Will this team be better than last year?

With the Jared Allen move falling through, and it likely being the last option outside of the draft to add someone who could impact the roster, it's getting time to take stock of where the team is at.

Namely, with the return to health of Harvin and the expected improvements of Wilson, Maxwell, Irvin, Smith etc. offset the loss of 40% of the OL, 33% of the DL, the leading WR, and two starting caliber CBs, is this team better than or equal to last seasons team?

My take is that they're probably worse, but that last seasons team was so good, all-time good, that even a slightly worse team this upcoming season is Super Bowl caliber.

My two main concerns are depth along the DL with Mayowa, Scruggs, Hill, and Williams all having a chance to make an impact, but none having shown that impact yet. Secondly, the offensive line. While I wouldn't have paid Breno or McQuistan what they received, they don't currently have 5 NFL starting lineman on this roster. Bailey and Bowie both look like excellent finds, but neither have proven anything, and counting on Carp to play 16 at LG seems like fools gold. I do like the Stephen Schilling signing to hopefully take the roll of McQuistan as your swing guy, but it seems they're going to have to invest the 32 or 64 in offensive line talent.

How does everyone else feel about the current state of the club?

I think the offense will be better but the defense will be a little worse due to loss of Clemons with no replacement. The rotation is going to have to shrink and they're going to have to play more snaps. They are vitally important and unless someone like Mayowa steps up big time, it'll be something we need to address next offseason.

Too soon to tell, but as of now I'd say no.

- O-Line is super thin
- Lost key contributors on D-Line
- WR corp needs at least 2-3 additions, especially a big body receiver
- TE needs another veteran if McCoy isn't ready to go come September

But again, key words "too soon to tell." This is a question for August when the draft's over and training camp has broken.

One thing that might help is a full year of Maxwell. He looked like another Carroll All-Pro for the last half of the year.

Will we be better than 43-8 super bowl champions? I can't see that happening, but we are still on track to defend out title. All we have really lost so far is depth. As long as we don't get bit by the injury bug (be sure to knock on wood after you read that last bit), we will be looking at a similar year to last year IMO.

kidhawk":n4l4vco0 said:

Will we be better than 43-8 super bowl champions? I can't see that happening, but we are still on track to defend out title. All we have really lost so far is depth. As long as we don't get bit by the injury bug (be sure to knock on wood after you read that last bit), we will be looking at a similar year to last year IMO.

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Our depth is what got us through the injury bug this season.

Think the D will be a little worse, but the O will be improved. Overall we will not be as good as last year (would be tough to top that even if all the same players were back), but still an elite, Top 3 team with a chance to repeat.

We can be however we have to improve our pass protection and be more creative with our routes in the passing game.

I think the jury is out. We do not know what a year of development has in store for us on the D-line. There is a chance they may even be better on Defense. The only real question is who replaces Clem. If they have a someone in play for that then maybe it is not a huge issue. Obviously PC and JS were not desperate to shell out big coin on D-lineman so my gut feeling is that they are thinking if we can get a player on a our terms great if not we have the horses to go at it.

Look at how we all thought about BB being down and we found the Maxwell was just as good if not better. Could we see this unfold on the d-line?

As for the Offense, If Bailey and Bowie are ready and get time together we should be fine. This year draft we should be able to get a WR to come to help. But I think we are good as we sit with the development of Chop Chop and a full year with Harvin.

not as of now.

How is the O improved? We've lost arguably our best WR and have nothing but conjecture at RT. A healthy Harvin will be nice, but he comes with risk. Sorry, the O, so far, has taken a step backwards. A lot of the "ifs" like Bowie/Bailey are going to have to step up, and WR is likely going to be thin going into the draft. Hopefully we'll get one of the promising big WRs, but we'll see.

As for the D? It's also gone backwards with the loss of at least two key components, McDonald and Clemons. Spare me the tripe about Scruggs, etc, those are just bodies who've yet to really prove anything. I'm disappointed we didn't sign Allen, but it isn't the end of the world. The way I look at that is that having him would have given us one of the best D's of all time, but now we're just really good. It will be interesting to see how we address the Leo.

My point isn't to be a doom and gloomer, but I don't see how anyone can objectively look at the roster as it stands today and say its done anything but declined a bit. I completely understand the cap situation and the need to be responsible as we're on the verge of signing 3 critical players (Wilson, Sherman, Thomas) but simple math shows we aren't as good. That isn't to say that our team now sucks, as it doesn't, but we're just not as good ON PAPER and I, for one, am not interested in Pollyanna views that our depth will suddenly become upper-level starters.

My theory is this: Schneider will certainly work toward maintaining a quality roster, but he's looking at the 2014 season as a small step backward before making another Super Bowl run in 2015. This year is sort of a "strategic retreat and regroup" year. If I'm right, it sort of bugs me but I also think its the right thing to do.

I agree Matt. I am having thoughts as to why people think we are A-Ok after losing 2 O & D linemen. Our drafted D linemen still have the same questions as when they were drafted. You can't count on anything from them until proven otherwise.

The O-line is in similar territory. Poo-pooing the loss of Tate is foolish. Salary cap be damned but there is no way (at this point) this team will be better, after all, we won it all.

Harvin isn't missing 15 games again. If he plays a majority of the season (as he's done for almost all of his career), the offense is better. Yes; he has that much of an impact.

A lot of players will make huge leaps next year, and it seems people constantly write off this factor. Who was McDonald last year? A nobody who was cut after pre-season without a peep from this forum. Who was Maxwell? A guy most people didn't even expect to make the roster. Who was Golden Tate two years ago? A guy who couldn't put it all together. There will similar emerging stars within the group we have. This is the benefit of staying so young all the time.

Largent80":2iruank2 said:

Salary cap be damned but there is no way (at this point) this team will be better, after all, we won it all.

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The good news is that when you win the SB 43-8, you don't have to be better.

Also to put a positive spin on this conversation, if we draft well in regards to O-Line and WR, and Percy stays healthy our offense could more than make up for any falloff on the defensive side.

DavidSeven":8oiatpnp said:

Harvin isn't missing 15 games again. If he plays a majority of the season (as he's done for almost all of his career), the offense is better. Yes; he has that much of an impact.

A lot of players will make huge leaps next year, and it seems people constantly write off this factor. Who was McDonald last year? A nobody who was cut after pre-season without a peep from this forum. Who was Maxwell? A guy most people didn't even expect to make the roster. Who was Golden Tate two years ago? A guy who couldn't put it all together. There will similar emerging stars within the group we have. This is the benefit of staying so young all the time.

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You forgot to add "This is what I desperately believe: " to the start of your post. It's all speculation.

MysterMatt":18wkldr8 said:

DavidSeven":18wkldr8 said:

Harvin isn't missing 15 games again. If he plays a majority of the season (as he's done for almost all of his career), the offense is better. Yes; he has that much of an impact.

A lot of players will make huge leaps next year, and it seems people constantly write off this factor. Who was McDonald last year? A nobody who was cut after pre-season without a peep from this forum. Who was Maxwell? A guy most people didn't even expect to make the roster. Who was Golden Tate two years ago? A guy who couldn't put it all together. There will similar emerging stars within the group we have. This is the benefit of staying so young all the time.

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You forgot to add "This is what I desperately believe: " to the start of your post. It's all speculation.

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::shrug.

Of course I believe the young players will improve and emerge. Don't we all? The fact is there is plenty of precedent for it, too. It's happened every single year under Carroll. To assume everyone is going to remain frozen in their 2013 abilities is the short-sighted and unrealistic view.

Every game Harvin plays in, Seattle is substantially better than they were in all the games Harvin was out last season. At the moment, they are a little worse than the team fielded in the Super Bowl, but there's a very reasonable chance, depending on the remainder of FA, the draft, how the red-shirted DL turn out, and Christine Michael, that they end up better.

It will be better for sure.

MysterMatt":3jdexrkw said:

How is the O improved? We've lost arguably our best WR and have nothing but conjecture at RT. A healthy Harvin will be nice, but he comes with risk. Sorry, the O, so far, has taken a step backwards. A lot of the "ifs" like Bowie/Bailey are going to have to step up, and WR is likely going to be thin going into the draft. Hopefully we'll get one of the promising big WRs, but we'll see.

As for the D? It's also gone backwards with the loss of at least two key components, McDonald and Clemons. Spare me the tripe about Scruggs, etc, those are just bodies who've yet to really prove anything. I'm disappointed we didn't sign Allen, but it isn't the end of the world. The way I look at that is that having him would have given us one of the best D's of all time, but now we're just really good. It will be interesting to see how we address the Leo.

My point isn't to be a doom and gloomer, but I don't see how anyone can objectively look at the roster as it stands today and say its done anything but declined a bit. I completely understand the cap situation and the need to be responsible as we're on the verge of signing 3 critical players (Wilson, Sherman, Thomas) but simple math shows we aren't as good. That isn't to say that our team now sucks, as it doesn't, but we're just not as good ON PAPER and I, for one, am not interested in Pollyanna views that our depth will suddenly become upper-level starters.

My theory is this: Schneider will certainly work toward maintaining a quality roster, but he's looking at the 2014 season as a small step backward before making another Super Bowl run in 2015. This year is sort of a "strategic retreat and regroup" year. If I'm right, it sort of bugs me but I also think its the right thing to do.

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I won't say we're as good, because we aren't, but being objective, we are still a very strong super bowl contender with the team as it sits now. Let's look at our losses thus far

Offense: Tate, Giacomini & McQuistan gone

Giacomini and McQuistan vs. Bailey and Bowie is pretty much a fairly even swap. We're down some depth here, but as far as starting lineup talent, we should be fairly equal. Remember, McQuistan played a lot for Okung, and with Okung back at LT he didn't really see all that much time playing through the playoffs. Giacomini is a solid guy, but Bowie got to build some experience last season when he was thrown to the fire when Breno was hurt. I think we even out here.

Yes Tate is gone, but we still have Harvin, Baldwin & Kearse to round out our starting WRs. Again we lack enough depth here, but as far as starting talent goes, having Harvin more is a plus and should more than make up for the absence of Tate. There is still time to bring in a tall WR either through FA or the draft, and that is something I'd like to see, but it's not really much declined from last season.

Defensively we lost Clemons/Bryant. I think the rotation of Clemons/Avril/Bennett was a luxury we couldn't afford to continue with at full price. Bennett and Avril will likely get more snaps now that Clemons is gone, but I don't see much decline at all in the pass rush department. As far as the run game, this is where Bryant was a HUGE help, but we have several young guys that didn't get a lot of time last year, that I believe will step up. I don't see that as much of a decline, although there may be a bit of a learning curve.

Overall, I think we have probably regressed just slightly, but not so much as to have given up the role as the team to beat. We still should be favorites for our division and the Super Bowl with the team as is, and we still have a draft and free agency to go.

I think both sides are well represented here in the thread. Weve lost some players that were contributors to our success last season (for reasons we all understand help this team in the long term) and havent found or a known replacement yet (we have depth, but their impact is unknown).

we also have a player whom we barely were able to utilize last season that may be the most explosive player in the NFL.

So... while the team may have lost key components, and may also have "added" one, its still far too early to tell what impact these losses and gain will have on the 2014/15 version of the best team in the NFL (thats important to remember).

We are building for the long haul. All of our moves thus far are reflective of that. We are in the position we are in due to this type of fiscal responsibility (in most ways) and keen eye for talent. Its what makes us unique. We have to continue to trust that.