Call me a hopeless optimist if you will, but it’s hard to deny some of these early reports.
I see the following rookies getting more snaps than had been predicted on draft day. Always a good thing on a talented roster.
Cam Akers. Hardly a surprise here. Heck, I think he’ll claim that starting position in a rotation with Hendy.
Van Jefferson. Don’t look now but this kid might actually beat out Reynolds for that 3rd WR spot. Once he gets it (and I think it’s a ‘when’, not ‘if’), he’ll never look back.
Terrell Lewis. What is there to say? His health is no longer in question. Gonna be hard to keep him off the field.
Terrell Burgess. Another guy that’s likely to see a ton of snaps in Staley’s nickel and dime packages. Might even win the nickel CB spot outright.
Jordan Fuller. The biggest pleasant surprise for yours truly. Like finding money unexpectedly. Don’t know how many snaps he’s gonna get behind JJ and Rapp, but then again Staley might use him in some dime sets. I suspect that Staley intends quite a few dime sets this season, but he also has so many other gems he could use in them, so...
I remain high on all of our other remaining draft picks except maybe Sloman, but let’s face it, they’re unlikely to get significant snaps this year barring catastrophic injuries.
Bottom line? This is shaping up as a helluva draft so far, don’t you think?
