This will hopefully provide us with a good subject for some Tuesday banter.
Just my humble opinion, but I thought:
Elite – DL and OL – I think we saw this live and in living color in 2021 and 2022, amirite?
Great – LB, RB, WR/TE – I want guys in the box who can scrap and cause chaos and who can also drop into the middle ranges and cover passes. WR/TE don’t have to be NFL great, but great and run blocking and creating space to drop the ball in. I want running backs who are either explosive or who can take a few licks and keep churning for the crucial short yards, when necessary.
Good – QB, DB – This was tough. I almost thought about putting these two up in the great category and dropping down RB and WR/TE, but I’m conflicted. Kenny McIntosh isn’t mentioned in the same breath as Chubb and Michel, but with a great offensive line and a touch unit of WR/TEs that can get him open, I’d be more apt to drop RBs down to here. I went with QB because I feel like we’ve seen a range of QB skill sets that prove more successful when they’ve got the elite offensive line and the right surrounding cast. Fromm, Bennett, Beck, and Gunner. Hard to say though Beck 2024 with a limited RB room and a skeleton crew of receivers looked way different from Beck 2023. And with DBs, I feel like their job gets a lot easier if the front seven are doing their level best to make life hell in the backfield.
That’s just my humble opinion. What’s yours?
Very Good – OL, DL – win it in the trenches.
Good – LB, WR/TE, DB – I think we’ve shown that you don’t need all-world guys at EVERY skill position to compete with the big boys
OK – QB, RB – How many middling-ass QBs have we seen look like the second coming of Dan Marino with a fantastic OL and a good bunch of targets? Same with middling backs running behind some serious road graders?
I would switch QB and RB, but that’s nitpicking. I want a QB who can create explosive plays. Think about SBIV in 2022 in particular. He hit a bunch of deep throws and had a 50+ yard TD run as well.
On another note, give me a healthy Brock Bowers at TE every year, and I’ll take my chances on offense.
I’m on board with your selection. Both lines of scrimmage need to be elite. RB and LB groups need to be very good. Plenty of teams have won championships with serviceable or game manager QB’s.
Brett Thorson would like a word… Special Teams should also be a position group
We’ve been blessed with some good punters and placekickers for so many years.
Give me an elite HC (CKS) plus staff, will take my chances, within 3-5 years will be top shelf…GO DAWGS!!
If you want to win championships:
VERY GOOD (2) → Must be elite:
QB
DL
GOOD (3) → Strong, reliable
OL
DB
WR
OKAY (2) → You’ll live with average
RB
LB
This is a good topic. Many talking heads have 2019 LSU listed as the greatest CFB team of all time and if memory serves they had neither an elite OL or DL.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Czts8MJLXP4/
I don’t do Instagram but my wife and daughters do. I’ll have them check the link for me….thanks.
Me either. It showed up in my regular browser. In any event it just lists all of the draftees off the 2019 LSU team. Its pretty much all of them.
Well, I checked and it turns out that the OL won the Joe Moore award that year so I guess that means my memory got fooled by Joe Burrow and his WR play. Hard to forget that.
Coach Dooley’s best records seemed to coincide with his best lines. No, I’m not forgetting about 1980-1982 and 1983. HW was superlative but not a one-man team.
True but the best OL we may have ever had was 1995. Got Ray fired.
You can adjust to mediocre OL play. Nothing helps winning a game more than choking off the middle of the LOS with bad ass DL play.
They are difference makers.