It's not unreasonable to say in 2019 we'll go 7-9/8-8/9-7
But this is going to take a while to dig out from and grow. It also requires us to be GOOD at drafting players and not trading down this year.
You cannot do the Justin Gilbert/Johnny Manziel type drafts. THAT more than anything is the reason why we're at the position we're in.
We have to hit on guys and hit on them well.
But why does it have to take a while to dig out from? This is what I'm talking about. Stop staring at the record and look at the avenues that we have to get better. It's no different than if you have a team that has a really good record but they are in cap hell and no favorable draft picks. Of you looked at their record and ours you would expect them to get better right? Like the NYG before this season. there was a lot of people picking them to go to the Super Bowl. They were the 2nd worst team in then league this year. Why? It wasn't just because of OBJ being out. he wasn't the difference in season. There was a ton of teams that lost their best player this year who ended up better than them so why were they the 2nd worst team in the league this year? Because Brandon Marshall got hurt? lol. Nope. They were bad because they were never that good to begin with. Their coaching was a disaster. their locker room was a disaster. T
his happens every year in then NFL. It never fails. People look at a teams success in the prior season and without any real improvements folks just expect them to be better. Juts like OAK. What did they do to improve their team this year? Nothing. They added Marshawn Lynch who was retired and people thought they were going to The Super Bowl.
Start looking at then teams around us and how they will improve vs how we will improve. W know for a fact the The Browns are gonna add two QB's this offseason. A veteran who will start according to Dorsey and a high draft pick also according to Dorsey. We know that we will spend money to add talent according to Dorsey.
What is PIT gonna do? They have what 1-2 more years of Ben and then what. they lost Todd Hayley. The lost Shazier (though he still could return but they need to replace him until then). Le'Veon Bell wants to come back but at his price and not theirs. The need to fix that secondary.
CIN? They have an unfortunate QB controversy lol. Any Dalton or AJ McCarron lol. Yuck. Marvis Lewis is back to kick the can. They are still one of the most dysfunctional teams. Not worried about them at all.
BAL. They are stuck with Joe Flacco. Sucks for them. They have no real receiving threats. All of their TE's get hurt. Their defense is good but old as fuck. Eric Weddle is retiring. John Harbaugh has one foot out the door and to top it off Ozzie is leaving after next season. They are actually trending the other direction.
Now when you look at the teams in our division (which matter most) and you look at us it's abundantly clear that we are going to make more improvements than any of them. That doesn't mean that we will be better than them but it also shouldn't mean that they are just gonna stay better than us. IMO that shows me that it doesn't necessarily have to be a long digging out process to be on par in our division. In fact John Dorsey said that his goal next season is to win the AFC North. Your new GM doesn't say shit like that unless he plans to aggressively and drastically improve the team.