Has Ron Rivera been perfect? Far from it from my arm chair right? Even I could’ve done better! I mean I could’ve beat cancer, weathered a sexual harassment scandal with very dark undertones, while also, enduring a highly controversial branding crisis. Easy peasy….and the thing is, the man hasn’t taken a day off. I could’ve gone thru numerous run of the mill players, coached them up, something we haven’t given this guy and his staff credit for….producing quality players that go on to sign more lucrative contracts. Ron has a lot to work in terms of how he manages his assets to maximize our opportunities to fill a much depleted roster upon his arrival. Ron said he wanted to establish a solid culture and he went to work gutting long staples of the franchise for next to nothing. Some of these moves Dumbar have paid off, while we still need closure in the Williams loss. Leno just gives me that rebound chick vibe, ya know? This year, we took a lot of massive losses. Some we knew were coming. What has Ron shown thus far? With some of his coaches, he has faith in their feed back and ability to make it work. But there is also inconsistency, why tag Brandon if this were the case? We didn’t get comp picks this year, so if we knew this the case, that was the active FA move to sign guys to one year deals and stack up those comp picks this year, when we would sit back. Yes this arm chair is comfy, thanks for asking….
Look, I get it, it’s easy for me to sit here and babble about would’ve, could’ve, should’ve, with a lot of hind sight in my favor. So I’m going to be fair. This is year three, on two straight years upon his arrival, we have started slow, made a run, and fizzled out. Injuries have been huge in both of his years and he did the best he could do last year with the Covid bowl. It wasn’t good. It can’t have been easy, and here we are. Here are my break downs of how this year should clarify Ron as a good addition, or great subtraction. Because to be fair, a great addition would’ve already been apparent imo.
Wentz, this is Ron’s choice of QBs. He came out and called him a franchise QB. Ron, pressers and PR aside I’m hiding you to this. This move! You decided to tie up huge amounts of cap space, basically making us lose the choice of gutting roster of functional proven players, that weren’t exactly under bad contracts btw, for a guy who two straight teams have dumped. A guy who was likely to be cut and signed at a huge discount to his middling upper tier level he is receiving. Wentz is what we got, and we lost a third, a second or third next year, scent picks in a draft, and Matt, Flowers, Collins, evenatually Payne ( who is a good player just like Allen), among other restrictions of replacing Brandon. Which in Tons defense he made a masterful signing without affecting our comp pick to sort of mitigate that situation. So I don’t want to hear the back pedal later if this blows up. Wentz was your love, whether he was your first pick or not, and I pronounce you man and QB. This is your guy! Ron also to his credit, slightly hedged his bet. Smooth how he did that and probably our greatest value pick of the entire draft. Even if Howell is trash, that was a value pick.
Rons failure in two seasons to properly address the LB position. There have been solid options at discounts and he just hasn’t pulled the trigger. To avoid being repetitive, this is also true of a coverage S. Ron’s pick at S this year whom he hit the gas on is his move. Jamin and Butler. Another move is locked in.
Terry, Ron, resign this guy!!!!! He’s getting more and more expensive by the day!!! The amount of money he signs for now I blame on this FOs inability to see that resigning a player that is a corner stone first is paramount due to the agents leverages of the other contracts. He backed us into a corner once again where we are going to be held hostage by an agent who would rather cash in now than long term because it doesn’t suit his needs. A slight metaphor, if your team is leading in a close game that you bet on, you know you can cash out now, rather than risk losing. Most sensible people would take the profit rather than risk it. So I get the agents side. But this isn’t new, they got out maneuvered….again….and Dotson a very similar prospect to Terry is his choice. I will take all Terry’s at Wr…so yeah…we will have to wait and see there. But move three locked in…pending his move with Terry.
This is the year, by the very end we should have seen marked improvement, and a clear path to success. If we don’t, Danny do your job! Find us a real GM and let him do everything, not find a coach you think can operate as your puppet, and do the same two step into a pile of shit.
