God I don't know about you guys but I am sick of Sundays without football. To get us in the mood... I went through our lineup and did some projections on Stats based on our moves this offseason and progression over the past year. QB: It's Tannehill's team no doubt about it. I know the offseason talk about how people expect him to make the biggest jump, and I hope they're right. But, I am not jumping ridiculously with Tannehill's numbers for this year. I'm hoping for this stat line. 4,370 yards, 63% Completion, 7.3 avg, 25 TD's, 12 picks, 89 QBR, 350 rushing yards, 4 TD's... I really like the Flacco comparison in terms of career trend, obviously Tannehill is more athletic but I see some similarities in their games. Don't mistake this team still wants to run the ball. RB: I like our young mix, I think Miller is 1, Gillislee/Thomas 2/3. Unless for some reason Thomas gets beat out. The guy is talented and we could use his size but we need to see if. Now Miller has been saying 1,500 yards but I am much more realistic seeing he has a stable of back to compete with. Miller: 240 Carries, 1,075 yards, 4.47 ypc, 7 TD's, 15 receptions, 100 yards, 1 TD Thomas: 110 Carries, 480 yards, 4.36 ypc, 4 TD's 10 receptions, 70 yards Gillislee: 70 Carries, 355 yards, 5.07 ypc, 2 TD's, 20 Receptions, 180 yards, 2 TD WR: Finally we have a bevy of options, it will be interesting to see how Training Camp plays out and who will round out our depth chart. Wallace, Hartline, and Gibson will be our 1,2,3 but Gibson has some hungry boys. I like what I am hearing from Matthews and Binns, and I really feel Matthews could end up being that a la James Jones type player for us. Keep an eye on Chad Bumphis who could be our replacement to Davone Bess. Wallace: 70 receptions, 1,100 yards,, 15.71 avg, 7 TD's Hartline: 65 receptions, 850 yards, 12.66 avg, 3 TD's Gibson: 45 receptions, 570 yards, 12.66 avg, 2 TD's Matthews: 25 receptions, 300 yards 12 avg, 1 TD Binns: 12 receptions, 150 yards, 12.5 avg, 1 TD TE: This is where its starting to get exciting. We have a legit pass catching threat at TE for the first time in what seems like forever. I expect to see a lot of Keller, at TE and lined out wide in 4 wide sets. I see Sims playing in-line to begin but gaining some good experience and growing towards end of the year. Clay is going to play H-Back as always and if Egnew keeps his progress we could see some development. Keller: 50 receptions, 600 yards, 12 avg, 6 TD's Sims: 20 receptions, 250 yards, 12.5 avg, 1 TD Clay: 15 receptions, 200 yards, 13.33 avg, 1 TD Now to the defense this may be a little harder to predict seeing as we haven't seen some of our pieces yet. But, I fully expect our pass rush to be better than last year. DL: Starks and Solai with Odrick rotating in. My only concern is Starks motivation seeing as he hasnt showed up to anything yet. But he is still a pro bowl player. Both Starks and Soliai will be playing for contracts so should be playing for pay. Odrick will be playing some DE but can see him starting to move to DT permanently. Wake will be his usual self but maybe should have a better year with less stress as we improved our pass rush. Jordan, Vernon, and Selby will be rotating in for DE. Solai: 25 total tackles, 1.0 sack, 2 FF Starks: 35 total tackles, 4.5 sack, 1 FF, 1 Int (always seems to get one) Odrick: 40 total tackles, 5.5 sacks ( he will be a force at DT once he stays there permanently) Wake: 45 total tackles, 14 sacks, 3 FF Jordan: 20 total tackles, 6.0 sacks, 1 FF, 1 Int Vernon: 25 total tackles, 4.0 sacks, 1 FF LB: we revamped with speed and youth but one thing we added was more blitzing from that position. I believe Ellerbe, Wheeler, and Misi will bring pressure and stability. The only issue is covering the pass. That's where Jenkins will come in especially on passing downs. Kaddu could play a role too. Ellerbe: 105 total tackles, 3.0 sacks, 4 FF, 1 int Wheeler: 95 total tackles, 3.5 sacks, 2 FF, 2 int Misi: 75 total tackles, 3.0 sacks, 1 FF Jenkins: 30 tackles, 1 int CB: Grimes is a stud just as long as he is healthy. We didn't see nearly enough of Marshall to make a judgement. Tayor and Davis will be acclimated through training camp. I think Patterson is gone due to his cap number unless he beats out Marshall, leaving us with Carroll and Wilson. Grimes: 60 Tackles, 20 Pass deflections, 4 Int, 1 TD Marshall: 75 Tackles, 12 pass deflections, 2 int Taylor: 50 tackles, 15 pass deflections, 2 int Davis: 35 tackles, 10 pass deflections S: I love our potential at safety. I think Jones is a stud and I hope we re-sign him, and Clemons doesn't get his credit just cause he isn't a natural ball-hawk. But, McCray could be pushing him and might be the future. Jones: 102 tackles, 2.5 sacks, 3 FF, 10 pass deflections, 3 int Clemons: 90 tackles, 1 FF, 12 pass deflections, 3 int K: I believe Sturgis is our guy. Strugis: 30 FGA ; 25 FGM, Longest 53 yards P: Fields is money. Fields: 62 punts, 49.8 avg, 66 long KR/PR: I believe it will be Thigpen for both duties or at least I hope it will be. Thigpen: 40 returns, 1,200 yards, 2 TD's: 30 returns, 400 yards, 1 TD Let me know your thoughts if you think I may be too optimistic or what. Have a good Sunday guys!!!
I like how you got their yardage totals down to the decimal, lol..you funny man.. I would like two players to produce beyond expectations..Ryan and DJ..the future.. Justly so, there's not much to criticize when it comes to the Kracken, but, I kinda like doing it to the supreme athletes in their sport, just to figure where they could get even better..I would like to see Wake be more aware of the ball when hitting the Qb, I need to see some conscious precise movement to strip the football, I don't believe he's quite aware of it, not like a Derrick Thomas, or the young Jarvis Jones..He had three last year which is pretty good, but he's around that football so much I'd like him to double it.
Think Tanny getting anything from 85-89 QBR is a great sign. More than that is stupidly-awesome, and unliekly. When you look at the TD projections you have at WR, thoguh, and compare it to last season's TD stats for our WRs, WOW what a difference that would make to our avg scoring per game and Tanny's numbers. I feel like you may be overestimating our TE impact... but I hope not. The most TDs Keller ever had was 5 TDs on 65 receptions, and 5 TDs on 55 receptions. Now, this is a totally different offense, but I'm not sure he gets 6 with guys like Clay and potentially Egnew presenting themselves as additional targets. I agree on how the DL will likely look and be used. Interesting that you were nicely conservative with our DE sack numbers, but do assume some success rushing from the DT position. The Starks/Odrick combo looks to account for a good portion of our sacks. I don;t know if Misi will start over Jordan at LB. I think Jordan starts at LB by mid-season, and plays DE only on 3rd down. To me, CB is a massiv question mark. It could be a stength on this year's team.. or a weakness. Very hard to tell, since that #2 CB is not a proven commodity. Marshall was not impressive before his injury last year. And this year, well, think about how he looked last year but now have him hindered by returning from an injury. I hear mixed things on Sturgis. Will hold my opinion til a couple pre-season games are played. Thigpen is very good. Not sure he busts 3 total return TDs. Opposing teams will be more wary of him now. Very often, a returner has a good first year but struggles to break the same TDs in year two. My guess is that his average return yardage increases, though, as teams play him 'safer' and give him more respect.
Appreciate the feedback guys. In regards to DJPhinFan, gotta go down to the decimal. I believe we have so much more depth than we've had in the past and I hope we use it wisely and have our studs fresher as the game wears on.
I don't think there is a lot of point in carrying him on the roster if you already want to reduce his role drastically, imo. I think you cut him and move on, using that spot to keep someone else. I think you keep Keller-Sims-Egnew (unless Egnew regresses in camp). That leaves 5 slots, imo, for RBs/Fullbacks/H-backs. Miller (starter) Gillislee (spell Miller) Gray (short yardage) Thigpen (special teams and slot) Clay OR Lane (FB/H-back) I think whichever of Clay or Lane perform better in preseason is the one who stays.
