[SamuelMcF]

Our horrific DL "depth" forced the need to bulk up that much. Remember the pathetic safety situation a couple years ago? That's been happening at DL now, and will continue to for the next 1-2 years because apparently just 1 per class for 3 straight classes was enough. Morons.

My only nit here is that we can't very well simultaneously say: (1) load up on recruits because no one stays longer than 4 years anymore and you can't count on good players staying beyond 3 years anymore; and (2) the DL is going to suck in 2023 because all the DLs are too young, even though the 2021 and 2022 classes each had 3 DLs (plus a strong group of OLB pass rushers, one or more of whom might grow into a DL).  But I agree that the DL numbers have been way too thin for a while.

For the record, I classify DL as different from the new "Edge" position. We're talking about the big middle 2 guys. Aaron Armitage and the three pass rushers will not be DLs.

(1) and (2) are completely unrelated to each other. You should ABSOLUTELY load up on recruits at a position where ideally 5-6 rotate in a given game; 3 in 3 years makes zero sense. And the DL SHOULD suck in 2023 (let alone 2022...) because they are all still too young, except for Tobin Phillips, at a position where old man strength is important.

Re (1), my hope and belief is we are signing 2 DL in the 2023 class as well. The pipeline should - from a numbers perspective - look much healthier moving forward. From a ratings/stars perspective, TBD but leaning towards yikes.

[SamuelMcF]

Our horrific DL "depth" forced the need to bulk up that much. Remember the pathetic safety situation a couple years ago? That's been happening at DL now, and will continue to for the next 1-2 years because apparently just 1 per class for 3 straight classes was enough. Morons.

My only nit here is that we can't very well simultaneously say: (1) load up on recruits because no one stays longer than 4 years anymore and you can't count on good players staying beyond 3 years anymore; and (2) the DL is going to suck in 2023 because all the DLs are too young, even though the 2021 and 2022 classes each had 3 DLs (plus a strong group of OLB pass rushers, one or more of whom might grow into a DL).  But I agree that the DL numbers have been way too thin for a while.

For the record, I classify DL as different from the new "Edge" position. We're talking about the big middle 2 guys. Aaron Armitage and the three pass rushers will not be DLs.

(1) and (2) are completely unrelated to each other. You should ABSOLUTELY load up on recruits at a position where ideally 5-6 rotate in a given game; 3 in 3 years makes zero sense. And the DL SHOULD suck in 2023 (let alone 2022...) because they are all still too young, except for Tobin Phillips, at a position where old man strength is important.

Re (1), my hope and belief is we are signing 2 DL in the 2023 class as well. The pipeline should - from a numbers perspective - look much healthier moving forward. From a ratings/stars perspective, TBD but leaning towards yikes.