Grade our offseason moves so far

Dee Ford - A (fills immediate need and makes us very flexible with 1st pick, although I still take Bosa)

Kwon Alexander - C (has the speed but he's gotta wrap up tackles more)

Tevin Coleman - B, because he fits the scheme and can pick up blitzes

Jimmie Ward - getting an "F" as an Asian kid (when As mean acceptable and Bs mean bad grade, imagine what Fs mean)

Matthews - B because big potential vs easily mitigated if he ends up sucking

Varrett - B because same reasons above and Sherman will probably coach him up to speed

B- so far, really wish we could have gotten Earl but I guess the price was too high and if we actually did it would feel like we were in win now mode and if Earl didn't pan out it would set us back a bit. On paper even before the draft we are borderline playoff bound, a couple more pieces and we'll really be rolling. Feels good man

Originally posted by Young2Rice:

That was a good post.

None of the offseason acquisitions besides Ford will have a huge impact on the team to take them to another level. They are just spot fillers. We've been getting a bunch of those guys and not enough studs the past two seasons which is why we're sitting at #2 overall. Its just not good enough.

Genuine question: besides Earl Thomas, Le'Veon Bell, OBJ, Dee Ford, and maybe CJ Mosley, which players available would have been good enough to make a "huge impact" by your standards? Tevin Coleman and Kwon weren't ranked to far behind the above guys.

There's 32 teams in the league and we got one of the five guys I mentioned. This isn't the NBA where every single great player is available. Getting anything more than zero "huge impact" guys is huge. Last year it was Sherman. This year it's Ford.

Originally posted by JaggedJ:

Originally posted by Nastastical:

If we only acquired Dee Ford and no one else, I'd still give our front office an A- because they addressed our biggest weakness with a guy who is top 5 at his position.

I know right, you can't have a bad off season after filling the biggest need with one of the best overall players and yet it's still not good enough.

I'm hesitant to grade until after the draft, yet I will say that Lynch and staff certainly made stronger moves this year than in their first 2.

This seems to be a poor man's attempt at what the Rams did last year.

Originally posted by Fanaticofnfl:

Originally posted by Young2Rice:

That was a good post.

None of the offseason acquisitions besides Ford will have a huge impact on the team to take them to another level. They are just spot fillers. We've been getting a bunch of those guys and not enough studs the past two seasons which is why we're sitting at #2 overall. Its just not good enough.

Genuine question: besides Earl Thomas, Le'Veon Bell, OBJ, Dee Ford, and maybe CJ Mosley, which players available would have been good enough to make a "huge impact" by your standards? Tevin Coleman and Kwon weren't ranked to far behind the above guys.

There's 32 teams in the league and we got one of the five guys I mentioned. This isn't the NBA where every single great player is available. Getting anything more than zero "huge impact" guys is huge. Last year it was Sherman. This year it's Ford.

Too many people think this is Madden or something. We aren't going to sign or trade for every big name.

Originally posted by Nastastical:

Too many people think this is Madden or something. We aren't going to sign or trade for every big name.

No kidding. You can't build a whole team through FA. It's impossible. Great players rarely make it to FA in the NFL and you'd be ten times over the salary cap if you tried. You can only get a few complementary pieces through it and that's exactly what we did.

I only have one knock and it's that we got Ward instead of someone else (didn't even have to be Earl Thomas). That's why I gave them a B instead of an A. The other moves were very good IMO.

Passing the class but not with flying colors.

Originally posted by Crown:

Originally posted by JaggedJ:

Originally posted by Nastastical:

If we only acquired Dee Ford and no one else, I'd still give our front office an A- because they addressed our biggest weakness with a guy who is top 5 at his position.

I know right, you can't have a bad off season after filling the biggest need with one of the best overall players and yet it's still not good enough.

I'm hesitant to grade until after the draft, yet I will say that Lynch and staff certainly made stronger moves this year than in their first 2.

This seems to be a poor man's attempt at what the Rams did last year.

IMO I don't think we were trying to do what the Rams did....yet.

I think the first two years was all about quantity, a ton of rookies and low/mid-level free agents to paper over all the cracks we had when we started this rebuild.

Now that's done we're looking to upgrade the key positions and focus more on quality than quantity.

I don't think this has been an "All In" attempt like the Rams did last season. Certainly we're looking to make a playoff push with these moves though.

The fact that we got one of the biggest names that wasn't on the market (Dee Ford) in a position of desperate need for a 2nd round pick next year... and then Tevin Campbell for a jar of peanut butter, not to mention some high upside guys like Verrett and Matthews, for beggars change, makes this a B+ off season...

Some people wouldn't be happy unless we gave up everything for OBJ and overpaid ET, which is understandable, but that doesn't mean the moves made were bad and that the 9ers have done nothing this free agency, like some teams.

Roster is definitely much improved on paper than last year. Hopefully it transfers on to the field. If we can stay healthy, all the other 31 teams bettah watch out..

Originally posted by Fanaticofnfl:

Originally posted by Nastastical:

Too many people think this is Madden or something. We aren't going to sign or trade for every big name.

No kidding. You can't build a whole team through FA. It's impossible. Great players rarely make it to FA in the NFL and you'd be ten times over the salary cap if you tried. You can only get a few complementary pieces through it and that's exactly what we did.

I only have one knock and it's that we got Ward instead of someone else (didn't even have to be Earl Thomas). That's why I gave them a B instead of an A. The other moves were very good IMO.

I don't agree with keeping Ward, but once Thomas decided to join Baltimore, we really didn't have many other options. I guess we chose to stick with the evil we know. At least it's on a 1 year deal.

Hopefully Colbert can recapture some of the magic he had during his rookie season when he had us all raving about his future.

We got a great mix of guys at exactly the right positions. If we get a little luck on the health-front we can be special.

Originally posted by Fanaticofnfl:
No kidding. You can't build a whole team through FA. It's impossible. Great players rarely make it to FA in the NFL and you'd be ten times over the salary cap if you tried. You can only get a few complementary pieces through it and that's exactly what we did.

I only have one knock and it's that we got Ward instead of someone else (didn't even have to be Earl Thomas). That's why I gave them a B instead of an A. The other moves were very good IMO.

!!! You used the word "complementary", and properly, too! I had to pinch myself and check to see if this was the Webzone.

Need Eric berry to get an A

I am happy because I had realistic expectations and was pleasantly suprised.
I did not think we would find a quality pass rusher before the draft and we got one of the best with Dee Ford.
We needed a speedy linebacker to pair with Warner. We got a former pro bowler who is under 25 that has sideline to sideline range with Kwon Alexander.
We then added depth to our backfield giving us 4 homerun threat running backs. Offense slowed down when Breida got hurt. Need a quality stable of backs if were going deep in the playoffs. Coleman is a good insurance policy if McKinnon doesnt recover.
Jason Verret is another former pro bowler the injury bug has bitten. He comes with very little risk on his contract and has high upside. I hope we can bring Berry in on something similar.
Jordan Matthews is a guy we all wanted ua to draft and he looked like a steal for the Eagles. His tenure at the Bills was woeful, but let's hope putting him in the same colors as his relative he always looked up to inspires him.

We were able to add depth to almost every position of need to give us more flexibility with the draft. Im glad we didnt overspend and still have cash available for suprise cuts. I give this off-season an A- so far.

Originally posted by PRIMETIME21:
Need Eric berry to get an A

Dude, I was just going to say this.