Some pretty bold takes here

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I think Analzone has job security for this season. At best the rookie won’t start until late in the year, and it would be if AZ gets hurt.

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Yeah I have a hard time seeing any of those happen unless there’s an injury involved.

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If veterans are losing the job to a rookie I have to think that the team is upgrading. That’s how it works. They get the best players they can. Sometimes guys get beat out by better ones.

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Anzalone is a savvy vet with limited athletics. I HOPE he loses his job and becomes a backup like he was in New Orleans. Rodriguez seems super savvy for a rookie (like Aman Ra was last year). I could see him taking over mid-season and Anzalone is a perfect backup defensive QB just in case.

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They didnt go for the obvious one of brockers losing out to Paschal

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Yeah another one that has limited athletics but super knowledgable and movable. The goal is to get the rookies up to speed enough that Brockers becomes your vet backup that you only call on for a breather or emergency

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Fansided links should get as much attention as those explaining why you need to always put a bag over the side view mirror when you leave your car. I don’t know the answer to that last question, because I never click the link.

That could easily happen. I’d agree 1000%, but the math doesn’t work out.

I expect that Joseph will get some real playing time on defense, but Vaitai Smith will be a fixture of our OL this year.

…and to Demetrius Taylor. I suppose Brockers could be energize by playing his likely last year, but I suspect his downward trend will continue. I hope Brad doesn’t get all misty-eyed about Brockers at final cut downs…

We saw last year that the balance spent per position on the lions was way out of whack. Brad worked hard to fix this quickly. He knows roughly how many millions per position.

Pretty soon they will know which rookies/young guys are ready to step up and which need more time. From there, they will figure out where they need to keep vets a while longer so that rookies can get seasoning and overspend a bit.

Could that be Big V? Brockers? Anzalone? Elliot? Anywhere they think they need to keep more expensive vets until the youth can take over.

Holmes has been insanely fiscally responsible in his first 18 months. If he knows a position needs to carry money for a bit… he has the flexibility to do so.

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I think Anzalone’s position as defensive captain and play caller keeps him a starter.
I also think Vatai is safe. What do you guys think about the dude he thinks could unseat vaitai?

As for Walker/Joseph/Elliot.
I think it depends on position flexibility of Joseph.
I feel like Joseph could be the most talented, while Elliot is best today, because of experience…however…Will his health hold up.
Walker is probably the most sure bet of the Safeties because of the combination of experience and health factored in.

I could see this shaking down many ways. We need to get another S for depth, next offseason (at least one).

Wonder if they play to extend Vatai? I could see him being a cap casualty, for sure, but he seems to have improved a ton, with the transition to G, as well as better health.

Lots to figure out still, but this snowball is rolling downhill.

Yup - whoever you thought was the starting DE…that sucka lost his job to Hutch.
Whoever you thought was WR1…That sucka lost his job to J-Will the second that freak is healthy enough.
Joseph has a chance to start.
If you count KR/PR as starters, I hope the CMU pimple can unseat him by becoming the next Mel Gray.

Man, when you look at the roster, it’s definitely getting harder (that’s what she said), for rooks to come in and start. Brad is doing an amazing job.

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For a 5th round pick having the potential to start boasts well for this organization. I really like the kid he has just about everything you want in a linebacker except for size, however I get a vibe from him that he wants to overcome his limitations. I know he’s small but how a kid with his attitude lasted till the 5th round is beyond me. You can tell how much work the staff put in to this team. In Brad Holmes and Dan Campbell I trust.

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Like you say, this could happen mid-late season. I love Rodriguez too. I think Anzalone is a great backup because he’s smart and experienced. I still think he will try to get starter money on the open market next year, though it would be cool if we could upgrade and bring him back cheap as a backup.

I could see that too, bro. I almost think they start Brockers and give Paschal a TON of reps, bringing him in early and often. Brockers is a really important guy in the locker room on this young team, but we can massively upgrade that position, in terms of performance on the field.

Good call on that a one.

Agreed. Because we have some injured dudes, as well as a lot of first and 2nd year players, I think he’s taking the approach of finding out what he has, before spending $$ …knowing where to spend and why. He’s being really, really smart about it.

Anzalone was not bad last year, from my eye ball perch.

I’m not saying he’s the next superstar, but trading him away would be a Van Noy level mistake

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Not bad, no.
He was a solid LB on a 3-13-1 team.
But he’s also not a starting LB on a 13-3-1 team.
He’d be a great backup LB on a contending team. Will he accept that role? We’ll see.

On this trip down memory lane, didn’t recall that Boyd was a two-time Pro Bowler in 1999-2000 and a second team All-Pro in 2000.

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Agreed. Once the turd Collins was flushed, the Anal Zone was a plus-level contributor.

I think everyone knows he’s just holding down the fort until a replacement is groomed / acquired. But he’s doing a reasonable job doing just that.

Except for the fact that he had the 9th most snaps on a defense of the Saints on the 2018 Saints team that did go 13-3.

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GIF by NBA

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