Bolts (yawn) going with what they have?

[Coachmarkos]

5 starting Centers last year.

Telesco certainly should have forsaw this and drafted 3 centers.

[Mister Hoarse]

I think TT will Tackle that issue this year, but there is really no way to Guard against injuries like that.

[Bolt-O]

I think he'll be front and Center on that, and he won't be Running Back to momma.

[Steve]

The issue I have is that they looked a whole lot better going into the 2014 season. I would have never called them great, but they were the heart and soul of an OL that played pretty damn well through 2013 and dominated the Bengals in a playoff game. To me, that was not obvious we had to throw them away last year.

I als still think the issue last year was we HAD to draft some other positions. Attaochu was not drafted for his play last year. We had Freeney and JJ, although I still say it was not a given they would have both (or either of them) been a lock to make the roster. We draft Attaochu because we need him THIS season. It typically takes pass rushers a couple of years to get it together and there was no way we were going to have kept Freeney (JJ I could still see playing if he had wanted to). So, just drafting OL instead of other positions was not an option. We did draft Watt, so that was a good move.

Same at CB. At the time we had cut Cox, and Wright was underachiving and was due to be a FA. We HAD to draft a CB.

Now, this season, We have Franklin at OG, Dunlap and Fluker at OT and Watt at C. Robinson and the UDFA types were OK depth and deserve a chance to challenge for playing time. I still hope we add another OL in the top 3 rounds. But I don't think you can just throw draft picks at a group of players and think that fixes a spot. Too many young players stretches the vet help and coaches too thin. Young groups like that typically don't handle the extra pressure that well (see last year when the injuries pile up). I do think we got a lot better off for the experience. It is not uncommon for quaility backups and even developmental OL to come from the bottom of the draft and UDFA. You just have to be patient.

It is our lack of patience that has killed us, along with our inability to draft well/develop players that has us in the situation we are in. I haven't read this article very closely, but the conclusion is pretty obvious and clear. We are among the bottom 3rd of the league in terms of being able to draft/develop talent, and our roster shows it. We aren't that awful, but we are not deep anywhere and need to do a better job of finding and developing our own players. We are somewhat better then what that shows because we have so many UDFA, (Oliver, Gates, Addai, Floyd) and we do a pretty good job at the bottom end of FA. But we have to do better. (http://espn.go.com/blog/nflnation/po...megrown-talent)

PS, developing players is not about waiting for them to get better. The team has to put together a plan and make it work. I still think that is a big part of what McCoy sold to get the job. He gives a lot of practice time/reps to younger players to get them ready quickly. We have only been doing it for a couple of year, and the OL thing last year hurt the plan. We had to give a lot of practice time to vets off the street to get them ready for Sunday's, and that might have been better spent on younger players, but you can't have vets not knowing the plays, it was bad enough just not being as comfortable and a lot of mental mistakes, it could have been a whole lot worse last year.

[oneinchpunch]

And the wise man said, "we shall see"...

damn that wise man