Today, I wanted to take a look at our returning depth chart. I think that as we look ahead to next season, we should remember that we lost a ton of players on the defensive side of the ball, and the coaching staff will have a real challenge in that area. I have marked up the depth chart as it appeared when we took the field against the Rockets.
The first thing that jumps out at you is the defensive line. We were only expecting one guy back on the line in the first place, and he was just dismissed from the team. In fact, five of the top 8 d lineman are not returning. Of course, this is the position which has taken the brunt of the off-the-field problems that have hit the program.
Beyond that, we'll need to replace two LBs and both of our starting corners.
Things are much better on offense, to say the least. We lost maybe our best player (Corey Partridge), and the right side of the line, and a couple of WRs who were productive but not irreplaceable. In addition, under the Brandon offense, we needed about five productive WRs in order to play 80 plays a game, but with Coach Clawson balancing things out and (wait for it) putting the QB under the center, depth at WR is not such a high priority.
Still, even running teams often put four receivers out there in a set. Freddie Barnes is back, and if he can stay healthy, he can be a dominant pass receiver, and we do have some talented receivers.
The backfield returns pretty much intact, as does the left side of the line.
Based solely on the returning players, I think it would look like this team will struggle to be as good as last year's team. But, a new Coach can bring a new focus and discipline, and I can't wait to see what we can do.
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