We are going to be really good next year. We lose Pettis and Vea. Nobody else is really that important.
It's possible.
The thing I'm excited about (like everyone) is the transition from Smith to Bush. And not just because of play calling. I have a feeling Bush will be more willing to push his receivers to the top of the depth than Smiff would have been. Jones, Cook, Bynum, and Osbourne all committed to Bush. Spiker was ready to commit to Bush then pushed his commitment back when Bush left. All 5 of them are Bush guys. Those dudes populating the depth at WR along with Chico makes things a whole lot different offensively. Browning will still be Browning but even with Jake we had a high functioning offense when we had two elite receivers in 2016. I think it's possible we get close to that in 2018.
The concern is RB depth, but if Gaskin comes back I feel a whole lot better about that. I don't trust McGrew to get meaningful carries.
We are going to be really good next year. We lose Pettis and Vea. Nobody else is really that important.
Browning is still Browning ... I have no expectations for that to magically change.
What concerns me is that I don't see a lot of playmakers in the Front 7 ... we lose Vea and Bierria who were at worst 2 of the top 3 playmakers in the Front 7. We desperately need Levi to take the next step and if Kaho can come in and be a playmaker early on like Shaq was, then our defense has a good chance to remain at relatively the same level that we had in 2017.
Against better teams, I could see us continuing to have challenges and having teams push the upper 20's into the low 30's for points scored against the Defense. The problem is that those teams have the kind of athletes that usually results in Browning throwing up one of his 18 of 32 for 220 games which puts us in a challenging position to outscore the opposition.
We have a ton of weapons on offense next year though. The OL will be as good as it has been in 20 years. Assuming Gaskin comes back the thought of him pairing with Ahmed is amazing. Our TEs should still be strong with Sample and Bryant. The big question is who will emerge at the WR position ... if we can get that in great place then Browning will have no excuses and we should be back to 2016 offensive levels.
It also wouldn't shock me if we had packages in place for Yankoff next year ... I could definitely see him not redshirting given the run/pass option that he gives and allows us to somewhat mitigate Browning at times (as/if needed). That doesn't mean that I think Yankoff would be ahead of Sirmon in 2019 so don't twist. But I do think that it's going to be very likely that the backup next year will be either Yankoff or Sirmon.
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Just kidding. Women aren't funny.
The thing I'm excited about (like everyone) is the transition from Smith to Bush. And not just because of play calling. I have a feeling Bush will be more willing to push his receivers to the top of the depth than Smiff would have been. Jones, Cook, Bynum, and Osbourne all committed to Bush. Spiker was ready to commit to Bush then pushed his commitment back when Bush left. All 5 of them are Bush guys. Those dudes populating the depth at WR along with Chico makes things a whole lot different offensively. Browning will still be Browning but even with Jake we had a high functioning offense when we had two elite receivers in 2016. I think it's possible we get close to that in 2018.
The concern is RB depth, but if Gaskin comes back I feel a whole lot better about that. I don't trust McGrew to get meaningful carries.
What concerns me is that I don't see a lot of playmakers in the Front 7 ... we lose Vea and Bierria who were at worst 2 of the top 3 playmakers in the Front 7. We desperately need Levi to take the next step and if Kaho can come in and be a playmaker early on like Shaq was, then our defense has a good chance to remain at relatively the same level that we had in 2017.
Against better teams, I could see us continuing to have challenges and having teams push the upper 20's into the low 30's for points scored against the Defense. The problem is that those teams have the kind of athletes that usually results in Browning throwing up one of his 18 of 32 for 220 games which puts us in a challenging position to outscore the opposition.
We have a ton of weapons on offense next year though. The OL will be as good as it has been in 20 years. Assuming Gaskin comes back the thought of him pairing with Ahmed is amazing. Our TEs should still be strong with Sample and Bryant. The big question is who will emerge at the WR position ... if we can get that in great place then Browning will have no excuses and we should be back to 2016 offensive levels.
It also wouldn't shock me if we had packages in place for Yankoff next year ... I could definitely see him not redshirting given the run/pass option that he gives and allows us to somewhat mitigate Browning at times (as/if needed). That doesn't mean that I think Yankoff would be ahead of Sirmon in 2019 so don't twist. But I do think that it's going to be very likely that the backup next year will be either Yankoff or Sirmon.
.gif deserves a Bounce!
erm, Bump