In terms of depth particularly on defense. The new swing tackle is marginally better than his predecessor. His feet are better.
As for the defenders you have to consider who they are replacing on gamedays.
Urban and Basham are better than Tyrone Crawford, Ron Dell Carter, the corpse of Everson Griffin, and could send Armstrong to the bench. All of those guys got lots of gameday snaps and were a huge reason for our run woes. Off tackles, sweeps, screens, and smokes worked against us too easily.
Watkins is in the mix at defensive tackle. He is great insurance if Hill and/or Hamilton crapping the bed. We won't have to see the level of play as we did with Eli Ankou and Don Poe.
Kearse is a standout special teams player and better than the replacement types that got snaps last year like Thompson and Savion Smith.
These signing are not about improving the ceiling. They are about raising the floor.
Moreso these signings improve our special teams. Listening to McCarthy talk about needing athletes in that 230 to 270 lbs range on your roster made a lot of sense to me.
Neal was healthy last year. I think playing him at WILL/nickel plays to his strengths and I cannot say how much I look forward to the pursuit and tackling that he and Wilson will provide.
Kazee may not play but his bar to beat is 2020 Xavier Woods.
Not a lot of sexy but the game is mitigating mistakes and risk as much as it is pushing the front lines.