Quote:
Originally Posted by staylor26
Young talent that could develop into quality starters:
CEH
Hardman
Gay
Thornhill
Saunders
Niang
Sneed
Rankin
And to a lesser extent:
Fenton
Keyes
Speaks
Danna
Plus another 1,2,3,4,4,5,5,6 next year?
With this core likely still together:
Mahomes
Hill
Kelce
Fisher
Schwartz
Clark
Jones
Mathieu
Ward
Nnadi
It’s not nearly as bad as you are making it seem because it’s still very early in a lot of those guys development or we haven’t seen them at all. At this point, you have to have faith in your coaching staff on both sides of the ball to develop all of that young talent and Veach to continue to fine guys like Breeland, Pennel, Wis, Wilson etc.
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There is something to be said for 2020 being a 'bridge' year and we have to remember that this is something we'll see every 3-4 seasons.
We just have to constantly remind ourselves that Pat Mahomes is likely to helm 3 or 4 different 'baseline' iterations of teams. The window on this team - we'll call it Mahomes 1.0 - is probably 2-3 more seasons. The team with Kelce, Hill, Fisher, Schwartz and HB is his first 'window'.
3-4 seasons from now would you be surprised at all if Hill's the only guy left from that group? It's not a given, but it's a possibility. Clark's likely nearing the end of his dominant phase and Jones could be as well.
As fans we're just not accustomed to a 10 year throughput from a dominant offensive player. As such, we focus on how this iteration stays together. But the bottom line is that Manning, Brady, Favre, Rodgers, Marino - all those 'greats' who dominated for a decade did so with vastly different teams at various points throughout their career. So, too, will Mahomes.
That's why I argue so strenuously against drafting for need. EVERYTHING is a need by the end of a rookie contract. Niang appears to be a luxury item right now but if he proves to be a starting caliber tackle, by that 4th year of his deal he'll be starting at tackle somewhere on this roster. Safety and TE are the guys who we struggle to see as need positions in the next 4 years but history tells us that HB and Kelce will be nearing their endpoints as premier options in the next 2-3 seasons as well. Maybe they're outliers like TG and Ed Reed...but you can't build a team based on that.
In other words, you read the OP, shrug your shoulders and go "Yeah - and...?"
That's just the way of it in the NFL. Adapt or die.