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Of course there are questions, the biggest question is at QB. Caleb had some moments last year but held the ball to long, rarely threw to checkdown option and took sacks. Many times bailed on a pocket and run into a sack. 1/3 of his sacks was on him last year. Threw into a crowd instead of hitting open players. We have players to fill every position, yes it still has to be proven but just look at last year in comparison. Dalman or Shelton, Thuney or Jenkins, Jackson or Nate Davis. LT is still a question but at least we have 3 options to project, last year it was just Braxton. You liked Banks but had we drafted him, he would still be a question mark> 50% of all first round picks fail. So he would still be a question mark. We have Dayo, Sweat at DE starters, we have a draft pick last year that is promising (Booker) and BJ mentioned Dom Rob. We have 8 bodies that still need to prove itself but at least Its not the same group we rolled out last year. Pass rush can come from the DT also, Jarrett, Shemar Turner, Dexter has gotten better every year, Billings is healthy,Cris Williams had some flashes. RB does not have an all pro back there but Swift is better than people think, Kyle has some game, Roschon can play better. With a better OL, every position will be upgraded. Thuney will make who ever plays LT better. Better play calling, getting the ball out quicker all contributes to better play from our LT, RB. Had we drafted Banks, you would say that position is good, or drafted Trevon Henderson at RB but the truth is they are rookies that still would have to prove themselfves. From this point in time, this is the players we are going to war with, there is nobody coming to make a position look better. If we acquired Nick Chubb, he is a huge question mark. Why Im optimisic , better coaching, hope that Caleb takes a big step forward, an improved OL, new bodies on the DL, and a wealth of new weapons for Caleb.

Not your normal interview

I know! That's what I'm saying! Stinger was saying we had answers to all our questions, and I was saying it's way too early to count these chickens. And of course I want those chickens to hatch well. Just too early for me to call them all successes.

Nobody has a complete roster. Some teams have enough talent at positions to cover the gaps. We're still finding out who our blue chips are.

absolutely, and I like that Im hearing Trapilo is getting his assignments right and looks comfortable. in fact everything we've heard sounds really good, and the roster looks really good on paper. Im just not ready to say we have a complete roster, especially regarding DE, but while i HOPE beyond hope that we have a good LT on the roster, I just want to see it comfirmed in pads. I cant go in for sunshine and rainbows after all these years! But does everything we know look good so far? Absolutely!

I do like that Ben had praise for Dom Rob, Hyppolite and Monongai.

But even BJ says it's not anything until pads come on? We have the guys we have and the next thing is to see what they look like in pads, and then you look to make moves after that - that the rhythm of the draft / free agency cycles every year. I'm just saying, I cant do this narrative driven "everything amazing" stuff every year. I am hopeful and optimistic about the roster for sure, but i cant tell you who our starting LT is yet, so i cant judge it and say its good yet either?

I go by what the coaches say. BJ doesnt seem to be the type that blows smoke up your dress. I believe he is making honest statements. PLUS, they arent going out and adding people at those posistions. The pads will be the truth but I think things are looking up by the positive coaching statements.

Yeah I dont hold last season against Amagadje. For me, he and Trapilo are both basically rookies.

Reports were that Kiran was looking better at LT the last week of practices. He now has a a few weeks of practice to build off of this month before camp starts. When guys like Thuney say he's strong, don't rule him out once the pads come on.

I dunno how you can say that. until they get the pads on it's way too early to evaluate the LT, and we still need a dominant pass rusher. Also, while I am optimistic about Monongai, he is a 7th round pick, and I dont know that he is about to set the league on fire either. I think you can say we have players we hope will fill in at LT and HB, but that's about it at this point. And we absolutely need a top DE, maybe next year? I do think Trapilo COULD be the answer at LT, but I need to see it in pads first.

We do now with Loveland and Burton in the mix. I think our top two TEs and three WRs are a better combination than what Detroit had. Oline made some huge gains this offseason, still not where we want it to be but we'll see how it goes by the end of the season. As long as Ben can the details of the "why" for these plays into Caleb's head then he'll be fine.

So what did we learn from the preseason? BJ is a leader and hard ass, both good traits for a coach. I think that the worries at LT, RB, and DE appear to not be as needy as original thought to be. We have yet to see Burden and Loveland on the field, so there may be a slow start to their NFL stat line. I think the team is buying in to the new culture that BJ has instilled in this team. I think our depth is going to be solid. 3 players that could play LT will leave us in good shape for backups. I think players like Tyler Scott, Zach Pickens and Ryan Bates could be cut and add to our cap space. If Burden has nagging injuries to start the year, I think we are good hands with Zaccheaus and Duvernay.

I think we have the personal to do what this tape show us on BJs offensive scheme. What Caleb needs to do is stay in the pocket and dont hold the ball. Goff is good at getting rid of the ball quickly. Caleb is the key to making this work well. Cant hold the ball like last year.

I think Nagy thought he was the quarterback...

Yeah, like we said at the time, we didnt know who Johnson would be as a leader - not that we KNEW he would be bad, but we just werent sure, whereas Vrabel was a known quantity. Well, as weve learned more, Johnson is clearly the leader type we want AND he has the offensive genius stuff going on AND he can teach Caleb

I was on the Vrabel bus as well but now view Johnson as the clear best choice.

The biggest unknown was Nagy was never a play caller, or when he was, didn't do it very well. That was always the knock on him coming from KC. So if you have an offensive coach who isn't a great playcaller, what do you really have? Nagy had to figure out how to be a Play Caller while trying to figure out how to be a HC at the same time and it eventually got exposed. Fangio's defense masked it for a year, but then, like you said Stinger, Pace's draft picks and roster construction finally came back to bite him.

These two videos popped up on my feed today and I thought in light of the draft picks and what we've seen and heard about in our practices it was good for me to get a sense of the vision for the offense. (If these have been posted before I couldn't find them) In both videos at times they talk about how effective Goff was using his RBs as outlets which immediately reminded me of the reports of Johnson yelling at Caleb "faster, faster" when he was late on the outlet to Roschon this week. The 12 personnel video gives insight into the various strategies Johnson is using to stress defenses with 2 TEs alignments...beyond just the usual run/pass options. Colt McCoy did a good job breaking down the various blocking schemes Johnson used to neutralize the Vikings varied fronts. That pertains directly to our opening week matchup.

When Nagy came here he was made out to be an offensive mind, coming from a winning program and changed the culture to a more positive outlook. He went 12-4 and was coach of the year. The truth was we were winning due to defense and led the league in TOs. The next 3 yrs Pace gave away 2 first round picks, a second and drafted Justin Fields. He screwed up our ability to add talent for a team that had a lot of old players and Tribusky as their QB. Pace failed our team and Nagy had to rely on offense that wasnt very good when Fangio left. BJ comes with more fan fare than Nagy had and Poles actually has built a good roster. We have much excitement because we have a potential top rate QB. If you watch the tape on Caleb last year , he has a lot to learn. I think we have the right combination of talent and coaching to succeed this time but that still has to show up on the field. Of course I think it all ends well, but I understand anyone that is still skeptical.

100% if Caleb has what it takes he is going to get the best chance possible to develop. Right, Im sure Nagy's Xs and Os were interesting, I know Marc Trestman's were, but like you say it's about so much more. I was originally for Vrabel, because if you remember, I was concerned that Ben Johnson might just be an Xs and Os guy but not a leader like Vrabel. Well, he sure has shown that he is a leader and has a vision, and i think it's a no-brainer knowing now what I know about Johnson, that I would vastly prefer Johnson to Vrabel now. I really hope this all works out. It sure looks right at this point.

Agreed. Knowing what the big picture should look like versus knowing all the tiny pieces needed to make it look like that. Plus you need to know how to get men across an entire offense or defense to know and execute those details in real time on-the-fly against an adaptive opponent where things will be different than planned.

This is where I am. The most important things Ben can do is build trust, be authentically genuine, and command excellence on the field. The X's and O's will always be there.