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Here’s my annual summary of the off-season and why this will be a great time to take advantage of a pretty good roster now by getting a star-quality QB as quickly as possible.
Ron Rivera enters year 4 in primarily the same situation that he found himself in three seasons ago. He’s done little to elevate the player quality on a team in desperate need of upgrades especially on the offensive side of the ball. To his credit, there were two signings that piqued my interest and I believe will make it easier to transition from a middle-of-the-pack team to an annual contender.
The first signing… Eric Bieniemy. I am fully confident in our new OC and what he brings to the team. I see him as a future HC and possible replacement for Rivera when that dismissal finally takes place.
The second signing… Jacoby Brissett, who is arguably the best QB Ron has signed since being named HC. (More on him in my predictions post)
In the meantime, almost every job along the offensive front will be up for grabs and bears watching. I believe that the team believes that it is set in their receivers’ room and interestingly enough at TE. This unit finished near the bottom in rushing yards last year and the moves/upgrades for the 2023 season are questionable at best.
On the defensive side of the ball, there are major questions too. Will Chase Young bounce back and become the player that he was drafted to be? How will the transition from utilizing linebacker to more DBs work out and speaking of our defensive backfield will this infusion of youth take time, fail altogether, or become the reliable, ball-hawking strength that Rivera envisions and will rely on to win football games? In a league designed to exhibit offense, winning games 20-17 may be okay if you want to stay average, but I believe that it's a sign that the game has passed old-style coaches like Rivera by because of the way the game is now played.
Here are my annual predictions:
Ron Rivera enters year 4 in primarily the same situation that he found himself in three seasons ago. He’s done little to elevate the player quality on a team in desperate need of upgrades especially on the offensive side of the ball. To his credit, there were two signings that piqued my interest and I believe will make it easier to transition from a middle-of-the-pack team to an annual contender.
The first signing… Eric Bieniemy. I am fully confident in our new OC and what he brings to the team. I see him as a future HC and possible replacement for Rivera when that dismissal finally takes place.
The second signing… Jacoby Brissett, who is arguably the best QB Ron has signed since being named HC. (More on him in my predictions post)
In the meantime, almost every job along the offensive front will be up for grabs and bears watching. I believe that the team believes that it is set in their receivers’ room and interestingly enough at TE. This unit finished near the bottom in rushing yards last year and the moves/upgrades for the 2023 season are questionable at best.
On the defensive side of the ball, there are major questions too. Will Chase Young bounce back and become the player that he was drafted to be? How will the transition from utilizing linebacker to more DBs work out and speaking of our defensive backfield will this infusion of youth take time, fail altogether, or become the reliable, ball-hawking strength that Rivera envisions and will rely on to win football games? In a league designed to exhibit offense, winning games 20-17 may be okay if you want to stay average, but I believe that it's a sign that the game has passed old-style coaches like Rivera by because of the way the game is now played.
Here are my annual predictions:
- I won’t make the annual W/L prediction unless asked because, over the last 3 years, it has upset a few folks on this site despite being highly accurate. The ONLY thing that I will predict is a top 5 pick in next year’s draft.
- Sam Howell will start the season despite not being the better choice at this point in his career. This will be another blunder for Rivera in his now-infamous bend toward proving himself right about his starting QB choices. Howell himself will perform adequately, but on a team nearly primed to announce itself as a serious contender, adequate simply won’t do. BTW; For those of you who insist that improved QB play will garner better results, your logic is flawed in that it assumes zero changes from the competition. A statement like that essentially says… “If all things remain the same and we get better QB play then the results blah, blah, blah!” Besides that, improved QB play when the previous QBs were Wentz and Heinicke sets an extremely low bar.
- The over/under on Howell starts is somewhere between 4-5 games and if he somehow survives the season as a starter still won’t be the needed type of player at the position to take them deep into playoff runs annually.
- Washington will draft a QB in 2024 but who I predict that will be is related to my W/L prediction, so unless you guys want to know, I’ll end this right here.
- Josh Dotson will supplant T-Mac as the team’s #1WR.
- Ron Rivera’s tenure is also related to my W/L predictions, but right now I have his over/under at week 15 (The bye week)
- Chase Young finally arrives as Predator and talks about him turning toward an LTD.
- Pass defense continues to be a problem.
- Rookie to watch this year WR Mitchell Tinsley.
- Ron Rivera will not return in 2024. If by some miracle he stays, they lose EB and if this seems familiar, think about current head coaches who are doing well that were formerly working for this franchise. (EB will win at least one SB as a head coach)
- Jacoby Brissett will replace Howell after either game four or five, giving them a more steady reliable veteran presence but by the time Rivera decides to replace Howell with him their opportunity to make this season meaningful will be lost.
- While most favor the Eagles to win the division and become the first team to do so since Andy Reid was an NFC East HC (20 years ago) should they falter, I predict the NY Giants to be the 2023 NFC East Champions! (But ONLY if the Eagles don’t repeat)
- Deshaun Watson will return to top form putting him in the 1-1A ranking once again.
- Speaking of QBs, the other two targets that I wanted this team to go after (Justin Fields and Jordan Love) will also prove to be too late wishful thinking, ala “wish they had ole’ Sty’s insight” players.
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