Without a 1st round pick and the extreme unlikelihood that CIG would allow the movement of their 2nd round pick, there is no reason to expect that a player upgrade might come in from outside of the building and provide a spark. Given that, any improvement in personnel, will have to come from among the players in the building. Since I used the word “emergence”, I think we are talking about players who have yet to show themselves as instrumental cogs to this point. I do not want to add “return to form”
players, as that would be a separate group of players.
On offense, I have two options. Deion Burks could be that field stretcher that the offense is missing during AP’s absence. Treadwell and Allen are nearly the same player and Dulin looks like he may be out again this week. Burks’ speed is well documented, so he has the ability to get behind the secondary, or at least his man. Even if you are only throwing to him 4 or 5 times a game, let him do what Pierce did in the early part of his career, which is run fast and take at least on person with you. He has already shown the ability to run the jet sweep, so if he were to catch a couple of long ones, he could stretch the field both horizontally and vertically.
The second is Jalen Travis. His contribution would be in the form of no longer being the weak link on the O-line. He came in last year and you can look at his performance two different ways. His entry into the starting lineup coincided with Daniel Jones going down for the season. He played “admirably”, but his play this year is much closer to Matt Pryor than his counterpart Raimann. He was a 4th round pick, so you may not expect stardom, but we are getting great play from 3rd rounders Raimann and Goncalves along with fellow 4th rounder Bortolini. This may be the one position group that has developed after the draft, so there is hope. His emergence as a trusted rush stopper, would allow Jones more comfort in the pocket and maybe even see him step into more throws.
On defense, there are a few players to consider. Starting in the backfield, Haulcey is only five games into his career, so expecting him to be plug and play was optimistic. With Bynum being very good in space, just seeing Haulcey limit the running game and making the QB look away from TEs would be a nice first step to seeing the defense put up more of a fight. He needs time to have the game slow down, but our secondary will not be the weapon that we hoped, until he has caught up.
At LB, you could say just about anyone, but it has to be your first pick in the draft, and the hoped leader of the unit on day one. He played less early on, because he was still slowed by an injury and we kept him active to let him see the field on a limited basis. If he could be as good as his draft status suggests, it would be a great elevating ingredient for the entire D. Boettcher could do same, but most would say Allen has the higher ceiling. Seeing both take the job and run with it, would theoretically improve both the run and pass defense exponentially. Helping to limit missed tackles and helping to control the middle of the field in the passing game would both fix existing weaknesses.
Lastly, something needs happen with the pass rush. You might point to Latu, but he has at least semi-emerged. That means that it needs to come from the other side, and rather than put that kind of pressure on the late round rookies, I’d tab JTT as the player that needs to fulfill his promise. Not that Latu doesn’t need to step up, but having someone on the other side actually become a problem, is what is needed for Latu to take his next step.
JTT is a 2nd round pick, same with Allen. Halcey is a 3rd and Boettcher a 4th, so there has been an investment made in each player. Seeing all of them realize their potential, eliminates a lot of problems on the defensive side of the ball. I believe the defense has the biggest need for improvement, but I doubt that seeing only one of the defensive names that I mentioned actually taking a big step, will be enough to improve the D by enough to make a difference.
So, my choice is Burks being the one that most improves the team, should he make a leap. If he can provide some big plays and stretch the field, maybe we can see the offense click enough to need less from the defense.
Who is your choice?
Quick segment check. I watch more TV, than I follow social media. Yep, I’m old. So, while watching the NFL Network, I saw “Start’em” and “Sit’em” on the crawler at the bottom of the screen. I do not know the name of the person that actually puts their name on these, so it could have easily been someone that got stuck with the role, maybe even the tech that creates the crawler? This is intended as advice for Fantasy players. Anyway, this is what it said:
Start’em: Carnell Tate, Tyler Warren, and Spencer Shrader. Seeing Warren on the list is good, but Shrader being on the list, suggest we will struggle getting into the end zone and Tate being on there might indicate that we are in for another long day against a receiver that we have no answer for.
Sit’em: Treadwell, Cam Ward and the Colts D. Yikes! Not a good look when you are facing the offense that is dead last in yards gained and points scored, and you are being advised that the Colts D may not be able to stop them! The whole thing looks conflicted. You do not think that their QB will play well, but that one of his receivers will? How should our D be that bad, if we force their QB into a bad fantasy day?
