the years down the road

[skinster]

Alot of people are calling for us to rebuild our team, which is something that I want too, but I was thinking about it, and I am not convinced we can be good 3 years down the road even if we rebuild. The way I see it many of our good players now are old, and so we would not only have to replace the current holes we have now, but the future holes of the players that will not produce 3 years down the road.
I do not see Fletcher (34), griffin (will be 33 in dec), daniels (36), thomas (34 in jan), rabach (32), sellers (34) or samuels (retiring this season) even being in the nfl 3 years down the road.
I do not see portis being here due to his obvious decline and huge cap numbers to come.
Smoot is gone soon.
I do not see Moss(30), Randle El(30), or Carter(30) being close to as they are now. They are all speed guys, which usually diminishes by 33.
Who knows if Betts (30) or cartwright (29) will be around considering the short life span of RB's
We do not know if Campbell will stick around, but I doubt it considering that Snyder seems like he wants to get rid of him with the cutler and sanchez situations in the offseason.
I don't see Barnes or Tryon emerging as better than a nickle at best. I am not confident in Jarmon being starting material, but have not ruled him out. I am confident that neither kelly or thomas will be better than a number 4. Mitchell I am hoping for, but do not expect him to be able to be starting material. Wilson is not a starting LB, and I'm thinking that we're going to move Orakpo to DE considering how good he is at it and considering that is what I hear we play him most at anyways.
So even if we want to not have any holes on our team and if we keep everyone else, and if they remain as good as they are (which we won't, and they won't), over the next 3 offseasons we will need to get:
2 starting tackles
1 starting gaurd
1 starting center
1 starting MLB
1 starting SLB
1 starting RB
1 starting FB
1 starting WR
We will probably need to get
1 starting QB
1 nickle back
1 starting DE
1 backup RB
1 decent WR (for the 3rd spot, I think randle el will be gone but moss will still start)
1 return specialist

That is 14 players (assuming the return specialist doubles over to a player picked up) I feel we will need to acquire over the next 3 years to fill the spots of players that get significant playing time. Keep in mind this does not even include depth.
If we are very lucky we can pick up 3 impact players in each of the next 3 drafts (even though we are already missing picks). That is 9 impact players (3 of which will be rookies that year). That means that we will have to get 5 impact free agents. over the next 3 years. Our impact free agents that are still good over the past 3 offseasons are fletcher, haynesworth, and dockery. With all the money we spent we only have 3. We will not be able to spend as much as we used to with the new CBA coming into place and the big cap numbers that are coming up on our players.
We need way too many "what ifs" and longshot situations to be good in 3 years time. I do not see it happening. I do not see us being good for a long time. I am still in it for the long haul though, I can see us being pretty good in 4 years time, but feel that 5 is more realistic. I don't care how many years it takes, I'll wait for this franchise to return to contenders.
What do you guys think? How long do you think it will take?

[skinsfaninok]

Well damn dude, let's just become a expansion team and have a brand new draft lol.. You need to be realistic to what we will actually get. I say it starts with a tackle, and qb in the first two rounds of our draft. After that, we can start talking about every other hole that needs to be filled

[Trample the Elderly]

Nah, I say they can do it in two years. If they had a competent GM it wouldn't be much of a problem.

[rbanerjee23]

Originally Posted by skinsfaninok

Well damn dude, let's just become a expansion team and have a brand new draft lol.. You need to be realistic to what we will actually get. I say it starts with a tackle, and qb in the first two rounds of our draft. After that, we can start talking about every other hole that needs to be filled

You really feel like a qb and a tackle are going to solve anything...the way I see it, you need at least 2 if not 3 offensive linemen in this draft to even have a shot at rebuilding quick. JC is not the main problem...is he the best qb in the world, absolutely not...but u put peyton manning behind that line and we would be marginally better - you have to build up the trenches

[hail_2_da_skins]

You just painted a picture of the mess the Skins are in. A major overhaul is required and the ownership does not have the patience to wait for this to happen. Its going to take a miracle to get this thing turned around in a couple of years.

[TheSmurfs22]

Until the management changes we will keep circling the drain.

[MTK]

You can't replace everyone overnight. Yeah there are some key guys coming to the end of the road, but I don't consider someone who just hit 30 as a pressing priority to replace.

[GusFrerotte]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

You can't replace everyone overnight. Yeah there are some key guys coming to the end of the road, but I don't consider someone who just hit 30 as a pressing priority to replace.

Yeah, you can have guys still playing good ball even over 35 if they stay healthy. IF Snyder swallows his pride and gets a GM it will take 3-5 seasons to build a real winner. Most of the guys on the squad will be gone by then just by natural progression(meaning not resigned, retired , or resigned elsewhere). Our vaunted young WRs are wastes IMHO. IF Mitchell was so great he would have been a starter already. I think most of us wanted him to be the real deal so bad we all deluded ourselves. Campbell has peaked in terms of his QB development. He isn't a bad QB, but isn't going to be a playoff winning caliber QB either. So already you will have to draft a WR, a QB, some LBs, and some DBs as well in the next couple drafts.

[mlmdub130]

Originally Posted by GusFrerotte

IF Mitchell was so great he would have been a starter already. I think most of us wanted him to be the real deal so bad we all deluded ourselves.

he had two catches for 22 yards in his first action, every db on our team said he was lights out all preseason d hall got in a fight with him cause he couldn't cover him, he has the size and speed and the composure to be an outstanding game breaker wr in the nfl

[MTK]

So you're writing off MM after he just saw his first action?

Still too early to write off DT and MK too if you ask me.

[BaltimoreSkins]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

So you're writing off MM after he just saw his first action?

Still too early to write off DT and MK too if you ask me.

I agree. Although I do wish Kelly and Thomas would've shown more production at this point I know WRs take sometime to develop and with the current offensive problems maybe a little longer in this case.

[skins89moss]

Originally Posted by BaltimoreSkins

I agree. Although I do wish Kelly and Thomas would've shown more production at this point I know WRs take sometime to develop and with the current offensive problems maybe a little longer in this case.

Look at Veron Davis it took him about 3 years to make a difference at TE.

[GMScud]

Originally Posted by skins89moss

Look at Veron Davis it took him about 3 years to make a difference at TE.

It took Vernon Davis a Mike Singletary to make a difference at TE. Singletary turned his diva attitude into team captain material in a matter of months. I'm a big fan of him as a head coach.

[skinster]

Originally Posted by skins89moss

Look at Veron Davis it took him about 3 years to make a difference at TE.

I hate it when people argue about how long it takes other players to produce and compare them to Thomas and Kelly. Davis wasn't good in his first few years, but at least he produced a little. He averaged 35 yards per game and 3.5 Td's per season in his first two years. Thomas has averaged EIGHT yards per game and HALF a touchdown per season. Kelly has averaged SEVEN yards per game and has ZERO touchdowns. I cannot think of one player that panned our after showing this little promise over their first two seasons. Stick a fork in them, they are done. Best case scenario one of them will be a contributing receiver, but never starting material.

[GMScud]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

So you're writing off MM after he just saw his first action?

Still too early to write off DT and MK too if you ask me.

Definitely too early to write of MM. I think he'll end up being better in this league than DT and MK. I'm getting close to writing both of them off. San Fran doesn't have a great O-line, and Alex Smith isn't a good QB, and yet Crabtree has done more in his first few games than MK and DT have done in their first few years. First MK wins the starting job, then gets demoted, and neither have made any impact at any point. Both have had their work ethic questioned. I think that going into OTAs/camp next year, the WR poisition (among others) needs to be a wide open competition, and no one's job should be safe. Our WR's are an effortless, unproductive bunch.