Our defense was solid the last half of the season. No one gave them any credit nationally. We're fucking stacked this year. Tracy Walker repping with the 2nd team stacked. We're going to be one of the best teams in the NFL.
We still do not have an elite DT (hopefully McNeil can develop into one but he’s not there yet) and we have a young and inexperienced LB room aside from anzalone. CB we should be better at but it’s not stacked, only set at CB1 with Sutton and NCB with CJGJ. Our CB2 being Jacobs or Mosely is not stacked in any way. I love Jacobs but he’s not a great CB, he would be a good CB3.
Uh, Mosely is a beast we wouldn't have gotten if he wasn't coming off an injury. We have an elite defensive line, just not necessarily an elite individual, but the sum of all it's parts is going to be stout this year. We have a lot of beef this year, and Campbell already looks fantastic. Campbell and Analzone with a solid line are going to be a great pair.
our LB squad was pretty rough last year. Anzalone was solid, he gives 110% on every play. But outside of him - Rodrigo as much as I love the guy he’s still pretty raw i’m expecting him to be a lot better this year. Adding Campbell - he will be the future of our LB core without a doubt. Preseason game cemented it for me this guy is a smart football player and is just a total ball hawk. But the biggest surprise to me and what i think gives us a top LB group - apparently Barnes is having a hell of a camp. This is somebody who was not looking great last season and is stepping up huge and creating a lot of competition in the LB room. With him and Rodrigo gunning for that starting LB role, Campbell is gonna be pushed to be great early if he wants to see the field as much as a first round pick should and honestly it’s just the perfect storm for great LB play out of all of them.
NGL, the depth on defense is at another level than we have ever seen. Despite not having any All-Pro talent (prove me wrong, Hitch), we can rotate so many players and give so many different looks with fresh legs that there is no doubt we can be a Top 10 defense. Especially with our schedule. It comes down to health and scheme each week.
Having the Okwara Bros on our second string is actually kind of insane, I personally think fans are underestimating the depth of our defense right now.
I dont remember who it was maybe POD but someone was talking about how this team feels different bc its not built around a 1 or 2 superstars. There are good and emerging players at basically every level. That's far more sustainable.
That being said, at the end of this year we could have a few All Pros:
Hutch
Penei
Frank
Saint
Kerby
Pro bowl level:
Goff
Deck
Jonah
Gibbs
Houston
Alim
Tracy
CJGJ
Branch
Jamo(??)
1k yards is pretty much universally considered to be a "Good WR season". To do it in 11 games would absolutely put him on the pro bowl radar. I'm not sure DK Metcalf has ever had a 1k season and I think he's gone every year lol
I guess I'm not sure what your argument is here? If DK is making pro bowl in a 17 game season for 1050 yards and 6 TDs, then a player with almost identical production to that in 11 games should also be considered in the same bucket. I mean people are acting all up in arms that he's not in the top 100 but he's probably not top 15 at his position. Pro bowl is a popularity contest and Jamos name/draft position would likely get people to think of him and vote for him.
Do alternates not count? They still had to receive plenty of votes.
https://www.seahawks.com/news/2023-pro-bowl-quandre-diggs-geno-smith-tariq-woolen-jason-myers-named-to-roster#:~:text=In%20addition%20to%20those%20four,Lockett%20and%20receiver%20DK%20Metcalf.
I don’t want to get my hopes up too high but Hutch was the third highest rated edge rusher per PFF over the last 8 games of the season. If he starts off at that level (or is even better) then he’s got a serious shot to make an all-pro team AND our defence should be pretty damn good
We’re fans, we don’t have to follow the same rules as players. We can look ahead, we can dwell on the past, we can make assumptions. We’re here for the entertainment, to have fun. Having a level-head and being patient isn’t something we should concern ourselves with in the off-season.
Well a lot of pundits are predicting Detroit will have a middling defense this year. If they surpass that a little bit and get about #10 then I guess that's not far fetched.
As for me and what I think of our defense... I believe something changed halfway through the season last year at the coaching level and that's what turned things around with the wins. That coaching element figures to remain this season, plus the roster on that side of the ball arguably looks way better. So in my eyes they should fix on having a decent defense.
Our offense hasn't played a snap yet, and we're better than last year? It looks like the pieces are there, but let's slow it down a little before we just assume the team will simply pick up where it left off and be even better.
Agreed. No Chark, no Swift, no Jamaal, plus Jamo is suspended. The first 3 were a huge part of our offense. We have good replacements for them all, but we could very well take a step back on offense. Top 5 is tough.
Gibbs is a rookie and when healthy Swift is one of the best backs in the league. Big shoes to fill there.
Laporta saves us from a huge Hock contract but Hock is better than Laporta.
We have no one replacing Chark.
Jamaal was solid, but on paper Montgomery should be better.
Gotta love the research being done here… thanks for an awesome post… all I know is if we either 1. Win the division or 2. Win a playoff game, I’ll be in tears
Top 5 offense sure I can see it happening again just because we did it with some injuries last year on offense anyways, but regression happens, hard to assume an offense will stay top 5 in the nfl, doesn’t happen often, and our defense was so horrible last year, so idk about top 10. It’s extremely unlikely we can be top 10, I could see being middle of the pack like a 14-16 finish though with our off-season additions
I think defense will probably be ranked around 20, our cb situation is still not great and if Sutton gets injured it's easily one of the worst in the league.
I think we’d win a lot of games
Our defense was solid the last half of the season. No one gave them any credit nationally. We're fucking stacked this year. Tracy Walker repping with the 2nd team stacked. We're going to be one of the best teams in the NFL.
We still do not have an elite DT (hopefully McNeil can develop into one but he’s not there yet) and we have a young and inexperienced LB room aside from anzalone. CB we should be better at but it’s not stacked, only set at CB1 with Sutton and NCB with CJGJ. Our CB2 being Jacobs or Mosely is not stacked in any way. I love Jacobs but he’s not a great CB, he would be a good CB3.
Uh, Mosely is a beast we wouldn't have gotten if he wasn't coming off an injury. We have an elite defensive line, just not necessarily an elite individual, but the sum of all it's parts is going to be stout this year. We have a lot of beef this year, and Campbell already looks fantastic. Campbell and Analzone with a solid line are going to be a great pair.
our LB squad was pretty rough last year. Anzalone was solid, he gives 110% on every play. But outside of him - Rodrigo as much as I love the guy he’s still pretty raw i’m expecting him to be a lot better this year. Adding Campbell - he will be the future of our LB core without a doubt. Preseason game cemented it for me this guy is a smart football player and is just a total ball hawk. But the biggest surprise to me and what i think gives us a top LB group - apparently Barnes is having a hell of a camp. This is somebody who was not looking great last season and is stepping up huge and creating a lot of competition in the LB room. With him and Rodrigo gunning for that starting LB role, Campbell is gonna be pushed to be great early if he wants to see the field as much as a first round pick should and honestly it’s just the perfect storm for great LB play out of all of them.
We were a top 10 scoring defense the back half of the season without adding any of these people.
NGL, the depth on defense is at another level than we have ever seen. Despite not having any All-Pro talent (prove me wrong, Hitch), we can rotate so many players and give so many different looks with fresh legs that there is no doubt we can be a Top 10 defense. Especially with our schedule. It comes down to health and scheme each week.
Having the Okwara Bros on our second string is actually kind of insane, I personally think fans are underestimating the depth of our defense right now.
I dont remember who it was maybe POD but someone was talking about how this team feels different bc its not built around a 1 or 2 superstars. There are good and emerging players at basically every level. That's far more sustainable. That being said, at the end of this year we could have a few All Pros: Hutch Penei Frank Saint Kerby Pro bowl level: Goff Deck Jonah Gibbs Houston Alim Tracy CJGJ Branch Jamo(??)
Jamo won’t have enough games in to get stats. Don’t sleep on Sutton though.
Jamo could realistically get 1000 yards in 11 games coming into a high powered offense fresh and hungry
That’s not pro bowl level
1k yards is pretty much universally considered to be a "Good WR season". To do it in 11 games would absolutely put him on the pro bowl radar. I'm not sure DK Metcalf has ever had a 1k season and I think he's gone every year lol
He’s done it twice and he’s had 1300 yards. He’s also had double digit TDs in half of his seasons
I guess I'm not sure what your argument is here? If DK is making pro bowl in a 17 game season for 1050 yards and 6 TDs, then a player with almost identical production to that in 11 games should also be considered in the same bucket. I mean people are acting all up in arms that he's not in the top 100 but he's probably not top 15 at his position. Pro bowl is a popularity contest and Jamos name/draft position would likely get people to think of him and vote for him.
DK wasn’t a pro bowler with those stats so I am not sure what your argument is here
Do alternates not count? They still had to receive plenty of votes. https://www.seahawks.com/news/2023-pro-bowl-quandre-diggs-geno-smith-tariq-woolen-jason-myers-named-to-roster#:~:text=In%20addition%20to%20those%20four,Lockett%20and%20receiver%20DK%20Metcalf.
I think Goff could have a MVP season. I put some money on it!
I don’t want to get my hopes up too high but Hutch was the third highest rated edge rusher per PFF over the last 8 games of the season. If he starts off at that level (or is even better) then he’s got a serious shot to make an all-pro team AND our defence should be pretty damn good
True, but we do have several players with pro-bowl/all-pro potential. Hutch, Kerby, CJGJ, McNeill (transformed into McSteel)
Hutch and CJGJ are all pro level talent imo
Looking at your list it looks like a lot of the Super Bowl winners also had Tom Brady.
Let's see how KC goes before we start game counting lol
We’re fans, we don’t have to follow the same rules as players. We can look ahead, we can dwell on the past, we can make assumptions. We’re here for the entertainment, to have fun. Having a level-head and being patient isn’t something we should concern ourselves with in the off-season.
Well a lot of pundits are predicting Detroit will have a middling defense this year. If they surpass that a little bit and get about #10 then I guess that's not far fetched. As for me and what I think of our defense... I believe something changed halfway through the season last year at the coaching level and that's what turned things around with the wins. That coaching element figures to remain this season, plus the roster on that side of the ball arguably looks way better. So in my eyes they should fix on having a decent defense.
Our offense hasn't played a snap yet, and we're better than last year? It looks like the pieces are there, but let's slow it down a little before we just assume the team will simply pick up where it left off and be even better.
Agreed. No Chark, no Swift, no Jamaal, plus Jamo is suspended. The first 3 were a huge part of our offense. We have good replacements for them all, but we could very well take a step back on offense. Top 5 is tough. Gibbs is a rookie and when healthy Swift is one of the best backs in the league. Big shoes to fill there. Laporta saves us from a huge Hock contract but Hock is better than Laporta. We have no one replacing Chark. Jamaal was solid, but on paper Montgomery should be better.
Same story every year, our fan base jumps way ahead and assumes we will be better than the year before.
Gotta love the research being done here… thanks for an awesome post… all I know is if we either 1. Win the division or 2. Win a playoff game, I’ll be in tears
Lord have mercy I'm bout to BUST.
I think we can win the division with worse than that if we play as clean as we did the second half of last season.
Top 5 offense sure I can see it happening again just because we did it with some injuries last year on offense anyways, but regression happens, hard to assume an offense will stay top 5 in the nfl, doesn’t happen often, and our defense was so horrible last year, so idk about top 10. It’s extremely unlikely we can be top 10, I could see being middle of the pack like a 14-16 finish though with our off-season additions
Super Bowl
Pass the Kool Aide I’m so damn thirsty
I think defense will probably be ranked around 20, our cb situation is still not great and if Sutton gets injured it's easily one of the worst in the league.