From the FanPosts. -Chris

It appears that we are destined to read about 2.5 million posts about what FA we should sign and who we should select in next year's draft.  It is my belief that these speculations are pretty pointless right now.  There are several things we do not know that have too big of impact on things to make speculating worth while.  Will there be a cap next year?  If not, that changes what FAs will be available and how expensive the FAs on the market will be.  Even more important is the number of key FAs that will resign with their current team and never hit the open market.  Last, when we don't have any idea what the draft order will be and what underclassmen will declare, mock drafts are irrelevant.  I love hearing scouting reports on players that people think would be good picks, but guessing who we will pick in what round just doesn't do it for me.

So how about we discuss something that still relates to next year's team, but that we can make a little more educated guess about. 

How many key players / starters for next year's team are currently on our roster?

I'll define the key players as:  all offensive and defensive starters (22 players), plus K, P, KR/PR, #2 RB, #3 WR, and nickel back.  That makes 28 players total that we are talking about.  I'll give my guess below and would love to hear what others think.

Players on offense that I think will be key players next year: 

• Cassel
• Charles
• Bowe
• Chambers
• Long
• Albert
• Waters
• O'Callaghan

Not currently on team:  RB (to split with Charles), FB, TE, C, and RG.

Players on defense that I think will be key players next year: 

• Dorsey
• Jackson
• Hali
• Vrabel
• Mays
• Flowers
• Carr

Not currently on team:  NT, ILB, FS, SS, and nickel back.

I do think Edwards, Williams, Belcher, and maybe Leggett will play roles, but off the bench.

I think we can all agree that our K and P are set.  I think we need a KR/PR guy.

So I have 17 of the 28 "key positions" for next year's team as filled by players on our current roster.  That means we would need to add 11 key players through the draft and FA.  That is probably too many for one off season.  If we're lucky we could MAYBE get 4 from the draft which would mean we would have to add 7 through FA.  My guess is we will add more like 7-8 total through draft and FA, which means we will go into next year with starters in a hand-full of spots that are still not what we are looking for long term.

What do you guys think?