Putting myself in Caserio’s shoes

TL:DR: Pick-up Saquon Barkley & Bobby Wagner in free agency… re-sign most of the starters… draft DT, DE, ILB, P, WR, OT.

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If I was Nick Caserio, how I would attack this offseason?

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First off, I worked through the Depth Chart and Injured Reserve to find holes. Caserio's efforts to build out a brick wall O Line for CJ were hit by an awful bout of injury. Assuming we're back to full strength, I see first and second string at every position but Right Tackle. So that's hole number 1. The other two spots on offense are whether to re-sign Singletary and Schultz or find replacements. So those are holes 2 & 3.

Defense is an entirely different story. The secondary is mostly stable if we're healthy, but the potential departure of Steven Nelson is glaring… hole #4. DT needs a starter and back-up, so does defensive end, ILB too. So that's holes # 5-10.

Special Teams are also a concern, Ka'imi and Cameron Johnston are at the end of their contracts. Holes 11 & 12. The large-cap space in front of the Texans started looking not so large.

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Next, I thought about who to re-sign. Ka'imi was one of the first decisions (Estd. Annual cap number: $4.5M). Then a lot of the defense:

• Sheldon Rankins (Estd. Annual cap number: $10M)
• Derek Barnett (Estd. Annual cap number: $2.5M) – I believe DeMeco sees an upside that the market doesn't.
• Blake Cashman (Estd. Annual cap number: $7.5M)
• Steven Nelson (Estd. Annual cap number: $10M)

That leaves 7 spots. RB, TE, and MIKE LB were the ones I wrestled with the most. I think Dalton Schultz is a good option and we can re-sign him for $11.5M or turn to Hunter Henry for a similar figure while hoping Brevin Jordan grows into an impact player. While Singletary did good things towards the end, there is an opportunity to supercharge our offense with a dynamic, burst-running RB who also contributes to the passing game. Someone like Saquon Barkley or D'Andre Swift. And I think we can get one of them for $12M on average per year. At MIKE LB, I'm sure DeMeco is interested in coaching up a young guy to be the play-calling captain but that is not something you can expect out of a rookie. So, Caserio will ask Bobby Wagner ($5.5M APY) to help us win a championship and lend some veteran presence while looking to the draft for a future impact ILB. Sure, a player like Patrick Queen would be amazing but I don't think it's worth leveraging the whole defense for just him.

WR, and DE in free agency seemed overpriced versus what can be done by drafting and coaching up.

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In the draft, I would search for future starters at DT (Byron Murphy, T'Vondre Sweat), DE, and ILB. Same with OT. These are positions where we can get a lot of value from late-in-the-round picks and the middle rounds. Punter can probably happen. And if a future pro-bowl receiver fell to us in the first round, I wouldn't be afraid to fill out CJ's arsenal.

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Thoughts?