RG3 and the passing game must improve

[Woz]

[turtle28]

[TheGreeK1973]

I don't understand this we need to get a stud WR logic. Forget the fact we lost one of the best receiving TE in the league for most of the season, we also lost our number 1 WR in almost half the games. What happened in the games he came back? We won 7 in a row and i doubt Garson was 100%.

Our need is DB/FS, ILB and RT. Any money we have in FA has to be spend to upgrade one of those 3 positions and since RTs don't seem to be out there that would be huge upgrades I say DB/FS is where we need to concentrate and then take a RT or ILB with our 2nd or 3rd pick.

I didn't see a major issue with our WRs when we had Cousins put huge number on a decent Browns D in their house.

[turtle28]

[e16bball]

I think the first point that needs to be made when discussing an issue as far down the road as "should we pick Player X in Round Y?" is one that my old friend midniterc made quite often: A lot is going to happen between now and then. The combine, pro days, free agency, trades, cuts, etc. are going to shape not only the needs of the roster but also the perceived value of any draft prospects. Discussing whether Player X makes sense for us with any certainty is really a futile pursuit until more information becomes available as the offseason progresses.

The first bridge we'll have to cross is making a decision on the available FAs, as well as potential trade targets. In a lot of ways, I could see a guy like Mike Wallace being a nice fit for us with his ability to take the top off a defense. And Dwayne Bowe has been a top-end target for a long time. But I don't see either as a good option for us this offseason, given the price tags that would be attached to each. Wallace is a dangerous deep threat, but how much more dangerous than Garcon and perhaps especially Aldrick Robinson? And Bowe is the sort of player who makes his hay in close quarters, who can handle high-volume targets and make tough catches. That's not really a fit for what we do, which is based on spreading things out and making throws in wide windows. More to the point, it's not the sort of thing we should be paying a premium for.

The two guys who really interest me from a style-of-play standpoint are Greg Jennings and Percy Harvin. Santana had a nice season for us, but both of those guys would be upgrades on what he gave us from that slot position. Harvin, especially, could be scintillating in terms of his skill set. He would be a dangerous and versatile weapon to factor into our scheme with his ability to carry the football, even between the tackles. And his run-after-the-catch capability is especially dangerous with an accurate QB like RGIII who can hit his receivers while they're on the move.

If we were a team with a full cupboard of assets, in terms of draft picks and salary cap space, I think trading for Harvin would be a brilliant move. His value is down for various reasons, but he's still very young with a track record of substantial production. And it's a very easy fit to envision with him in our system. I see it as the sort of trade a team like the Patriots or Ravens would make --- using assets to pick up a proven player who would immediately and smoothly slot into the scheme, as well as complement the players we already have.

HOWEVER, and it's a big however, our assets are tremendously limited thanks to the cap penalty and the RGIII trade. That forces us to play things a little more conservatively and a little closer to the vest. Whereas we could splurge with, say, a 2nd round pick in a Harvin trade if we had our full complement of picks, we really can't afford to further limit the influx of extremely cheap, affordable young players while we're still dealing with the fallout of the RGIII trade. And the lack of that $18M in cap space is going to force us to make some very tough calls in terms of FA spending priorities.

Our pass offense was 1st in YPA and 3rd in pass rating. We were one of only 4 teams that had a TD/INT ratio of at least 3:1 --- despite Cousins sort of throwing that out of whack with an unusually high INT rate. We did this despite playing with two rookie QBs and with our top WR and TE both out for half the season. Our top two WRs were new to the team and to the system, which is not to mention Hankerson who is entering the ever-pivotal 3rd year of his young career. To put it quite simply, the passing game is "good enough" and seems likely to improve with time.

What is not "good enough" is the defensive secondary. We were toward the bottom of the league in nearly every relevant pass defense statistic. In fact, the only thing we did reasonably well in pass defense was collecting interceptions --- and nearly half of those were made by LBs (10 of the 21 INTs on the season). Madieu Williams was predictably poor in coverage at the FS spot, and our CBs consistently struggled to come up with stops in high-leverage situations (dead last in the league in 3rd down stop percentage). We'll benefit from the return of Orakpo next season and maybe Meriweather can be the answer at SS. But we really need a significant and immediate upgrade at either FS or CB1. Desperately, I'd say.

The sum point of all this is pretty straightforward: it would be great to be in a position to splurge on a luxury like an elite WR --- but we're not in that position. We have to choose very carefully how we allocate our assets while our cap room is limited (this offseason) and our impact draft picks are limited (this offseason and next). That means sticking to very specific priorities and not making high-cost investments in areas that are "good enough" as is, because that will hamstring our efforts to make upgrades in the top priority areas. At this point, going into next season, the focus in FA/trade has to be finding at least one reliably high-end answer in the secondary. Preferably a FS, and perhaps most preferably Jairus Byrd. But until all has failed on that front, turning our attention and our assets to a WR position that gave us efficient and at times explosive production last season just doesn't seem to be a wise use of our limited resources.
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O.J. Atogwe Tracker: 25 Tackles | 1 INT | 2 PDs | 2 TFLs | 1 sack
Saverio Rocca Tracker: 44.2 AVG | 41.2 NET | 14/25 IN20

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