Potential New DC Candidates - Brian Flores Hired!!!

Eric Kendricks is an older player. $9.5M will help the cap and should eventually be used for younger players. My hope is that in the second year of this competitive rebuild Kwesi and O'Connell cut more fat. We have quite a few older players with sizable cap hits this upcoming season. We also have quite a few players that are not very good.  My dream scenario would be if Thielen, Cook, Kendricks, Hicks, Ham, Reed, and Blacklock are playing for another team next year. 2023 will be Kirk Cousins last season. Let him play out his last extension and move on to a new set of QBs.       

Rob Searles  - Brian Flores Is the Lewis Cine Hire



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Any ILB they take in the 1st that isn't Simpson would be a reach. I'm also not thrilled with a Rookie and a 2nd year kid as the starting ILBs next year. Bijan is a legit Blue Chip prospect and would be a steal at #23.

This is a bit off-topic in a Brian Flores-themed thread, but since it's veered a bit towards the value of the RB position, this thought might fit...

There's not much debate that Texas RB Bijon Robinson is a blue chip prospect in the mold of Zeke Elliott and Saquon Barkley, and while every NFL would like to have Zeke (at least the version of him from '16-'19) and Barkley (the '18 and '22 versions) on their roster, not every offense would use them to their fullest "value".

There are teams with tremendous OL's that lean a bit more heavily on a bell-cow style RB that Robinson is - the Titans, Cowboys (during Zeke's first 4 yrs), Eagles and even 49ers and teams that run those ball-control style offenses would probably value Bijon Robinson a bit more than say the Vikings under O'Connell who tend to pass a bit more. Yes, Bijon has shown great hands out of the backfield as a receiver in Austin, but is that much of a receiving weapon where more pass-happy teams would value him in the 1st Rd? Georgia's Kenny McIntosh is another RB that has tremendous hands out of the backfield and it's very possible he could be had on Day 3 and while McIntosh doesn't have the physical profile as Bijon (McIntosh is only 5'11", 210 lbs while Bijon is 6'0" and 220 lbs, more "stout"), I get the feeling that with everything else being equal, pass-happy teams might take the "lesser" player further down the Draft board at the RB position vs other teams that have a more ball-control approach.

The RB class in the 2022 Draft certainly didn't do any favors to Bijon's Draft value as you had Dameon Pierce (Rd 4), Tyler Allgeier (Rd 5) and Isiah Pacheco (Rd 7) all having solid rookie seasons and all Drafted on Day 3. While Bijon could put up Zeke Elliott rookie season numbers (Zeke had nearly 2,000 all-purpose yds during his 2016 rookie season), teams might "pigeon-hole" themselves if they take Robinson too high because of the potential need to center their offense around him vs. having a more balanced offensive attack from a rookie RB that could be had on Day 3.

I do think the RB position is making a bit of a comeback as even the Chiefs displayed in the 2nd half of the Super Bowl that a more balanced attack on offense is very effective vs leaning too heavily on either the pass or rush...

...but I'm just not certain that teams will revert to valuing the RB position that highly on Draft Day, especially in another deep RB Draft class in 2023...

This is pretty much what I've meant by Dalvin not being a good fit anymore. His biggest asset is being that of a HR threat. I think how we got here in this thread is the notion of the cap with or without cook and how that may or may not be better spent on getting some players for Flores defense.