I also think one over-confident mistake everyone is making is these guys are all rookies. When Jabril Cox steps onto that field against Tom Brady, it’ll be the first meaningful snap he’s taken in the NFL in his life.
Parsons may turn out to be a great player, but you’re not getting 25 year old, perennial pro bowl Micah this year. When he’s in the open field trying to tackle Alvin Kamara, and AK pulls a triple move on him... that’s something collegiate football can’t prepare you for. Experience prepares you for that moment.
Everyone saw Dak and Zeke have monster rookie years and felt some normalcy there, but for defense it works very different. Quality defensive play comes from reps, experience, years of it. Sometimes there’s a rookie like Darius Leonard who comes in guns blazing, but that’s rare. That’s really rare, why he got so much press about it. But there are threads expecting 2, 3, 4, 5 guys from this draft class to fix major defensive problems you had last year. That’s extraordinarily unrealistic.
How was Demarcus Lawrence his rookie year? Nonexistent. Fletcher Cox? An okay rotational piece. Brian Dawkins? A rookie who played like a rookie. Ray Lp
What’s far more realistic is Jaylon and LVE have good preseasons, are named starters, and play the vast majority of snaps this year (as long as they don’t poop the bed). Why would Quinn sub in a rookie who played 3 seasons at North Dakota State, unless he was desperate. Micah fills in for Sean Lee, but for how much nickel you played last year, how many overall snaps did Lee get? 30%? Less?
You don’t draft guys(particularly defensive guys) in 2021 for 2021. You draft them for 2023, 2024, 2025+