I am going out on a limb but I see this team winning 12 games. I like who they brought in and who they drafted. They added quality depth, 2nd year in schemes, a healthy Tulloch, VanNoy, and Warford, adding Burton and Abdullah, and Tomlinson should greatly improve run game. Carter should be way better option than Vaughn. Walker and Ngata should fit nicely.
I'm going to go out on an ever bigger limb and say that, while LKP is not correct on his "holeless team" comments, he's not far off either.
Let's be real, a combination of Ngata and Walker is better than a lot of teams have. We're not going to suddenly nose dive defensively because we don't have Suh.
We do have some scary holes, but they aren't automatic holes. If Calvin gets hurt, he have a hole. Yes, Tate played well for us last year with Calvin out, but he played beyond expectations, which means we can't bank on him repeating. If Stafford goes down, we're fucked, period.
But let's really examine a minute where the team sits....
Offensive line:
Rieff, Tomlinson, Swanson, Warford, Waddle, Robinson, Ramirez, Lucas
Hell, that's a better offensive line that just about anyone in the league. It sure as hell ain't shabby.
Receivers:
Calvin, Tate, Broyles, Fuller, Jones, Ross. Okay, Ross is probably gone, but that's a damned nice WR core, especially if Fuller or Jones comes along this year. I would like another WR still.
Running Backs:
Bell, Abdullah, Riddick, Winn, Zenner, Burton. I think Winn is the odd man out, but I love what we're rolling with.
Tight Ends:
Ebron, Pettigrew, Fauria. Laugh, go ahead... but it's not a bad group. I doubt Ebron becomes "DA MAN" this season, but even if he doesn't, it's a productive group for #4 options.
QB: Stafford, Orlovsky, whoever.... Face it, if Stafford goes down, our season goes down the toilet faster than an unwanted abortion on prom night. But who has a backup QB good enough to win it all? No one, so we're no worse off than anyone else in that regard.
Defensive Ends: Ansah, Jones, Tapp, Webster, Taylor. Underwhelming outside of Ansah, but a good enough group to get the job done.
Defensive Tackles: Ngata, Walker, Reid, Proctor, Wright. Not a bad group at all, and still better than most teams to be honest. Yes, Ngata is getting up there, but right now he's still better than most to anchor the line. Talk to me in three years about his age, right now he can play.
Linebackers: Van Noy, Copeland, Whitehead, Tulloch, Levy, Lewis, Stanford. Best LB group in football in my opinion, especially the starters. Can't get much better than that.
Secondary: Quinn, Ihedigbo, Bentley, Lawson, Carter, Diggs, Matthis, Slay, Seisay, Wilson. Someone ain't gonna make it, but that's a pretty darned snazzy group there. Slay should be better in year 3, most corners are, and the starters are solid. Backups scare me, but what backup DB doesn't scare ya?
Special Teams: Prater (among the best in the game) and Martin (I think he may be the best punter in the game minus one bad shank in the playoffs). Hell, I like what we have going there.
Long Snapper: who cares? I mean seriously, Don Muhlbach is a great long snapper, but does anyone know of a bad long snapper in football? I guess you have to have one, but has one ever won or lost their team the game?
All in all, injuries play a factor every year, and we're deep enough in some areas (LB for one, OL for another) to absorb those, and weak enough in others (QB, WR, DB) that I'm not so sure we can.
But do we have glaring holes? No. None. LKP is right, the team right now is holeless. One injury can change that quickly.
