Given that he hasn't been cut can we make the assumption that he is being traded?

Either trading or cutting him saves 6.5M against the cap pre june 1st

We lost EIGHT one score games. Although we have some serious issues with the defense we need to address, our offense is in pretty good shape talent wise.

The issues with the defense

Our secondary play sucked this year, but so did our pass rush outside JJ Watt. There's two ways to improve secondary play: 1. get better DBs or 2. Get to the QB faster so DBs have to cover for less time. There was also the issue that we had no one who could feasibly cover top guys for any period of time. Our interior DLine also sucked, but a lot of that can be attributed to inexperience.

Fixing the defense

Getting a lockdown CB in the 3rd round is a pipe dream, it definitely hurts not having a 1st in this situation but there's still a way. Our options are gonna be getting a reclamation project from FA. Look at what Xavier Rhodes is doing for the Colts. Our best bet is probably bringing back Gareon Conley and hoping he continues his play from before the injury. Quinton Dunbar has played like doodoo in Seattle and maybe he wants to go to a different scheme to try and perform like he did in Washington.

We also probably have to address Nickel CB. There's rumblings about Shaun Wade potentially dropping out of the first round and if he slides to the 3rd I think we should snag him no hesitation as his fit there is fantastic, but thats a bit of wishful thinking. Hargreaves will be dirt cheap so maybe bringing him back to compete for the Nickel CB spot with someone else could work out for us.

We should trade Mercilus. I don't think he's done and apparently theres a market for him. His contract actually isn't that unfavorable from a trade perspective as theres an out after next season, but we are in desperate need of that cap space. Aldon Smith played well early in the season but seemed like he ran out of gas, bringing him in as a situational guy for dirt cheap (his contract was 2m this year) is a low risk high reward move. It would replace Mercilus production at a fraction of the cost. We have to hope for some improvement from Greenard and Martin next year and possibly Duke Ejiofor (although i doubt the new regime brings him back, his cap hit is negligible so maybe). Our 3rd round pick is very close to the 2nd round so there's a chance we can get an impact prospect still from the position (Chris Rumph or Quincy Roche might be available around there). Ultimately the biggest impact is going to be whatever scheme the new regime brings. It needs to be something that puts our defensive players in the best position to succeed and gets pressure in creative ways.

Our IDL we probably arent spending any capital except maybe a late pick on a depth NT. We're just going to have to hope that another year of experience and a new scheme leads to improvements because there is talent there.

Summary

There are some gaps in talent and we're going to have to be creative in freeing up cap space. Improvement is going to be extremely dependent on the new coach and scheme. The talent is there at most positions, it's just a matter of the new coaching staff maximizing it. A marginal improvement by the defense, like one more 3rd down stop a game, completely would've changed the outcome of our season and brings us pretty close to the playoffs. Maybe it's a bit too optimistic of an outlook but I don't think we're in that horrible of a situation. One year without premium picks sucks but it's one year and there's solutions out there that can hold us over until we do and still keep the team competitive.

DISCLAIMER: Im a random internet bozo, I barely understand how the NFL cap works so im gonna be taking some liberties there

I've seen a lot of posts about trades and theyve been irking me because they don't really make much sense. People keep clamoring about trading our valuable assets for picks because this is a burn year but thats just not how things work. No one is all hits in the draft, if we trade away all our talent we're just going to be setting ourselves back further. That's just from the teambuilding perspective. We also have to keep our players that we plan to keep happy. We can't just gut the team of any talent because its going to rub those players the wrong way, we need to make some sort of effort to win, regardless of playoffs or not.

A lot of our issues seem to also be coaching based. You see a defensive coordinator like Gregg Williams get ridiculous production off practice squad level talent. We have some level of talent we should not be THIS BAD on defense.

RATING OUR POSITIONAL GROUPINGS BASED ON NEED TO ACQUIRE TALENT

• QB: lol we're fine, if we were better elsewhere on the roster i might look into doing something like the bills did with selecting fromm late in the draft but we're just too fucked right now for that to be an option

Need for talent: not really, backup could be better but f**k it deshaun goes down we're big fucked anyways

• RB: Running back is a bigtime need for us, or maybe we just need a better run scheme. Up until this green bay game DJ was just depressing to watch, he wasnt the greatest this past week but physically he looked different from previous weeks. I'm hoping moving forward he'll look better and better. Regardless he's probably not in future plans. He has no guaranteed money on his contract so he's definitely getting cut after this year and even if we decide to bring him back on a cheaper deal we need to get some youth at the position.

Need for talent: It's a need for sure

• WR: Fuller has emerged as a legit WR1, a guy teams have to respect, again pointing at the green bay game, Jaire Alexander was stuck to him whole game. Guy is about to put together his first healthy season so he can likely be had for cheap and if not for cheap with a contract that is very team friendly in terms of guarantees. The guy also has very good chemistry with Watson which is insanely important. We got rid of hopkins but getting rid of Fuller just flat out isnt an option. Cobb is a slot WR, he's doing well for us, the contract is what it is and he's here to stay. We need to get a backup slot guy who can maybe play outside, sort've like Kenny Stills but cheaper. In all likelihood we'll have to develop this guy, but Coutee is just not getting it done. Cooks is great but he's really a luxury piece and he doesnt have any more guaranteed money on his contract. I actually think we should trade him but if we do we need to bring someone else in whos cheaper. Stills just doesnt get enough snaps to warrant paying him 7m right now but also if we get rid of him we have no competent backup at outside or slot wr.

Need for talent: Yes there is a need for talent because just from a roster building perspective we're gonna have to let someone go from Cooks and Fuller. On top of that Stills is likely done with us.

• TE: We're fine here, Akins and Fells are solid and Warring is a project prospect. Fells is overpaid and will likely get cut, we can probably just snag a blocking TE in FA.

Need for talent: not really

• OT: We're fine here with Tunsil and Howard, we have Charlie Heck as a backup, i'd probably like to get more depth but thats honestly easier said than done.

Need for talent: Always, you can never have enough quality OL depth especially at tackle, picking up a project tackle late in the draft if we can afford it with our limited draft capital is never a bad move

• IOL: F**k we suck here, Nick Martin is good but man our guards suck. We need Scharping to develop better, hopefully we end up with a better OL coach. On top of that we need replace Fulton, and Kelemete is really just a depth guard at this point. I think our backup C is Fulton right now and thats also an issue.

Need for talent: big time, i really like the saints approach to building OL where theyre consistently spending early draft capital and willing to move guys around.

• IDL: outside of Watt and PJ Hall everyone else has sucked. big time sucked, big time big time sucked. Blacklock is a rookie so he gets benefit of the doubt. Omenihu in his second year should be better than he is. Carlos Watkins and Dunn are rotational DL at best. Hopefully Eli Ankou isn't useless but its ridiculous that we have to hope for production from a guy who just got waived.

Need for talent: big time, Watt cant be carrying this line by himself and the more we leave the line like this the more we piss him off.

• EDGE: LOL WE SUCK, Merc is a complementary edge rusher right now but we dont apply enough pressure from other spots for him to be effective. Scarlett isnt good. Martin is still developing but hes showing flashes. Greenard is a rookie and from what I remember was touted as someone who would take some time to be impactful.

Need for talent: literally more than anywhere else

• LB: Cunningham got paid and mailed it in, his contract has an out after year 2 on it so we better hope he picks it the f**k up or we're stuck with him for next year too. Tyrell Adams has been refreshing to watch play. Benardrick McKinney is on IR and might end up as a cap casualty as cutting him would save 7m.

Need for talent: yeah we have two healthy LBs lol, we literally dont even have anyone we can bench cunningham for, we need talent both for now and for the future.

• CB: Conley, Roby, Hargreaves is a pretty solid CB core, but behind them we really dont even have anyone passable right now. We have John Reid whos a rookie at one of the hardest positions to acclimate to the NFL at.

need for talent: Yes, philip gaines should never see another non special teams snap. If Conley doesnt play as well as he was last year then we most definitely do need more talent. We still should invest in CBs regardless because its a good position to be deep at.

• S: Justin Reid hasn't been playing the greatest but we've not really been putting him in positions to succeed. He's been our only sure tackler for the most part. The other guys who play safety have been decent but we really need someone who complements Reid's skillset. Everyone else is unremarkable at the position, I dont really care for this lonnie johnson experiment especially when we're so thin at Corner.

Need for talent: yeah big time again.

So in summary the only positions we're really solid at are:

• QB
• OT
• TE

Otherwise we either have a glaring dearth of talent (LB, IOL,EDGE,S), no passable depth (CB, IDL) or are going to have a hole due to cap maneuvering (WR, RB).

THINGS WE CAN DO THIS SEASON

Starting with the LB position, we need to bring someone in so that we can bench Cunningham until he figures his s**t out. We're in the middle of the season so our option is practice squad prospect the scouting staff is really high on (i've got no ideas on this one) or FA that didn't sign.

Pretty much the only viable option we have as a short term guy is Vontaze Burfict. Nigel Bradham is also an option but he's really only good as a coverage LB so it doesnt solve any of our run stop issues. Bringing either of these guys in would cost pretty much nothing.

Addressing the IDL is pretty straightforward to me. We need to bring in a nose tackle so we can use Dunn as depth. We've already brought Eli Ankou in but unless he shocks the world and becomes a great starting NT we're still kinda fucked there.

My move here would be to trade a 4th for Dalvin Tomlinson. I don't think the giants plan to bring him back next year and the guy is a really really good NT. I think we'd be lucky to get Tomlinson's production out of a 4th round pick. Positional value makes it so that Tomlinson shouldn't be super expensive from a draft capital perspective. We can trade for and extend him immediately. Honestly we shouldve just paid Reader but f**k it. We should've also signed David Irving, just to have another competent IDL in the rotation but raiders signed him so its too late for that.

EDGE is an extremely valuable position and is difficult to upgrade midseason without spending loads of assets, but the Cowboys are seemingly willing to trade away pieces not in their immediate future. Aldon Smith is on a 1yr/2m deal and I feel like he can be had for super cheap. Watching him play hes still good and probably better than any edge rusher we have, I feel like he can still win one on ones and would have produced more than any of our edge rushers in their positions.

At CB there really isnt much we can do except hope a guy who fits our scheme and needs a change of scenery gets cut like Conley and Hargreaves last year.

At Safety we can poach someone off practice squads or bring Eric Reid in thats really our only option. I would love if the Texans snagged Kenny Robinson off the panthers practice squad. Watching him play in the XFL he seemed like the type of ball hawking safety that would complement Reid extremely well. PFF had him as a 1st round prospect but because he wasnt in college but was in the XFL rather his stock got tanked (not sure hed have gone in the 1st if he played in college instead of the XFL just stating that PFF rated him highly and he was drafted later than he shouldve been). Also holy s**t we paid eric murray way too much for a depth safety.

At offensive guard there really isnt anything we can do except hope that Scharping plays better or reach out to Warford and see if he wants to opt back in.

At WR it sucks but we should probably trade Cooks. Hes on a valuable contract and although he has good chemistry with Watson saving the money from his contract and getting future draft capital would be ideal. We should also trade Stills but we need to showcase that he still has value.

If we trade cooks though we need to fill the void left by him and trade for a WR. John Ross and Dante Pettis are both available and both have produced at some point in their careers (John Ross last year before the injury and Pettis at the backend of his rookie season. We can snag one of them for cheap likely (Pettis is about to get cut I think) and hope that a change of scenery does them well. Both profile as guys that fit well with Watson's skillset.

RB,OT we cant really do anything midseason that would make us better.

SUMMARY OF INSEASON MOVES

• SIGN SOME LINEBACKERS, VONTAZE BURFICT IS AVAILABLE, WE NEED TO BE ABLE TO BENCH CUNNINGHAM UNTIL HE UNFUCKS HIMSELF
• TRADE FOR DALVIN TOMLINSON, THERES BEEN RUMBLINGS AND HE SEEMS EXPENDABLE TO THE GIANTS
• TRADE FOR ALDON SMITH FROM THE COWBOYS
• TRADE BRANDIN COOKS AWAY
• TRADE FOR EITHER DANTE PETTIS OR JOHN ROSS
• SIGN A SAFETY OFF A PRACTICE SQUAD, KENNY ROBINSON IS AN OPTION

OFFSEASON MOVES

Get a Coach that isn't a jackass, get DC who maximizes defensive talent similar to Gregg Williams.

In the Offseason we should cut/trade the following players:

• Trade Mercilus if someone will take him pre 6/1 saves us 7.35m post 6/1 saves us 10.45m (The browns traded for Olivier Vernon, someone will trade for Merc)
• Benardrick Mckinney trade/cut Pre 6/1 saves us 7m post 6/1 saves us 7.75m
• Cut David Johnson, saves us 6.9m

We should also make an effort to sign some guys to prove it deals to manipulate the cap a lil bit. Primarily at the WR position. On top of the two i suggested we trade for Curtis Samuel will be an FA and his skillset fits really well with Deshaun also.

At the RB position an attempt to bring in Leonard Fournette on a 1 year deal would be great, I feel like he'd love to play the Jags twice a year.

It'd be amazing if we could sign clowney and bring him back but I doubt we'll have the cap space to make a move like that.

DRAFT:

We need to come out of the draft with some IOL and some LBs pretty much. We don't really have many high value picks. If we manage to trade Cooks and get a 2nd out of it we have to take an EDGE.

EDGE is definitely the position we're in the roughest spot for because we don't really have cap space and we dont really have early draft capital this year so how the f**k are we supposed to get premium EDGE talent.

I got really tired around here so its not as cohesively put together as I'd like

Wondering who y'all have been thinking about?

"If X team cuts him I hope the Texans pick him up"

For me I like Dante Pettis, a lot of talent and his perceived skillset would help us if he could turn it around. I don't think the 9ers cut him but there's been rumblings about it.