Mr.TaterSalad

Indiana really working and dominating Alabama. I hope their Cinderella story continues.

I agree on this one. I think Decker retiring would give them more cap flexibility, but they're going to have to spend that cap space on finding a Tackle. I'd assume Sewell would move to LT. I would hope they wouldn't simply count on Manu moving up to be the starter.

All offseason I wanted another offensive lineman too. I advocated for bringing back Zietler or getting someone else in here. And if you go back to the 2024 draft thread, I was talking about the need to get younger at the offensive and advocating back then to take a guy like Jackson Powers-Johnson, Zach Frazier, or Cooper Bebe.

Branch still had years left on his contract. He was not in the final year. I guarantee you if this offensive line hadn't directly or indirectly cost them between 4-5 games this year we'd probably be in the playoffs and having a different conversation.

Who you let go and who you keep matters based on the position they play. Positional value matters to every team. Offensive line positions, all three of them, matter more than almost every other position on the field. They especially matter when your teams identity is based off of what that positional group can give you. This team built an identity and won off of their offensive line. Their identity was a tough, bullying line, that allowed them to have a dominant offense. A line that allowed them to run the ball, control the line of scrimmage, dictate the pace of play, eat up time of possession, and give Goff the protection needed to be aggressive with play action. They let the line become a weakness this year. If I have to let a Jack Campbell or Brian Branch walk because I want 5 solid starters, with no weak links, along the offensive line, it's the price I am willing to pay.

Hiring Morton was not insane, nor did I ever infer it was. In-fact, I liked the hire for the most part at the time. I just feel they could have broaden their search more. Maybe they did and I just wasn't aware of it or the media didn't report on it.

Resigning Kevin Zietler and adding another free agent Guard would have hurt the Lions financially when they had the 5th most cap space coming into the season? And I already know the rebuttal you'll give "But they need that money to resign their own players." And that is part of the problem. They're overvaluing their own talent for one and they're trying to resign most of the picks they drafted and replace other starters with cheaper players. It backfired on them and didn't work. In particular, it killed them along the offensive line. I'm not resigning Kirby Joseph or Brian Branch or Jack Campbell if it means I have a weak link at one ore more offensive line positions. I'll take a chance at a 4th or 5th round project pick starting at safety versus the offensive line. The offensive line is the most important position group on the team and has the most important individual positions outside of QB and maybe edge/pass rusher. Everything this team was built off of, their entire identity, was predicated on their strong offensive line. Their running game, the ball control on offense, wearing teams down by controlling time of possession, the play action they run with Goff, were all successful because their offensive line was elite. It's no longer elite. This year it became a weakness. It cost them multiple games and a shot at the playoffs. It cost them against Green Bay in the opener, Minnesota twice, Philly, and Pittsburgh. If this year's offensive line was as good as last year I think you're looking at another 2-3 wins.

Morton had been in the organization, on Campbell's staff, in 2022. Yes, Lynn was an outside hire, but Morton was on Campbell's staff and was not someone new that Campbell hadn't worked with. I don't get the sense that Campbell went and did an exhaustive search for a new OC to replace Johnson. It seemed to be between Morton and Montgomery once Tanner Engerstad got poached to be the Jets OC.

The indictment is that they didn't utilize free agency to address the needs they had on the offensive line foremost and also on their pass rush. They had one of their top interior lineman leave in Kevin Zietler and another retire in Ragnow. They knew, as many fans and media has speculated, that Ragnow was contemplating retirement for two seasons now. They knew they Zeitler was only around for one year. They had to know Glasgow's play was declining. Jacksonville knew they had a problem on the offensive line and their new GM was aggressive in free agency to try and address the problem. Our GM did not proactively address the offensive line in the 2024 draft, nor did he address it at all in free agency and instead had one of his top interior lineman walk on him. Being aggressive in free agency can be a big issue when you overpay for players, put your team in a bad salary cap position by doing so, and then the signings don't pan out or live up to the salary you're paying them. Trent Baalke, Jacksonville's prior GM, is an example of someone who overspent on free agents and it didn't work out at all. On the other side of that coin is the Brad Holmes/Scott Harris approach of doing little in free agency, relying on the draft and next man up to fill your needs. It looks good when you win 15 games and have a strong, productive draft class. It doesn't look good when you allow a strength to become a weakness. That's the part that would be the indictment IMO.

If the Jags make or win the Super Bowl that's an indictment on Dan Campbell and Brad Holmes. For a team that fired their Head Coach and GM in Doug Pedersen and Trent Baalke to then start a retool and make it after one season, that looks bad on Brad and Dan. It looks good on Liam Coen and James Gladstone of course. Jacksonville was aggressive and proactive in addressing needs in free agency. Dan and Brad were largely not and thought they could run it back with the same players and next man up.

Yes it is time to rethink it. They'll never do it, but the college football playoff games should emanate from home stadiums of the higher seeded teams. Only for the championship game should it be at a neutral site.

We've got Larry Ellison money, spend big on both. Outside of WR and the need to develop Underwood, did Michigan have a bigger need this past season in-terms of players on the field.

What WRs worth a damn has Sherrone recruited and added to this team? Maybe Andrew Marsh develops into a legit #1 WR. Whether it was Sherrone or Whittingham, WR is one of this teams biggest needs and they were going to have to hit the portal for a good one in all likelihood. I think Whittingham and his staff should be reaching out to Marsh and working to get him in maize and blue next year.

This City Journal Focus Group of Gen Z Republicans is really wild. Gen Z Republicans are as bad or worse than old Boomer Republicans. Read the entire focus group discussion here . . . https://www.city-journal.org/article/manhattan-institute-focus-group-gen-z-republicans Excerpts from the focus group . . .