Are there any players "we cant afford to lose"?

Losing Newman hurt.

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Losing Newman hurt

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3 capable qbs in the room is better than 2. True.
Losing a QB with over a seasons worth of starts stinks.
Losing a 24 year old dual threat QB who has shown to be proficient in the run game and deep ball hurts.

But we have two third year QBs behind him.
We have a QB with over a seasons worth of starts.
We have a QB handpicked by our OC to fit into our designed playbook with a skillset similar to Stafford.
We have a QB who has been working with our receivers for 2 years and has been wowing the coaching staff with both his athleticism and arm talent during that time.

Just like losing our 2016 starter in the first game of 2017, we are prepared to weather this.

Newman was when we were thinking rpo and zone read.

Monken's o is air road and I would guess we will see packages of under center power /play action as well.

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Who on our team is so far ahead of his replacement/sub that he is too important to lose?

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It’s easily LeCounte. Cine will be the 2nd safety, but other than that there isn’t much.

Chris Smith and Latavious Brini would be next up.

I’m also pretty sure I heard Tyrique Stevenson can play safety if needed, but he is MUCH better at Star.

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Poole

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Can’t believe he’s still on the team. He played Star a good bit in 2017. Seems like he’s treaded water his whole career.

Jordan Davis. Nobody like him on the roster.

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It’s easily LeCounte.

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This.

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Pickens. We don’t have anyone else even remotely like him

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This is the correct answer. With Blaylock’s injury and questions remaining at QB, Pickens presence is crucial.

I put Jordan Davis at #1.
We don't have anyone on the team who can do what he does to an opponent on first and second down. And if we are going to win in 2020 on defense, we need to win first and second down.

I have Pickens at #2.
We need an elite option at WR that can take pressure off the other 10 guys.
Someone else may be able to step up. But odds were that Blaylock was going to be best chance for help going into 2020.

I have Lecounte at #3. Cine is going to be awesome. But the position is called "safety" for a reason. Two first year starters are not a great recipe for preventing big plays against the run and pass. Also, we couldnt look at the 2nd string safety option as a legitimate option when it may hurt the nickel and/or dime package. Losing Lecounte would be equivalent to replacing him with the 7th best DB per our dime package on the field.

I thought about Zeus at #3 because close games are won on the ground. But we haven't seen enough footage of White to mark him as a sure thing Chubb/Sony/Swift player. I hope/expect separation between White and his backups. But right now, that is hope/expect. Not a sure thing like I know for Davis, Pickens, and Lecounte.

You might know more than I do.

Is Jalen playing the nose on 1st and 2nd downs? I figured that would be more on passing downs. More of a 3 tech on running downs.