DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum Updated Roster (Starters mostly)

Well folks we have our draft finished and most of the FAs that we were going to bring have been. Outside of a small time veteran I doubt we are going to bring in Faneca, Hamlin, Sharper or Thomas for the mere fact we are not contenders and they will most likely want to play for contenders. So anyway I figured we might as look at our roster. I only listed Starters for the most part.

OFFENSE
QB: J. Delhomme, S. Wallace, C. McCoy
Jake is our starter and at this point the only way that changes is if he gets hurt. Seneca is a career backup and will only see the light of day if Delhomme gets injured or throws 30 INTS in 5 games. Colt McCoy is only going to see action in pre-season, so if you want to watch him you better watch preseason games.

RB: M. Hardesty, J. Harrison, P. Hillis
Notice I put Hardesty’s name first. I honestly think Hardesty is going to become our primary running back. Look if our FO really believe in Harrison they wouldn’t have traded up into the 2nd round for Hardesty and they wouldn’t have traded for a RB/FB hybrid in Hillis. RB is a position a rookie can come in and compete right away. I expect if Hardesty remains healthy to be in the conversation for rookie of the year. I think Harrison has become our change of pace guy and 3rd down receiving option back. Hillis is our super big goaline back and will be utilized as a pass catcher at the FB position.

FB: L. Vickers, P. Hillis
Vickers is our primary fullback as he is one of the best lead blocking FBs in the NFL. I believe we are going to bring in Hillis to be more of a pass blocker and pass catcher. I am sure that Doball will mix of the play calling to let Vickers catch the ball and Hillis to run block.

WR: M. Massoqui, T. Roboiskie, C. Stuckey, J. Cribbs, C. Mitchell
We really needed to upgrade our WR core and to this point we haven’t. Hopefully Robo develops and can become a semi-competent #2 WR. I hope Stuckey is our slot reliever and Cribbs rarely sees the field as a WR. C. Mitchell is a wildcard but I highly doubt he sees the field. Besides QB I think this is our weakest unit.

OL: J. Thomas, E. Steinbach, A. Mack, F. Womack, T. Pashos
I think our offensive line is improved merely for the fact that St. Clair is no longer our starting RT. If Pashos comes in and is only a mediocre RT it will be a huge upgrade from St. Clair. I am still semi-concerned about our RG position but not every place on a line can be a strength. Hopefully this line can come together. The only thing that concerns me is it seemed the line had a hard time picking up blitzes from up the middle. Lauvao will have a chance to start at RG but it will depend on his ability and tenacity. I have never seen him play therefore I can’t comment on if I think he will be a starter.

TE: B. Watson, E. Moore, R. Royal
Watson has really helped to make our TE depth a ton better. Watson is a great pass catching option as a TE and should become Delhomme’s best friend. Evan Moore showed flashes last year and should do well as a our 2nd TE. I think we keep Royal around for special teams. It was a shame we let go of Heiden but he was oft injuried and the signing of Watson made him expendable.

Defense
DL: S. Rogers, A. Rubin, K. Coleman/R. Smith
I honestly thought our run defense was more stout when Rubin was our NT. I don’t think Rubin made as many big plays as Rogers but I thought Rubin did a better job of holding his ground and not penetrating. I hope they move Rogers to DE. I think our other starter will be Coleman/Smith depending on who wins that battle in camp. I figure both Smith and Coleman will be rotating throughout our entire line. The only thing we having Rubin and Rogers on the field at the same time is that we don’t really have a rotational NT. We are a little thin at DE so Geathers may have a chance at some playing time but as a late round guy I doubt it.

LB: M. Roth, D. Jackson, S. Fujita, C. Gocong
I know there was an article (Kirwan maybe) where it stated that Gocong will play ILB but then Heckert came out and said that they envisioned Gocong as an OLB. One thing that could change is if we trade Jackson. I honestly thought Jackson would be a better 4-3 backer than a 3-4 backer. It’s too bad another team didn’t trade a 2nd round pick for him. I think Trunisk and Maiava will be heavily rotated in. I would like to see A.Thomas added to this unit but doubt he would come here.

Secondary: E. Wright, TJ. Ward, A. Elam, J. Haden or Eric Wright, Sheldon Brown, TJ Ward, J. Haden
Joe Haden has to be starter. Heckert said picking in the top 10 they wanted to get a starter. I agree with Toad that if Haden is not a starter then we picked the wrong player at 7. That leaves Sheldon Brown in limbo kinda. I think Brown is too good to be a Nickel corner but I heard Eric Mangini’s response to mean that didn’t see Brown as a FS. We will either have the greatest Nickel and Dime corners in the league (Brown and McDonald) or we are going to have a good Nickel corner and an experiment at SS (Brown). Either way if Haden does not start then I will be entirely disappointed in our FO.

Special Teams
Dawson, Zastudil, Cribbs. *Pontibrand
Probably the best in the business, Zastudil looked like he was improving the last couple years and hopefully he stops getting injuried. Cribbs is Cribbs and Dawson is one of the most accurate kickers in the NFL

Edit: Holy crap how could I forget Pontibrand. I thank those who reminded me. Sorry Pontibrand you are no doubt the best long snapper in the NFL .

Nice list.

Man, the WR names wouldn't scare a BCS school. We really dropped the ball by not adding a true starter there.

I also still scared for the right side of the O-line.

QB....it is what it is. I hope our running game can open the passing lanes.

You forgot two-time Pro Bowler Ryan Pontbriand!

Good effort, but I have to grade you down for failing to recognize Pontbriand.

Who is the tentative 53?

QB: Delholme, Wallace, McCoy,(Ratliff)

RB: Harrison, Hardesty, Hillis, Vickers, Davis (Jennings)

WR: Massaquoi, Stuckey, Robiskie, Cribbs, Mitchell (Steptoe, Allen)

TE: Watson, Royal, Moore (Estandia)

OT: Thomas, Pashos, Capizzi, St Clair (Reinders, Bender)

OG: Steinbach, Lauvau, Womack, Yates (Kooistra)

OC: Mack, Ghicuic


DT: Rogers, Rubin, (Shaeferling)

DE: Coleman, Smith, Mosley, Geathers (Bunch of no-name guys)

OLB: Roth, Gocong, Trusnick, Bernard (Brown, English)

ILB: Jackson, Fujita, Bowens, Maiava (Veikune, Costanzo) There's a bunch more bubble LBs.

S: Ward, Elam, Assante, Adams (Ventrone, Sorenson)

CB: Wright, Haden, Brown, McDonald, Francies (Lawson, Bowie, couple more guys.

Specialists: Zastudil, Pontbriand, Dawson Pick a guy for special teams, probably Costanzo.

There is no way this is the exact roster in September. Looks a lot better than what I was looking at this time last year, however. Thin on DL, G, and WR somewhat.

Sign Henderson and DL is solid as a rock. I hope Reinders develops, he is supposed to have a lot of potential and has a great name for a Canadian.

Yeah I just put up who I thought our starters are, as it is hard to judge who will bring in as backups..etc.

I would rather had Darren Sharper or A. Thomas than Henderson but doubt we get any of them.

I'm not saying that Harrison is bad but I don't think he has the body to take a full 16 game beating. Seriously if our FO had complete faith in Harrison why did we go get Hillis and Hardesty?

No one is overlooking Harrison, I just don't think our FO has faith in him. Look no NFL team is doing a 1 back system anymore (Exception Chris Johnson). We aren't downgrading Harrison, we are extending his career and putting him in a role he will succeed in.

Looking at this roster IMO the RB position is the strongest group. Vickers is maybe the best blocking FB in the league, Harrison was blowing it up late last year, and Hardesty is an excellent compliment to him. Hillis is good insurance as well as a short yardage back. I see him in on SG formations too. Davis for development and depth. Very good group.

I can't see anything to bicker over with these guys, although I am confident we can find a way.

WR is going to get talked about a lot, I am waiting to hear about what Robo, Mitchell, and Cribbs do in camp before I call it a crappy unit. DL needs depth and OL is also a little thin. LB is bloated with bodies, we are going to be cutting a couple guys we like.

Call me crazy, but I see the makings of a pretty good team here. I envy you flatlanders getting to see camp in person.

It's a two back league now. Especially when you are going to run the ball as much as we are. Having two young talented backs like Harrison and Hardesty is a luxury we haven't had in awhile.

Agreed, it's a committee. Harrison will likely get a lot of the carries to begin the season. By year's end the touches should be more spread out. And that's a good thing.

Do you guys think we would have Harrison out there all the time (even if he doesn't touch the ball very much)? I would imagine having that home-run threat in the backfield all the time would be at least a little scary for opposing defenses. Our right side, specifically, looks built to run the ball a lot.

I'm really interested to see what we do with our offense this year. I would love to see us constantly lining up 2 RB's in the backfield, splitting them out, etc. At least the run game should be fun to watch (I hope).

i think you starter projections are right now except for Hardesty over Harrison and Haden over Brown. I think Brown will start the year and Haden will play alot. and Harrison has earned the job to start the season, he basically won the last 4 games.

I don't think it matters who starts. Both are probably going to average 15-20 carries a game.

Oob, I think Hardesty is pretty fast, he's not elite with speed but he is almost, if not as fast as Harrison. He will be used a lot. Harrison should start the season on top of that squad because he was so productive late last year, and has a year of familiarity with the players and scheme. MH is a better prospect coming out of college, though.

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Plus we move Macdonald to a nickel and keep the Hank Gotbeat off the field!

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Or even better McDonald goes to the dime package (Wright, Haden, Brown).

It's both.

unfortunately, the guy rushed for more yards any ANYONE esle in DIV 1 that year... I think that sometimes the grades are screwy. I was surpised he was rated as low as he was.

Nontheless... I hope we have a great back in Hardesty. I think he has potential I see a lot of people getting wayyy too high on him though

Harrison has got it done in the NFL. Hardesty hasn't. To me that makes him the starter.

The scouts like Hardesty's body and skillset better than they liked Harrison's coming out of college. He has a lot of potential and a lot of people have had a lot of good things to say about him. That is all I was saying.

I'm not sure if we are arguing or, if we are, what it's about.

This thread makes me wonder how Heckert & The Eagles had James Davis rated last offseason . . .

LOL no no arguing... I just like to keep expectations low. I feel we have someone who is legit in harrison and can be very special for us. He has been tough so far and played thru some small nagging stuff. Hardesty could be a very nice addition to Harrison. Hopefully it all works out well