Alan Baxter, next diamond in the rough?

WAY to earlier to tell anything imo. Preseason will give us more insight I suspect but i'm not getting excited about this guy yet.

 

it's good to have these guys in the pipeline. they all can't make the 53 because of numbers. it does keep us from having to draft more players at his spot in the near future, when we find guys like him.

I won't get to caught up in his play this early. j. jones looked good early and now that has slowed down the more they feed him.

baxter seems like a guy similar to McFadden, in that he showed some flashes but a year or two on the PS will do wonders as he learns. keeping them in the pipeline helps the team down the road with a step in player that eventually knows the system when called upon.

remember guys like kion Wilson and john parker Wilson still have a leg up on rookies. both are into their 4th nfl camp and have been on PS's in the past. they should be alittle farther ahead at this point.

 

The goal of this stage of training camp is two-fold IMO.

1. Finalize the starters. This isn't usually that hard, as they go in having a pretty good idea who the starter is, but things like which side of the Oline some guy will be on could still be up in the air.

2. Determine who your top 70-75 guys are. IMO, you should be able to leave camp having a pretty good idea who the first 15 or so cuts could be. You should know your guys on the bubble. Victorian or DVD? You can only keep 1...but at this point you know you are going to give them both plenty of reps during the PS games to determine that final decision.

Baxter is in that 2nd group. Is in the top 70-75 guys? Probably. If so, he will get every opportunity to earn a roster spot or a practice squad spot.

 

I think a lot more battles are still in progress and your a little ahead of the game my friend.

i'm not sure it's just which side on the o-line right now.

why can we only keep one of Victorian and dvd?

just wondering why you feel that way?

 

It was an example, not an opinion. We could end up keeping both.

I don't think I am ahead of the game at all. We currently have 90 guys in camp. You telling me you can't look at that roster and find 15 guys you can cut right now. I see no reason why that won't happen.

When it comes to starters....I think all 11 are set on defense right now.

You are probably pretty close to that on offense as well. The only issue on the Oline right now is which side Adams and Gilbert are going to be on. The WRs are set, TE is set, QB is set. That pretty much leaves RB.

 

we may have to end up keeping both. LOL

i'm not sure gilbert has solidified a job yet as a starter. let alone who the backups are.

NT, seems undecided. DE seems undecided. ILB seems undecided. safety seems undecided. OL. RB. WR. punter. QB. TE. all I know is as of now warren will be the LS and will Johnson will be the FB. i'd have a hard time cutting 15 without seeing them play first.

ta'amu is no shoe in. woods and arnfelt at DE. gilbert or beachum at T, plus depth across the o-line. we don't know for sure if cortez will be healthy to start. we don't know who will be depth at cb. we don't know if they keep 5 safeties. we don't know the depth at RB. we don't know the depth at WR. we don't know the depth at OLB or ILB. we don't know the depth at QB yet. we don't know when heath will be back and if DJ will be healthy and kept as depth or McCoy finally gets his chance or one of the other guys. we don't know if gilreath or Justin brown or cotchery will be kept at wr/pr. lots of questions i'd say to decide this early.

 

There is no doubt that we have depth issues ALL over the place, but the FO has an inclination as to who is in play and who is simply a camp body. Remember you only need to get rid of 15 guys in order to get to my 75 number.

Look at a guy like Mike Farrell. He is listed as the 4th string LT. 4th! John Rabe is listed as the 5th TE on a team currently not even listing David Johnson or Heath Miller. Terence Garvin is probably the 8th guy at ILB for a position that we won't keep more than 5.

There are position battles, but even if a guy like Gilbert doesn't get the starter role, he will make the roster. Same with Beachum. Start looking through the roster and figure out how many holes there are, there aren't a lot that need filling.