I think Jensen said they didn't really know much about the season, just 3 or 4 episodes so far.

And yes, unless they're dropping the Crowley storyle, one would expect him to be more careful about Sam. It's the man who defeated Lucifer, afterall.

I guess I'm hoping this is like S6 when we didn't know what happened with Sam, till we learnt he was soullless. Becase I can't believe they're this clueless about their own show. Season 7 was lazy, but this is downright ... ridiculous.