Still thinking about this one. 11-6 last year, Jordan Love played through an MCL injury and groin injury. One of those losses and division losses was a game they pulled their starters after a quarter. They were a good team last year! Not SB worthy good but they were good.
No major additions to fix problem areas but no major losses in FA either. The OL, for all the depth concerns which are legit, should be better than last year, just addition by subtraction of the weakest link in Myers. Assuming Banks actually plays, then objectively depth is better than last year on the OL, just from the availability of an improved Jordan Morgan as a backup. I expect them to add there this week. You can sneer all you want, but this is all just true. Not a prediction they're going to be great but that line last year led the way for a very strong rushing attack and helped them achieve that 11-6 record.
Otherwise on offense Love's mobility seems to be good. Jacobs' production - 15TDs - is not going to be sticky but I think GB has the pieces to make up for it with Doubs, Golden and Kraft. Reed is a bit of a wild card, have to hope he's OK because I think having him be a true slot player is important for keeping Golden out of the slot and keeping him more at that Z position. Savion Williams and Christian Watson on the back burners and added as the season goes on. There's also an opportunity here to really feature Tucker Kraft, which he's earned and which he's fully capable of doing.
On D, the loss of Alexander is kind of no loss at all because he just wasn't going to play. I like the attitude of the CBs but it's just a weak group and Hafley will need to cover for them. Any time in the last three drafts Gute could've grabbed a corner in the first couple rounds and deferred and deferred so here we are. Violated the number one rule of drug dealers - dont get high on your own supply! He believed too much in his prior work. Regardless, the D was actually 2nd in run D last year. Lot of takeaways. It's a hard defense to judge because statistically they were excellent but situationally poor. How do you judge a D? What's more likely to carry over - the overall play, or the situational lapses?
All in all, barring catastrophic injuries across the team, I think the team will go as far as Love takes them. That's usually how it goes in the league. I am a big believer in Love, I think he's already a high end QB and I think there is more for him out there. I can't in good faith get on board with 7, 8, 9 wins because that's an indictment of the QB and I don't see it. Range of 10-12 wins, does that get them in the playoffs?
