2017 Free agency

[Heatmiser]

Mathews returning makes a lot of sense and other than Wisenhunt, there is no one on the staff who has a history with him. So if he had any issues with them (I don't recall any?) he gets a fresh start. Mathews off the bench would be awesome and he doesn't seem to have a prima dona personality that would make him a bad backup

TG

[Fleet]

He may have an issue with Telesco. Although that decision was most likely the coaching staff.

[Heatmiser]

I think the issue Telesco had was that Mathews was supposed to be the starter and he was injured so often he could not be counted on. So no big contract was offered to him and he walked. And he ended up injured a lot with Eagles (recovering from neck surgery right now). Now, Mathews would be paid like a backup and not have to counted on as the bell cow. I don't remember any acrimony between Telesco and him.

I would be surprised if the Chargers did sign Mathews, even though I think it would be a good add. They seem pretty happy with their stable of cheap backups and Gordon.

TG

[Fleet]

I think Lynn is too high on Oliver for another RB to be brought in. He said hes neck and neck with MG for the starting gig. lol He actually said that a while back. Obviously that will change when the pads come on.

[Fleet]

While hes no Gates....i wonder if Barnidge on a friendly deal for a few years would be an easier separation from Gates after this season. He has talent as a receiving TE.

[Steve]

I think Lynn is too high on Oliver for another RB to be brought in. He said hes neck and neck with MG for the starting gig. lol He actually said that a while back. Obviously that will change when the pads come on.

Gordon may get more carries, but if his past is any indication, Lynn will play anyone who is a good player. Lynn may not have split carries evenly, but there has usually been a 2nd back who gets a fair number of carries. I could see Oliver getting a 100 carries or more, while Gordon probably get 250ish.

[Fleet]

Gordon may get more carries, but if his past is any indication, Lynn will play anyone who is a good player. Lynn may not have split carries evenly, but there has usually been a 2nd back who gets a fair number of carries. I could see Oliver getting a 100 carries or more, while Gordon probably get 250ish.

Perfectly fine with that. Thats a full load for MG imo. The fact hes packed on so much weight this offseason suggests to me he's going to get that amount again this year. Hopefully the weight and extra work on the body this offseason give him some longevity.

250/100 is close to McCoy/Gillisie so id expect that projection. I think MG will kill in the passing game this season.

[Steve]

The other wild card is Andre Williams. I thought he had excellent run skills, but he always worries me in terms of his pass protection. But if Andre (we have a lot of Williams on the roster), MG and Oliver are all fairly productive, then we may just run the ball a lot more. We ran about 400 times last year, but the league leaders were around 500 carries.

The passing game is the other thing that will make the number of carries change. Teams will be able to dictate to us how much we run by stacking the line. Just, we have enough speed to make them pay. The reverse is true too. Often teams with a lot of speed on offense, getting the LB and secondary dropping quickly. Then the RB get a lot of yards underneath. Gordon and Oliver can both be very, very effective taking short dump offs and swings for big gains. Those are even better yards because of the lower wear and tear on our RB.

[Fleet]

The other wild card is Andre Williams. I thought he had excellent run skills, but he always worries me in terms of his pass protection. But if Andre (we have a lot of Williams on the roster), MG and Oliver are all fairly productive, then we may just run the ball a lot more. We ran about 400 times last year, but the league leaders were around 500 carries.

The passing game is the other thing that will make the number of carries change. Teams will be able to dictate to us how much we run by stacking the line. Just, we have enough speed to make them pay. The reverse is true too. Often teams with a lot of speed on offense, getting the LB and secondary dropping quickly. Then the RB get a lot of yards underneath. Gordon and Oliver can both be very, very effective taking short dump offs and swings for big gains. Those are even better yards because of the lower wear and tear on our RB.

Its possible. Of course when you draft a guy like Mike Williams and add to the OL like we did it almost looks like we will be pass heavy. What i think we are doing is something the Pats do well. One game is almost always different than the others. They go run heavy one week...pass heavy another. Balanced one week and the opposite the next.

I think we now have the personel to do what we want. To be less predictable. I like Andre Williams as well and i can see him on some early down and goal line work. I also think a guy like Barner can come in and carry out a bunch of those Woody designed plays.

At the end of the day i want to be a top 5 scoring offense. I think we have the players to put up 27+ points a game.

[Steve]

That's true. I think some of that is defenses picking how they want to beat. Take away the running game, get beat by the pass. Drop into zone deep and quick, die by the short passing game. It still all depends on the OL. No play works if you don't block guys, but I like how the pieces were added.

Defenses can always dictate to an offense what matchups occur. If the offense can exploit the defensive matchups, then only the very top defenses are really going to slow us down.

The other good thing is that while I don't think we will have a top 5 defense, we could be pretty good because of the pass rush. If other teams know they have to put up a lot of points, then most of them will have to throw early and often. With Bosa and Ingram coming off the edge, and a couple of fast LB who can cover ground like a DB, Despite some historic meltdowns on D early, where we gave up a ton of yards, the pass defense ended up 20th overall. That means the pass D was actually decent in the last half the season. This year, with so many of those players having more experience and deeper personnel, we should be a lot better.

[Fleet]

I agree. Im looking forward to watching this d. They remind me a little of the Falcons that started to gel late last year. Opportunistic. Speed.

In a perfect world Oliver/Williams could be a Turner/Sproles type. But i dont see it so im not terrible sold with the depth at RB. I think Oliver and Williams take a step forward though. Work ethic is there and with a coach who knows how to get the most out of his RBs.

This offense is deadly if the interior does what i expect them to do and the depth at RB works out.

[Steve]

The only thing that really worries me about the D is the interior DL. I like our depth on DL, but if Liuget or whoever lines up at 3-tech DT is not going to be fairly productive, it hurts our LB ability to make plays, and that is a big problem, because of the speed and potential that group has. Other than that, I think we will at least be pretty good. We could actually be great if the young fast guys can step up their game and really learn to use their speed. They made an awful lot of plays, and I think they left some on the field. This D could be special, but they need some DT to play better.

At RB, I think Lynn is probably going to rely a bit on the fact that he was one of the top position coaches in football for a while and now he can take guys with talent and mold them. I still love Oliver quickness. I don't necessarily think of him as a 3rd down type guy. He is really much more of a change of pace guy who can give a spark. He is just super quick and has good lower body strength. Problem is that Williams is likely to fit best as the 2nd RB.

Barner has the speed to be special and has some skills, but he is the only RB who really has the skills to fit in as a special 3rd down guy. But Oliver and Williams are far better bets to make the roster, so who knows how the RB thing will work out.