Here's my perception of "needs" priorities...
These are needs, not mere wants, imo.
And they could be filled just as well by FA as the draft, btw.
DE. As mentioned, Quinn is a health question mark and Hayes is both 31 and best used off the bench.
CB. Tru is a huge question mark as to whether he extends. And even if he does, this is a helluva CB class and we should take advantage. Might be our first pick, in fact.
WR. Simply HAS to be upgraded, even if Britt is extended. FA might be the direction, here. But it is reportedly a good and deep WR class, so a pick shouldn't be a big surprise.
OL. Who knows? They may like some of these guys more than the fans do. Still, I'd guess at least one FA and one middle round draft pick. But it COULD be a couple of FA's to be starters. This area just HAS to be fixed for our O to be successful.
LB. Not quite the need of the first 4 positions, but still gonna be addressed early on. Maybe even in FA. Impossible to get a read on Wade's evaluation of our LB bench just yet. But he surely wants and needs a good corps of "his type" of LB's and it WILL be addressed one way or another.
Not gonna try to prioritize the above position groups, since all are "must haves". Therefore all are equal priorities in my mind. We're not gonna be functional, much less competitive, unless all 4 areas are "fixed" this offseason, if you ask me.
Now we're into "wants" more than absolute "needs", I think.
TE. Do they like the potential of Kendricks, Higbee, and Hemingway? Not entirely sure just yet. Don't think they're sure, either.
RB. Will Benny extend?
S. Don't know if TJM will be extended, or even if they want to extend him. Wouldn't be at all surprised if they really like Mo and see some potential in some of our bench Safeties. Including Randolph who intrigues the hell outta me.
With $40 million available in cap dollars for FA's and 9 draft picks, Snead and this coaching staff can plug a helluva lot of holes. Plus, Snead has been known to find gems in UDFA to give us further help, if only developmental options.
I'm confident that this staff is light years ahead of the Fisher regime in terms of rapid development of rookies and scheming to take better advantage of ALL their players. Should really leverage their effectiveness, IOW.
I'm kinda optimistic, tbh.
