This guy knows ball! I've never seen Pete before.

I have to add some things to your discussion of #8 that you both omitted while wondering if he's past his prime:

Variable #1 - have you ever had a knee the size of a basketball? I have, at two different times in my life. I guarantee I wasn't even thinking about running on it. The first of those times I spent months fearing I'd never be able to work in my craft again.

Can his knee recover 100%? Not even talking about durability, just FUNCTION. If not, he's past his prime. If it feels fine, then it's a "we'll see" in terms of effectiveness, with durability being a separate question. A viable RB2 & 3 would help increase longevity if there's any question about durability in that knee, and I don't see how there wouldn't be. Which isn't to say he couldn't gut it out in one big game where he's carrying the team and nothing else is working, but that's very different from needing to carry a team for an entire season. And I don't see the need for that with this team, the passing attack should be stellar if our O line can be effective at pass protection.

Variable #2: have either of you ever worked out with someone who could bench press 500#? I have, and those (non linemen) who can are just a different class of human being. Josh first got that in College, and never lost it, only gained strength since. And you can tell that by his stiff-arm!

Has he lost that through this injury? If so can he regain that superhuman strength? If not then he's past his prime, but even if he could "only" bench press 350# his stiff-arm is probably more effective than most in the league.

What if Josh ever just gets TO the line of scrimmage without contact?!? What would really be nice is if our line got him past the second level with nobody having a legitimate chance to tackle him, so that it's just the secondary between him and the goal line. Until we see that we can't even talk about "home run ability." If this team can give him that opportunity 5 times this season, maybe one of those times 3 DBs gang tackle him but other than that I don't see anybody stopping him provided that the two variables above are both in the affirmative.

Other than that? Lol. There are a lot of potential needs for Gutey to acquire depending on what TC proves we lack. I think it's excellent strategy for him not to make a move until he sees how that all plays out ...

If RB CB and EDGE all prove to be good, I hope a Mercedes Lewis clone is Gutey's priority!

GPG