I will start worrying about the back 7 in this defense after Week 3 (if there is cause for concern). There is going to be bumps and bruises along the way with our young guys, the key is improving along the way. We thought our secondary was set last spring and look what happened. Just enjoy the news you get along the way and take it with an industrial size grain of salt. Those first few weeks of practice are always a work in progress and lots of miscommunication and adaptation.
As for the depth chart, the younger guys are as unproven as the underperformers ahead of them at this point and they will have to prove they deserve to be ahead of someone...that won't have happened by the first practice. Conley will have to beat out Reeves. McMillan will have to beat out Grant. Trey will have to beat out Perry. Burrows will have to beat out Powell or earn his spot at Star. Do I think some of these moves will happen? Yes. But it is not a given.
As for the news...glad to hear positive news on Darron Lee at WILL. He has the type of ability and athleticism to fill in admirably in Shazier's void. Hopefully Grant and Perry improve but they have to be well aware of McMillan, Trey, Hubbard, Berger, and Booker behind them. Losing Mitchell was a huge blow no doubt, but hopefully not an insurmountable one. In the secondary, we will need plenty of time to become a cohesive unit and get proper communication going. As bad as the last secondary is and though I think we will be improved from a talent perspective, communication doesn't magically happen in the first practice as if they were veterans. In all likelihood, I think the starting group by Week 1 will be Grant, Conley, Burrows, Powell, and Bell. Reeves is going to have to pick it up big time to keep his spot. Plus I think that Webb, Smith, and Lattimore are all going to push hard for PT.
On offense, not surprised that the QBs were not overly impressive to UFM...give them time. Can't wait to see Barrett live though. Also glad to hear Thomas and Greene looked tough. We need a big WR to step up and also give us another redzone threat. Hoping to hear positives on Marshall and Samuel to give us more playmakers in space. The biggest area I will be watching is of course the OL. The starting unit of Decker, Underwood, Boren, Elflein, and Baldwin is somewhat predictable to start. I think Lisle/Dodson will push Baldwin and Underwood will get pushed by Knox when he comes in but I would not be surprised to see that be the starting unit in Week 1.
