Oldfaithful
Hall of Famer
That was the immediate offseason. We are nowhere near enough position to compare. They, in prior offseasons, have clearly had a strong philosophy of bolstering the trenches FIRST. They let guys like Maclin and Desean Jackson go, as well as Shady McCoy. They never let Fletcher Cox leave. They never let Jason Peters leave. They never let Kelce leave. They acquired Brandon Brooks. Drafted Lane Johnson high. It was a long process to get the Eagles to where they were. Not to mention they spent a lot of money on Malcolm Jenkins and McLeod well before they attempted to build the rest of the secondary. Those were the immediate moves, we lack the foundation they did. And notice how all but three of the pieces you just mentioned were skill position players(those three being Foles, Barnett, and Jernigan).
You know why I am using the Eagles? Because they're an example of the long game done right. They're suffering a SB hangover this year but they have legit dynasty potential.
We have Lamar. For QB, check. He's not quite as refined as Wentz was coming out, but he's come a long way which is encouraging.
Eagles already had a good oline. We don't. We have three good olinemen, but a pathetic C and a bad situation at LG. And one of those players could retire any day now. So we don't have that. Eagles invested first in the trenches before going for WR.
We drafted two TEs to build a playmaking TE corps and honestly, even in limited action both of them have had their moments. This is meant to mimic Ertz and Burton, and now Ertz and Goedert.
We don't need to go acquire corners. We have three young good ones. We did this differently than the Eagles. But The eagles have paid Jenkins and McLeod a lot more than they have paid any of their CBs, because frankly finding good corners is a lot easier.
We have dline talent, but still need to bolster the trenches(Sorry @RavensMania that Jernigan trade looks worse and worse every day). We don't have a Fletcher Cox type to gunk stuff up. We don't have a Brandon Graham type(yet, Tim williams could still be a high quality pass rusher). We need to bolster that first.
We don't have a Jeffery. But I'd take John Brown or Snead over Torrey and call it a wash with Agholor. I agree that a "real #1" would be beneficial, but if you've been following the Eagles closely the best option in that passing attack has been Ertz. We clearly have a similar idea in drafting Andrews and Hurst.
So that puts us at
QB check
Good corners(which are essential in today's game)
But not good safeties when Weddle leaves, which are ultimately the more important positions in the secondary.
2 quality offensive linemen since we have to assume Yanda is going to retire either this year or the next
Solid, but not sexy WR corps
A defensive line that isn't a liability but isn't as good as it could/should be.
Football at the end of the day is a team sport, and even if it doesn't look like it right now, it is more likely than not that defenses will adjust. The NFL's history has been cyclical with regards to this. Building the trenches, on both sides of the ball, needs to be the top priority.
DJ does have a valid way to build a team but every super bowl team(barring a few exceptions, namely those teams with overwhelmingly dominant defenses) has always had the following three things and it will never change.
1. Franchise QB. We have a good option moving forward with Jackson who has already made strides.
2. Strong play in the trenches. This is our big issue right now. Not the skill position players. Our corners and WRs are fine. They could be better, but this will win you a super bowl long before playmakers will. We have Stanley and Brown, who are looking like they are going to be an excellent duo moving forward.
3. An identity. Our identity under Lamar is going to be obvious if he develops to his potential. A run heavy team who uses that to open up a passing attack. Add in a strong defense with that and that's a super bowl team.
DJ and I have a disagreement. Big plays will come if you give a QB a real offensive line(which we haven't had since Kubiak) so long as you have competent playmakers. If your front seven can mitigate the run and effectively rush the passer, the defense should be good enough.... So long as you have safeties who can prevent the big play.
If I were to build a team I would go(in order of importance)
QB
Solid Cohesive Oline/ Good front seven
2 good safeties
#1 option on the offense(could be a running back, could be a WR, could be a TE. A QB needs a top weapon)
2 good corners
Solid remaining skill position players on the offensive side of the ball.
I don't think we focus solely on offense like you're suggesting. Frankly, that'd be foolish and would put us at where we've been for the past 5 years except we'd be neglecting defense. Our priority needs to be building the trenches on both sides before anything else, and replacing Weddle, and it's not really arguable. In an ideal world we could acquire a stud WR, but this draft really doesn't have one. A few nice options, but this draft is good for trenches. We need to take advantage of that, on both sides.
