I've been reading about "depth". Some of you feel we need more "depth". I feel MOST of your perceptions need "depth". You guys talk about having having air conditioning when you dont even have a car yet. Are you Patriot fans? Are we talking about the Patriots? Maybe you should try watching our team once in a while. Are you the same people who have no concept of the salary cap, and think we could trade Robertson for some teams first and third rounder this year, their second and fifth next year, and their entire draft the following year? Why is this board so congested with ignorance? We have SO MANY GLARING HOLES AND LACK OF PLAYERS WHO ARE CAPABLE STARTERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And you whine about depth? You know what? Lets just let every defensive player we have go, so we can sign the best o-line as starters, and have extremely talented backups. While we're at it, we should have some pro-bowlers as our back-ups too. Maybe pay 4-6 million a year for a guy to take 15 snaps a game! We already have depth, its called uncertainty at quarterback-so we are paying out the nose for Penny to be a back-up. Now, I'm not saying that isn't the best decision to the current position we're in, but you guys want "depth" for our O-line? Me? I'm happy the FO has made the efforts they have to truly improve our team. Usually this board in the offseason whines and bitches about "Awww man, we shoulda signed that guy for 145 million over three years". Anyone ever think that no free agent wanted to play for Herm? I, for one, am looking forward to the season. And looking forward even more to next season, as the building blocks we have in place will hopefully prove to be pillars of our future franchise. Most of the free agents we have signed are experienced, but have 2-3 years of productive careers left. A perfect opportunity to draft physical young players who have the ability and character to learn from the veterans. Your "depth" comes this weekend. But reality has to set in for those who lack a serious grasp of reality. Your O-line "depth" isn't happening till the later rounds. We still have a need for startes at DT, CB, TE, and long term NT. We might draft McFadden, but I personally see our FO using his value to gain more picks if he is still available. Maybe when our team sends 5-34 guys to the pro-bowl, we'll have the luxury of talking about "depth". In the meantime, lets just make sure we have wheels on the car before buying a sound system.
I'm glad you said it. "Depth" is one of the most overused terms on this board. Its almost as if people are satisfied with our starters, when in fact the only reason some of them are starters is because there is no one better currently on the team. Who's to say we shouldn't look to upgrade some of our positions and push our starters into a backup role, thereby creating depth from within. In this manner, you build depth while ALSO upgrading the position!!
Stop making sense! My only regret is that we dont have a pile of late orund picks to maybe get lucky with a blue collar or two to fill gaps between capable starters.
Angre Teste, are you calling out any one poster in particular, or do you think this is the general sentiment of TGG.com's message board?
no one in particular. Not the entire board either. Just letting off some offseason steam. I've read several posts regarding the points that I had problems with, and point the finger at no one in particular. I like the majority of posters on this board, and don't often take the time to start threads or even post, but i do read them every day. I'm sorry,was your question supposed to be antagonistic, or an attempt to bait me? *sigh* If you disagree with me, just say so, I'd like to hear a reasonable side to the absurdity of offseason "armchair" coaching. I'm not innocent of it, but I try to take my green shades off when I am on this board. I am much different in the real world arguing for the dignity of my team. But back to your question..it is like asking "Have you ever wanted to date a man more than Tom Brady?"....hehe...
This thread is WORTHLESS. People that say we don't have depth are correct. Recently, people have said this because we haven't gotten to the draft yet and it is something we will need to address. Since we have acquired several starters through free agency and trades, depth is something we still need to deal with. Angry Teste, I would love for you to tell me as of right now who would be even a DECENT replacement for any of our linebackers if one of them were to go down with injuries. Who do we have on our roster that can fill in adequately for any of our offensive lineman? Who is our quarterback going to throw to when Coles or Cotchery needs to sit out a couple games? If Revis goes down in training camp, do we have any one to rely on? I haven't checked this for complete accuracy but I saw we even gave up our backup center Wade Smith. NO DEPTH! Aside from injuries and actually replacing players; the only areas that we could have a good rotation with are the defensive line, RBs and our tight ends. After Coles and Cotchery, we have zero threat at WR. On the other side, we don't even have a decent #2 corner back to cover a 2nd wide out not to mention a 3rd! Our linebacking unit is one of our weakest links including half of our starters (Barton/B. Thomas). We have VERY LITTLE depth! Depth meaning players that can fill a rotation or even substitute for a game or two during the season. I know depth is not the most important thing for every position to have but when we are severely lacking, it can definitely come up and bite us in the ass. All this being said, everyone including myself who claims we have no depth up until Saturday is ABSOLUTELY correct. As for upgrading our starters and pushing the rest to backups, we only have 2 picks in the first 3 roudns. We got very lucky that our first day's draft class last year started as well as they did.
Depth isn't really important unless those guys are Pro Bowlers to be backing current Pro Bowlers...Giants with Justin Tuck/Osi/Strahan...Chargers with Tomlinson/Turner...Cowboys with Ellis/Spencer...Pats with Seymuor/Green
They're great now. We'll see how great Michael Turner is when he's not playing behind the NFL's best runner. It's going to be tough running behind that swiss cheese offensive line in Atlanta.
which one is it: backing up LT or running behind a solid OL? he looked pretty good in the Divisional Playoffs when LT was injured, and he had to take over as the primary back.
i think you meant great run OL, but your right. That embarassing line will not push a running game or a passing game, and thats why atlanta is far from being fixed. Cliche time: Your only as good as your weakest link. Once they shore up the holes on the team, then they can add depth.
Wouldn't that just mean that Turner, running behind a crap O-line, isn't talented? He's looked damn good when he's started, and I'd say a 230 pound guy with 4.4 speed, some moves, and alot of punch has a good shot of succeeding in this league...
Jones, Clarke, Clement, Smith. That?s 2 Starters and 2 Backups we cut recently, we added 2 Starters. Our Starters really improved, but our Backups took a huge step back. If one guy goes down, our O-Line is back to where it was last year, only more expencive. Didn?t we beat on our FO, because they didn?t have any Plan B for Kendall, last summer? And it would be real easy for us, to kill 2 birds there. If we draft a RT, we could bench Moore, and move Woody to G, if anything happens to one of our Starters, Moore is a very good Backup, and Woody could move to the open spot.
DEPTH means much more than having someone who can fill in for an injured player. DEPTH is another word for FLEXIBILITY. Mutiple fronts. Muliple formations. Mutiple blitz packages. Fresh legs. More intense practices. Competition/Motivation. I would SERIOUSLY trade out of the first round EVERY YEAR for mutiple 2nd, 3rd, and 4th round pics. I would draft 8-10 quality players every year. And get this, have plenty of cap to sign them all and have even more cap to re-sign the Harris's, Rhodes and Bradys that bubble to the top. Fire away.
i could'nt have said it better, myself. i hope we are able to add our "depth", in the draft, but with the shortage of picks, we won't be doing that much. we need to groom these guys to replace the FA'S, that are on the wrong side of 30. right now they'd be considered "depth", but in the future they had better be starting caliber players, or we really are a team with a window thats more closed, then open. i disagree with the fact that the TE, was listed as an area of need. i cannot believe the lack of respect baker gets on this board. look back at the catches this guy's made. he's got really good hands!. we have never been a team thats gone to the tight end. with the addition of franks, and the rookie we got last year(forget his name, koslewski?), i think our TE's are pretty solid. injuries are such a part of this sport, that your backups are just as important as your starters.look at Boss, for the giants! your so right to question ,"who steps in for coles or cotch"? who?!!!!! we cannot just look at our teams starters and rest comfortably. we need quality "depth", if we are going to make a run, either this year, or next. thats just a fact.
Depth is nice but when you only have 53 positions you can fill you aren't going to have it for everyone. That's obviously why when teams have key injuries they generally end up sucking that year. Like someone else said above you can't have starters backing up starters.
I can agree with the general statement made in Teses post. This off season is the re-building that we all assumed would occur during Mangini year one. Yes we do have some holes to fill but there is depth there. You can point at WR and say we're thin, but factor in Chansi Stuckey and a possible mid round draft pick and do we have that area plugged up? Maybe! It all depends on the actual production from that area of concern. If we get above average production does that mean that we have successfully addressed this key concern? What happens if we get team wide improved play? Then this thread is Meaningless. If we had the players New England Has and still made no significant progress, would we then still be talking about Depth or holes to fill? It?s a crap shoot every year no matter what the players name is!
