Coach Ben Johnson gushed after the NFL draft ended about how the team had improved, but not necessarily because of the talent brought in during those three days and during free agency.
Most of the reason for great optimism on his part already existed, starting with Caleb Williams and running down the roster.
"I really expect some of these young players that we already had in the program to take a huge jump from Year 1 to Year 2 of this coaching staff, and then we create a lot of competition really at every position group,” Johnson said.
The competition, the new talent, the existing talent, and the coaches combine to produce position groups situated somewhat differently than at the end of last season. At least on paper, it looks this way.
Projections can be tricky, though. There is little doubt last year's best position group was the offensive line and they were ranked second overall in the league by Pro Football Network. There has been drastic change on the line since the season ended, yet projecting them to be much worse fails to give credit due to the veterans still in place.
