Well, OK. My response on the 5th years was to try to make a compromise with the "let's take everybody who wants to sign" crowd and the "let's keep all the proven and semi-proven oldtimers" crowd. On one side of the 5th year "sorting out", I have Martin, Watt, & Wood to absolutely stay if they're willing. On the other side of the balance, I have all the "easy" decisions plus Jamoris [due to us being loaded there].
In the decision middle there reside Dan and Carlo. People are talking about all these recruits which are "can't miss/can't pass up". It seems to me that there's a "collision" coming right at the Dan/Carlo decision point. Let's see if we can read Diaco's mind:
a]. Diaco thinks, I have Spond, Councell, and Jaylon for next year at DOG; maybe that's one too many [and I'm making an assumption about Romeo not staying there, and ignoring the special defenses involving the Slaughters, Barattis, Shumates, Prosises of the world];
b]. Diaco thinks, I have Prince, Ishaq, Anthony, maybe Romeo and a frosh at CAT; maybe that's at least one too many;
c].Diaco thinks, I'm stuck with replacing Manti at Mike, I know it's not going to be Manti-level, but I'm really counting on Grace. Also there's Kendall, and Deeb, and Anzalone. Maybe that's at least one too many.
D). Diaco thinks, now what-in-the-heck am I going to do about WILL ?? Keep Dan? Keep Carlo? Keep both? Shift my "extras"? What am I going to do when some ace DB shows up after we're "full" or even worse a D-Lineman? I better get a plan. Coach BK is going to want to know.
What are his options?
1]. punt on the new guys and keep Dan and Carlo both;
2]. try to get at least one more prime stud, keep Dan, and shift somebody to back-up WILL --- Who? Maybe Moore; maybe, Councell or Spond so that Jaylon can play; maybe Rabasa to MIKE to aid a shift of Anzalone or Deeb to Will; ---- somehow shift the load of linebacking talent around to find some fit at WILL;
3]. But what if I need TWO spots and how can I survive letting both Dan and Carlo go? Is Jaylon good enough to start? Is Danny or Ben good enough to take the WILL? Could Anzalone start beside Jarrett? Maybe none of these scenarios ultimately make sense; but I will bet that Diaco realizes that he DOES have an overload of linebacker talent, but it is not correctly positioned yet especially for the Will. He will have a strong opinion as to whether Jarrett, Ben, or Danny, could play it in his defense. He will have a good idea as to whether Jaylon [probable] and Alex [possible] are ready to step into starting roles. He'd probably RATHER have Dan Fox there, but he should be thinking about such things.
That said: DillonHall is correct in his base concept that keeping Dan/Carlo is the conservative low risk choice --- with all the linebacking talent we have, though, the question remains: how good can some of those terrific talents be shifting to WILL??
