I totally disagree. This team is built for the long term. They have a young talented QB, the deepest WR corps in the league, two good talented TE's. This team showed what it can do with a good o-line. That o-line takes time to build and I think they have the guys to do it. Enough of this instant gratification stuff.
People are throwing in the towel after only 5 losses? What kind of fans are you? They have talent on both sides of the ball....elite talent. The o-line is showing that it's coming together. The coaching staff needs to really clean house with Blythe and Havenstein by putting them on the bench where they belong. Simply play break downs show neither is any good.
But bottom line this team has enough young talent to be very good for a very long time. They haven't even allowed David Long to play even though he's better than Hill. Take the blinders off and really look seriously at the level of talent on the team.
They have the makings of a very good offense next year with just who they already have:
O-line: LT Noteboom, LG Corbett, C Allen, RG Evans, RT Edwards
QB: Goff, Wolford
RB Gurley and Henderson
WR Woods, Cooks, Kupp, Reynolds
TE: Everett, Higbee
Defense
DE: Ogbo
NT: Gaines
DT: Donald
WIL: Fowler
OLB Ebukam
MIKE: Littleton
MO: Young
CB: Ramsey & Long
Safeties: Rapp, Johnson
Look at that starting roster, their are no old vets, it's a young team with real talent at every position.
How is that not building for the future. Noteboom proved last year he's going to be a good LT. Corbett, Evans and Edwards look solid and Allen was outplaying Sullivan before his injury. All the ratings, not only PFF (whom I despise) showed Allen was playing better than the people on this board contend.
They look to have decent O-line depth with Brewer, and Shelton. WR they will have Reynolds and Webster. At CB they will have NRC, Hill and Williams. LB they have Reeder, Patrick and Howard. Safety they will have Christian, Gervase & Scott.
This team won't be drafting for starters next year. They will be drafting for depth. That's why trading that low first round pick away really isn't a factor when they got an elite starting talent in exchange.
Go ahead and look at next year's starting roster and see the youth and talent and then say they aren't built for the future. Get real dude. Everyone knew the issue would be the o-line but right now it looks like they are beginning to come together in that unit.
I look at this team and see a contender for a long time. They had a whole lot of changes in the roster and especially in the coaching staff this year. IMO that is the reason they have struggled compared to last year. But like all things of this nature it takes time to iron things out. As bad as things have looked this year, if you break it down it's really a matter of mistakes and poor execution, not lack of talent.
Most of all the coaching staff needs to not play guys simply because of being a so called veteran player, but play their talent instead. Why sit Ebukam over an over the hill Mathews? Why play Weddle when Rapp is outplaying him? Why keep being soft in the middle on run defense, with SJD who can't get penetration and disrupt plays, when Gaines keeps doing so in his limited snaps? Why keep playing Blythe who couldn't play RG and keeps making mistakes and bad calls at center when you have a better player in Shelton?
SNEAD YOU DRAFTED THE GUYS YOU WANTED, NOW PLAY THEM FOR GODSAKE!!!
This is a young talented team. They need to play that talent and let them grow into their potential.
