Thoughts On Cutting Keenan Allen?

[Boltjolt]

Drafting a RB in the 1st round is exactly something Bill Polian would do. I'd say a good draft strategy is doing the exact opposite of what Polian would do as far as positions, type of players etc. Note how Belichik routinely handed Polian his ass nearly every single year & note the differences between the 2 approaches. Belichik lost Tom Brady for a season & finished 11-5. Polian lost Peyton Manning for a season and finished 2-14.

How many games would this football team win without Herbert?

When you have a franchise QB it's more about building sustainable systems & a solid middle class of depth throughout the roster.

Belichik would get a team full of guys like Kyle Van Noy - emphasizing a bigger middle class & size & length over speed. Big linebackers that can take on blocks & run over backs on the blitz. Then he'd develop young players in the secondary emphasizing athletic traits. The end result on defense is you'd have a defense that could stop the run with a 7 man front, bullrush & keep the QB in the pocket, and a high efficiency secondary that could cover because you always have a pipeline of young drafted talent there. Then he'd build a physical Oline that could protect the passer and consistently convert a 3rd and 2 with the run. When you can give a good QB solid protection your receivers matter much less.

For example, a 1st round offensive lineman will likely improve the production of whoever lines up in the backfield on this football team.

Or you can draft Bijan Robinson in round 1 and start Foster Sarell at right tackle and see how that goes.

I like Robinson a lot too, but not if it means having to play practice squad caliber guys at other positions that need upgrades just to be NFL caliber.

Since the chiefs have had patrick mahomes they have a winning record with backup QBs. Just sayin'.

Polian isnt a Coach. Why compare them that way? And we aren't starting Sarell either. If we don't get a first round RT that don't mean we don't get one at all. FA is before the draft.

We will have Pipkins or not. If not a RT should be a day 1 or 2 pick....or they find another RT in FA'cy if possible.

Lots of work to be done before the draft..

[21&500]

I’d like to think Bijan could help our running game (or any team’s running game) flawed as it is even. And I give two fucks if his talent is “underutilized “ as long as he’s improving our running game lol. That’s like saying, Clipboard Jesus is our starting QB and we have the first pick in the draft, but we shouldn’t pick the best QB coming out of college cuz we suck and his talents will be wasted lol. Yes, the OL needs work, but that’s not a fucking reason to not draft the best RB coming out in years to help our run game, that’s crazy talk (but I’d also be happy with Gibbs).

Took the words out of my mouth. haha.
:LOL:

[Kellyb72601]

And we aren't starting Sarell either. If we don't get a first round RT that don't mean we don't get one at all. FA is before the draft.

You must not be a long time chargers fan

[Boltjolt]

You must not be a long time chargers fan

[DerwinBosa]

Again, look at Najee Harris for the Steelers. Arguably the best RB in his draft class hasn't done much because he is on a team that can't block for him. How is our situation with Robinson any different? How is t any different than say Saquon Barkley? Zeke? How many "generational" talents can there be at any 5 or 6-year period (not Harris, but the rest of them)? Zeke had a great start for Dallas, but as he has gotten older and the Dallas OL has collapsed, he is a liability now. What makes Robinson any different? We don't have the pieces in place to support him and take advantage of his talents.

We don't have any TE outside of Parham who can run block (well, we have plenty of others who block poorly). No FB to lead. How is Robinson going to do much if he keeps getting hit in the backfield?
As far as options, I keep mentioning them.
TE - Mayer and Washington. H-back - Kincaid.

Our situation is different because we're getting Rashawn Slater back, have another first-round pick in Zion Johnson, have what looks to be a starting guard in Salyer, and Corey Linsley at center. Maybe Pipkins comes back, too. Our offensive line is in much better shape than the Steelers'. Austin Ekeler just averaged 4.5 yards a carry this season. If Bijan is as great as advertised, he should be able to to do better than that, especially with Slater back.

Zeke just finished his seventh season, so it's unreasonable to expect him to be as great as he was in his younger days. Clearly running backs don't last as long, but if Bijan Robinson can give us five or six great years, I think he would be worth our first-round pick this April. But Robinson isn't Barkley (who just had a great year) or Zeke or Najee Harris. Just because something happens to one back doesn't mean it will happen with Robinson.

When you brought those tight ends in previous posts I didn't think you were serious about taking them in the first round instead of Robinson. I enjoyed watching Washington this past season; he's not a first-round talent. Picking any of those tight ends over Robinson would be a classic example of reaching for need over taking the clear best player available. If that's your solution then I'm glad you'll be nowhere near the draft room this April.

[DerwinBosa]

Drafting a RB in the 1st round is exactly something Bill Polian would do. I'd say a good draft strategy is doing the exact opposite of what Polian would do as far as positions, type of players etc. Note how Belichik routinely handed Polian his ass nearly every single year & note the differences between the 2 approaches. Belichik lost Tom Brady for a season & finished 11-5. Polian lost Peyton Manning for a season and finished 2-14.

How many games would this football team win without Herbert?

When you have a franchise QB it's more about building sustainable systems & a solid middle class of depth throughout the roster.

Belichik would get a team full of guys like Kyle Van Noy - emphasizing a bigger middle class & size & length over speed. Big linebackers that can take on blocks & run over backs on the blitz. Then he'd develop young players in the secondary emphasizing athletic traits. The end result on defense is you'd have a defense that could stop the run with a 7 man front, bullrush & keep the QB in the pocket, and a high efficiency secondary that could cover because you always have a pipeline of young drafted talent there. Then he'd build a physical Oline that could protect the passer and consistently convert a 3rd and 2 with the run. When you can give a good QB solid protection your receivers matter much less.

For example, a 1st round offensive lineman will likely improve the production of whoever lines up in the backfield on this football team.

Or you can draft Bijan Robinson in round 1 and start Foster Sarell at right tackle and see how that goes.

I like Robinson a lot too, but not if it means having to play practice squad caliber guys at other positions that need upgrades just to be NFL caliber.

Since the chiefs have had patrick mahomes they have a winning record with backup QBs. Just sayin'.

Why would we have to start Foster Sarell at right tackle if we drafted Bijan Robinson in the first round? Why would we have to "play practice squad caliber guys at other positions" if we drafted Bijan Robinson in the first round?

[DerwinBosa]

2001 was a very different time in the NFL than 2023. You could build a great offense around a special RB because every team slammed their RB up the middle against juiced-up DLineman and LBers 15 times a games. Schemes are far more complicated now.

I also reject pure BPA as a strategy because positions are not equally important and you already have a roster. Obviously if Bryce Young or Will Levis fell to #21 we wouldn’t pick either of those guys just because they were the BPA. That’s an extreme example, but context matters. EDGE, WR, OT and CB are just more important than RB, period. I’d take a legit first round talent at any of those positions over Bijan, maybe not OT if we’ve already resigned Pip.

The quarterback example doesn't fit. We don't have a future Hall of Fame running back in the prime of his career.

Yes, it would be nice to have a player at a more important position sitting there at #21. But how will you feel if we pick another Buster Davis, D.J. Fluker, or Sammy Davis, Jr. at #21 instead of Robinson if Robinson becomes an elite running back?

[DerwinBosa]

It's more about taking any RB in the first round for me. Bijan is awesome, I fully believe he's the best RB prospect since Saquon. I'm just not sure how much value an awesome RB adds when you don't already have a complete team. Saquon had over 2000 scrimmage yards his rookie year but the Giants were 5-11. In terms of making the leap from bad team to decent, Daniel Jones improving from terrible to decent was way more impactful than Saquon being awesome. Their DLine becoming a real strength was way more impactful than Saquon being awesome. CMAC can transform the Niners offense because they already set at pretty much every position besides RB, on the Panthers him being awesome didn't do much for them.

I think improving our passcatching and passrushing groups are just more important than adding a stud RB.

He had a 37-year-old Eli Manning quarterback and joined a team that finished 3-13 the year before.

I think we're a little bit different than that Giants team. Certainly they didn't have Rashawn Slater, Zion Johnson, and Corey Linsley on their offensive line.

[Maniaque 6]

The quarterback example doesn't fit. We don't have a future Hall of Fame running back in the prime of his career.

Yes, it would be nice to have a player at a more important position sitting there at #21. But how will you feel if we pick another Buster Davis, D.J. Fluker, or Sammy Davis, Jr. at #21 instead of Robinson if Robinson becomes an elite running back?

Like I said before, if Robinson is the next LT, he will not be there at 21.
We should look to KA/JB replacements.

[Kellyb72601]

Why would we have to start Foster Sarell at right tackle if we drafted Bijan Robinson in the first round? Why would we have to "play practice squad caliber guys at other positions" if we drafted Bijan Robinson in the first round?

Because that's what the Chargers do. Part of it is bad luck, this team will almost always have more injuries than other teams. But a big part of it is roster construction. Every year this football team avoids the middle class at certain positions and goes into the season thinking "good enough" is good enough, and they always get burned. Hell, they finished off this recent season trotting Michael Bandy & Ja'sir Taylor out on the field in a playoff game. That's chargering. They did it in '21 thinking Storm Norton was gonna be a viable right tackle. I can go all the way back to 2008 and every year there are multiple roster spots if not entire position groups being chargered.

[DerwinBosa]

Like I said before, if Robinson is the next LT, he will not be there at 21.
We should look to KA/JB replacements.

Who exactly is saying that? I'm not.

[Boltjolt]

The quarterback example doesn't fit. We don't have a future Hall of Fame running back in the prime of his career.

Yes, it would be nice to have a player at a more important position sitting there at #21. But how will you feel if we pick another Buster Davis, D.J. Fluker, or Sammy Davis, Jr. at #21 instead of Robinson if Robinson becomes an elite running back?

He would be one of those that say.....Telesco passed on Bijan to draft this bust lol. Happens all the time.