Looking to Next Season

After reading Chilgat's post about our off-season moves I wanted to make my own post about what I'd like to happen and get comments from other people on it and what they want to see.

It is very difficult to predict the off-season moves with the CBA negotiations still have a stalemate. We could potentially keep a couple players that otherwise head to Free Agency so I will mark any player in question with an asterisk.

Our Free Agents include:

Offense

LenDale White* - White has been a great team player with his reduction in play and every time Cj scores White is the first to congratulate him but he deserves better so I do not see him being re-signed.

Bo Scaife - Bo was Franchised last season but with the drafting of Jared Cook there is no way they sign him to a new contract or tag him again.

Alge Crumpler- I could almost envision the team resigning Crump because he has been so valuable to the run game essentially being a 6th lineman but I believe Craig Steven is the future and hopefully the team is prepared to move on with that.

Kevin Mawae- Mawae situation is similar to that of Alge Crumplers. I could foresee the team resigning him because of his leadership on the O-line and he definitely might have a one good year left in him so I see them keeping him but hopefully is a one year contract.

Eugene Amano- Because of resigning Mawae I think they will let Amano walk and let Leroy Harris replace him at Guard. It will take another season for the team to prep one of the other lineman to join the starters.

Defense

Kyle Vanden Bosch- The team has supposedly been in talks with KVB's agent which suggest they want to bring him back. I say don't do it. I like KVB a lot but I think he has lost a step and that step has meant all the difference between sacks and quarterback pressure and nothing at all. I believe we have the youth behind him with Jacob Ford and others to replace him and spend money elsewhere.

Jevon Kearse - Love you but adios amigo!

Tony Brown- Give him a new contract. We can't let another good DT walk and while I personally have been skeptical of Brown in the past this season he has really stepped up. He had something like 24 QB pressures alone.

Keith Bulluck- Just like everybody else I want KB back. Our backups just are up to that task of replacing Bulluck yet. He is so valuable to this team for his leadership and play against the run and pass coverage.

Stephen Tulloch* - Tulloch is very much and underrated MLB and should get a new contract here.

Nick Harper- Buh-Bye now!

I can also see the team releasing David Thornton and handing the position over to Gerald McRath.

Needs

We need pashrushers to help our struggling secondary. With a defensive strategy of rushing only the front four we need to be getting to the QB more consistently.

Kick and Punt Returns please line up here. Here is a position where the organization didn't put a lot value into and literally (The Jets Game) saw us loose games because of it. They should have ponied up the little extra cash to have kept Chris Carr. I know he hasn't been lighting it up in Baltimore's Defense but his depth at corner certainly wouldn't have hurt.

The Draft

We are looking at 16th or 17th pick which is a good position to draft from talent wise because it usually an area where Top 10 guys can fall from. We can draft based upon who is high on our board not on need. A lot of this depends on what happens in FA but I could see us drafting an DE, DT or Corner. From my knowledge this is going to be a very defense oriented draft at least for the first round. We could be looking at DE Everson Griffin from USC :), DE Sergio Kindle from Texas (I think we know a thing or two about drafting from there), DE Derrick Morgan Georgia Tech, DT Terrence Cody Alabama (More of a 34 NT but he is a huge man child), DT Dan Williams Tennessee, DT Brian Price UCLA, CB Joe Haden Florida (Top 10 Prospect so he is out of the running but wishful thinking). Check out SouthTexasTitan's post on the CB prospects but to my knowledge there aren't many 1st round qualified CB and we don't have a 2nd round pick so that means we should draft someone who can have an immidate impact...After that it's all about depth with TE, LB, CB.

Having said all that I can't wait for next season. We will have a hard road getting there and our schedule isn't going to be easy but we have some of our tougher games at home and the only rough road games to be at Dallas and San Diego both of which I'm going attend.