Another round of my ideal off-season scenario
Coaching First, I'd like to keep Trestman for at least next season. I'd like to see him calm the offense down a little and save Cutler from himself and USE MATT FORTE. If this team is not playing at the elite level they should be, Trestman would have to go in the middle season.
Second, we need to fire Tucker and hire a DC who won't be overwhelmed if he needs to step in for a fired Trestman. I think that everyone will agree that Rex Ryan is the best option for us, but I'm not sure he doesn't get another HC job. If getting Rex Ryan means offering him a HC job, I do it. As Red mentioned in his thread about not developing Cutler properly, we need a competent OC. He mentioned we needed a guy who would get rid of his flaws but at this point of Cutler's career we need to get a guy who would protect Cutler from his flaws. If Ryan comes in as HC, I'm sure we'll bring in a guy who will feature Forte. Other guys that could be options for us are Muschamp, Ron Rivera, and Singletary. In the Trestman replacement thread I mentioned a bunch of defensive guys that would only leave their teams for a HC job which I'm only willing to offer to Ryan (maybe Bowles) and the moment. I'd Also like to see Urlacher and Tillman be brought on as coaches. Tillman has already taught Fuller a ton and with our LBs being replaced we could use Urlacher to teach them.
Free Agencyhttp://overthecap.com/salary-cap-space/According to the above link we'd have $32,885,313 in cap space in 2015 with no dead money. I'd like to reserve about 8 mil to resigning some of our guys, most notably, Paea. This leaves us with $24, 885,314.
For our first big splash we go after Revis. I averaged Sherman's, Hayden's, and Paterson's salary for next year to determine what the offer should be for Revis in the first year of his contract. The number came out to be 12.87 mil. Leaves $12,015,313 in cap.
The second position I want to address is Safety. I had Tashaun Gipson at the top of my list but he's a restricted FA. He'll probably make around 6 or 7 mil which I'm completely willing to offer him. The problem is, IDK what pick we'd have to give up for him. Devin McCourty is 1a. I'm sure he'll get a contract that will make him the highest paid Safety or close to it. I think its is Resonable to assume he'll get an Earl Thomas type contract, which is 4yrs 40 mil starting at 7.4. If we sign McCourty to a contract that starts a 7.4 we'll have $4,615,313
The rest is to be used for depth on offense and defense.
DraftI have two trades in mind on draft night. First, I think we can get Chris Bortland for a 3rd from the 49ers. Currently we are sitting at the 8 spot, which should be high enough to get Amari Cooper. The Browns have two firsts (16 and 19) and they could use a game breaker like Cooper especially with the uncertainty of Gordon. I think the Browns could do it, especially since the Bill have no regret trading those pics for Watkins.
RD 1 (16): Shaq Thompson, OLB
RD 1 (19): Donte Fowler, OLB/DE
RD 2: Derron Smith, S
RD 3: pick traded for Bortland
RD 4: Antwaun Woods, NT
RD 5: Doran Grant, CB/S
RD 6: Jake Smith, C
RD 7: Dorial Green-Beckham, WR
Undrafted: Andre Debose, KR
OverviewCoaching:
Ryan DC, Trestman HC
Free Agency: Revis and McCourty
Scheme/position changes:With this off-season, we have a solid 4-3 defensive roster, but Ryan might still want to move to the 3-4. If that happens I think our front seven looks something like this; Houston/Paea/Ratliff on the line and Allen(OLB)/Thompson(ILB)/Bortland(ILB)/Fowler(OLB) as our backers. We'd have a solid rotation in our front 7 with Bostic, Shea, Young, Sutton, and Ferguson coming off the bench. Jennings moves the the nickle regardless the scheme. Darron Smith has a strong chance of beating out Mundy, which would give us three rookie starters and two second year starter. I don't think that will be to big of a problem since we have a lot of experience surrounding them and Fuller and Bortland are playing like vets in their rookie season.
Starters Offense:Cutler
Forte (Carey)
Bennett/Rosario
Marshall/Jeffery/Green-Beckham (Wilson)
Bushrod/Slauson/Garza/Long/Mills
Defense:Houston/Paea/Ratliff (Young/Sutton/Ferguson)
Allen/Thompson/Bortland/Fowler (Bostic/Shea)
Revis/Fuller/Jennings
McCourty/Smith (Mundy/Vereen)
Special Teams:Gould
O'Donnell
Wilson/Debose