I don’t think a plan that is “How do we do this around Kyler” is sufficient. I think it needs to be one level bigger. “How do we do this with the QBs we’ve got, which is Kyler, JJM, and a 3rd/4th QB”? Kyler, hopefully won’t get injured, but he’s statistically probably going to be injured.
I think you have to start with the premise that your QBs aren’t going to carry you. They might … but it would just be unwise to depend on that, as none of them have really shown that historically. Secondly, you should probably assume that you need an offense that works for both QBs. But I think it starts with the defense. The defense has to be equipped to carry this team. We lost Allen and Hargrave. Is LDR and TID sufficient as starters? I don’t feel great about that. We might lose Greenard and Smith as well. Greenard you could replace with a depth level talent, but Smith is a big loss as we didn’t really have enough bodies at S to start 3 which we are apt to do. I’m less concerned about CB as I am about S as Flores can work around them as he has before.
I think you have to come out of Day 1 and 2 with at least a DT and a S that you feel good about putting on the field day one. I think the DT can be traitsy, but the S has to be intelligent to thrive in our system. Regarding Greenard, I wouldn’t feel great trading him during the draft. Without a GM, I don’t think we should be wheeling and dealing in a way that adds chaos to the situation. Go in with a plan. Execute the plan. We need another receiver. We can’t survive with just JJ and Addison. It’s just too risky. If Love falls and you take him, that’s also very valid. You can’t go into next year with Skule as the swing OT. We’ll see if the Bills match our offer or whatever.
I think the scheme needs to be heavily modified. I think a lot of intentional movement by the QB is wise and can be done by both QBs. I think both QBs can be a threat running the ball as well, and should be. I think a lot of our pass plays are meant to be explosive. We need to change that such that maybe a 3rd of our passing plays are of the quicker variety. From what I’ve heard Kyler latches onto his first read or runs. Not the worst, but we should be making sure that we aren’t asking him or JJM to hunt explosives every single play. They need shorter quicker stuff that they execute if the Oline struggles. Both JJ and Addison should be well suited for getting open on quick routes. For the entire time that KOC has been here, we pass to setup the run. That’s not bad, but I think we need to ensure that we have the ability to use the run to setup the pass as well. I don’t know what that looks like, but I wouldn’t be disappointed if we ran 6 OL once in a while. Pull Hockenson off the field, run 6 OL with Oliver as a TE and just establish the run. Not all the time, but have it in your bag as an option. If KOC needs to hire someone to keep track of the run pass ratio, and then call him a pussy for not running the ball more, that’s an option. He’s got his tendencies, he needs to be aware of them and do whatever it takes to work around them.