Thompson hurt, but we found adequate replacements.
Wilmore hurt given the context of losing Ty, but we found adequate/probably better replacements.
Umana will likely end up being the loss that hurts the most. Sure, he wasn’t a starter in spring, but OL depth is huge. Need all the healthy and experienced bodies you can get to make it through a long season.
I would say gain. With the exception of WR we lost guys from crowded positions. We gained guys in positions of need. The incoming transfers will have more minutes on the field than the transfers that left would have. Also, since the enthusiasm for players chasing second chances is greater than the enthusiasm of players thinking about changing, way more than half the teams improve with the transfer program. The bump in QB and RB way offsets other losses. Howard, Calvert and McKinney will figure in more than expected.
In general (again, there are exceptions) we lost players in positions where we were deep and gained players in positions where we were thin. So if you were to lose a player in a deep position, and pick up a player of equivalent ability in a thin position, you’d call it a win even if the trade was a “net zero” from an ability point of view.
And I would say this year, Utah was a net positive on ability. So yeah, Utah definitely won in the 2021 transfer portal.