifedi has taken a huge step. Sometimes guys take time to adapt, sometimes they need to find thier best fit, sometimes you need the right coach to figure out how to play a player to thier strengths and establish confidence.
Sometimes it’s dumb to prematurely criticize players in thier first 2-3 seasons solely base on what you feel or what you’ve been told.
