Without a 1st round pick and the extreme improbability of CIG allowing their 2nd round pick to move, there is no reason to expect a player upgrade to come from outside the building and provide a spark. Because of that, any improvement in personnel, has to come from the players in the building. Since I used the word “emergence”, I think we’re talking about players who haven’t revealed themselves as instrumental cogs up to this point. I don’t want to add “return to form” players, because that would be a separate group of players.
On offense, I have two options. Deion Burks could be the field stretcher the offense is missing in AP’s absence. Treadwell and Allen are pretty much the same player and Dulin looks like he might be out this week. Burks’ speed is well documented, so he has the ability to get behind the secondary, or at least his man. Even if you only throw him 4 or 5 times a game, let him do what Pierce did early in his career, run up and meet you in person. He’s already shown the ability to run the jet sweep, so if he catches a few long ones, he can stretch the field horizontally and vertically.
The second is Jalen Travis. His contribution will come in the form of no longer being the weak link on the O-line. He entered last year and you can look at his performance in two different ways. His entry into the starting lineup coincided with Daniel Jones going down for the season. He played “awesome”, but his play this year is closer to Matt Pryor than his counterpart Raimann. He’s a 4th round pick, so you might not expect stardom, but we’re getting great play from 3rd rounder Raimann and Goncalves along with fellow 4th rounder Bortolini. This could be a position group formed after the draft, so there is hope. His emergence as a trusted rush stopper, will allow Jones more comfort in the pocket and may even see him step up to more throws.
Defensively, there are several players to consider. Starting in the backfield, Haulcey is only five games into his career, so expecting him to be plug and play is optimistic. With Bynum being so good in space, just seeing Haulcey limit the run game and turn the QB away from the TEs would be a good first step to seeing the defense fight more. He needs time to slow down the game, but our secondary won’t be the weapon we hope it will be, until he catches on.
At LB, you can talk about anyone, but it should be your first pick in the draft, and the expected leader of the unit on day one. He played earlier, because the injury still slowed him down and we kept him active so he could see the field on a limited basis. If he can be as good as his draft status suggests, this will be a great lifting component for the entire D. Boettcher can do the same, but most would say Allen has the higher ceiling. Seeing both take the job and run with it, would theoretically improve both the run and pass defense exponentially. Helping limit missed tackles and helping control the middle of the field in the passing game will both fix existing weaknesses.
Finally, something needs to happen in the pass rush. You can point to Latu, but he’s at least semi-emerged. That means it has to come from the other side, and rather than put that kind of pressure on late rookies, I’ll tab JTT as the player who needs to live up to his promise. Not that Latu doesn’t need to step up, but having someone on the other side really becomes a problem, what is needed for Latu to take his next step.
JTT is a 2nd round pick, same with Allen. Halcey was 3rd and Boettcher 4th, so there was an investment in each player. Everyone is seeing them realize their potential, eliminating a lot of problems on the defensive side of the ball. I believe the defense has the biggest need for improvement, but I doubt seeing just one of the defensive names I mentioned actually make a big step, enough to improve the D enough to make a difference.
So, my pick is Burks who improves the team the most, if he makes a jump. If he can make some big plays and stretch the field, maybe we’ll see the offense click so that less is needed from the defense.
Quick segment analysis. I watch more TV, than I follow social media. Yes, I’m old. So, while watching the NFL Network, I saw “Start’em” and “Sit’em” in the crawler at the bottom of the screen. I don’t know the name of the person who actually puts their name on them, so it could be someone stuck in the role, maybe even the tech that created the crawler? This is intended as advice for Fantasy players. Anyway, this is what it said:
Start’em: Carnell Tate, Tyler Warren, and Spencer Shrader. Seeing Warren on the list is good, but Shrader being on the list suggests we’ll struggle to get into the end zone and Tate being there could mean we’re in for a long day against a receiver we don’t have an answer for.
Sit’em: Treadwell, Cam Ward and the Colts D. Yikes! It’s not a good look when you’re facing an offense that’s dead last in yards gained and points scored, and you’re being advised that the Colts D might not be able to stop them! The whole thing seems contradictory. You don’t think their QB will perform well, but one of his receivers will? How bad will our D be, if we force their QB on a bad fantasy day?