Just a hypothetical.
What if we draft the guard, Quenton Nelson? He's obviously a top 2 or 3 prospect in this draft, maybe the best, and follow up with a RB in round 2?
May not be such a bad idea.
We are clearly hunting a new center (Jensen, Pouncey). Marpet will move back to RG and then Quenton Nelson plays LG.
Our line is massively improved, maybe top 5. Nelson is likely to be a bluechipper right out of the gate. His play would significantly elevate the play of Donovan Smith as well Jensen/Pouncey. With Smith, Nelson, Jensen, Marpet, Dotson we have one hell of an offensive line.
Behind that line, the 2nd round RB - be it Chubb, Michel, Jones or Guice will likely produce similarly to how Elliott, Hunt, Fournette and Kamara did as rookies.
Most importantly Winston will have the best protection he's had since his rookie year at FSU. Gee, I wonder how that season turned out?
Winston is at his best when his team can run the ball and fool the defense with play action. If we complete the line and draft a RB early we easily have one of the best offenses in the league - at least on paper...
I fully expect to sign another 2-3 defensive starters in the next couple of days. Gaines, Mathieu, and Curry would be ideal.
Our lone weakness on the entire team would be the pass rush. I'm certain that the 3rd round pick would be used to address this and considering we pick at the top of the 3rd we can still expect to get a starting caliber DL, although it may take some developing. Arden Key???
Not pretty, but considering we're loaded at every other position, especially offense, I'll take it.
In theory, our offense should be good enough to put up 24+ every game. Even if the defense doesn't improve, we would still win more games than we lose. I think solidifying the secondary with Grimes, Gaines, and a safety (Mathieu) would give us a much better defense than last season even if we didn't improve the pass rush. Our only real wildcard going into the season is whether we can get 15-20 sacks out of Spence, Curry, Ayers, Gholston and possibly a 3rd round rookie like Arden Key.
Plus, if Winston can't succeed with that offense, then you know he isn't worth 30 million and don't look like fools 5 years from now for paying him.
