Assessing the current defense

[JoeyBoy718]

Free agency defensively so far has looked like this:
1) We let every single defensive free agent go.
2) We signed a trio of bargain bin LBers.
3) We signed the biggest name edge rusher in the league.

Before the Hardy signing, I was a little skeptical, but I'm starting to see the positives and I'm thinking we'll be a better defensive team next year. I'll go unit by unit:

D-line:

We typically only bring four DEs and four DTs with us for each game. And last year, the fourth DE averaged about five snaps a game, so our top three DEs will get the majority of snaps. With that said, I think we're set at DE as long as everyone stays healthy. We have three versatile DEs who can play both sides and even inside in the nickel defense. And Lawrence having a full year under his belt will likely be an improvement. He really started to come around at the end of the year. I think we'd be better off letting the young guys fight for the last DE spot instead of bringing back a guy like Spencer.

As far as DT goes, I think Crawford will become a household name this year. He's finally found a position that suits him and he has a full year as starter under his belt. Plus with help on the outside, I think he'll finally get those sacks. The issue is the backup 3-tech and what we'll do if Crawford gets hurt. I think we've improved at the 1-tech by addition through subtraction. They've finally seemed to move on from Hayden. I'd like to see Bishop improve and I can see us adding another big body 1-tech in the draft. Overall, we're pretty weak outside of Crawford though. I'd like to have a little insurance behind him.

LB:

This is an interesting position. We play in the nickel more than 50% of the time so we only have two LBers on the field at all times. These two will be Lee and Hitchens and I think they'll make a fine duo. And I trust that the other guys we brought in will do fine at the other LB snaps when we're in the base defense. The problem with this though is that we're too reliant on the health of our two starters, and given Lee's history of the past three years, that can be dangerous. This is the biggest reason I'd like to see McClain come back, but I'm starting to doubt that he does. We were lucky last year to hit a home run on a 4th round draft pick and pick up a 26 year old top prospect with two retirements under his belt. But I'm not counting on us getting lucky this year. We'll either need to resign McClain or spend a top pick on a LBer if we can't trust Lee to stay healthy for 16 games.

Secondary:

They let Moore, our second most reliable CB last season, go and they're playing chicken with Carr. Not to mention, they're shopping Claiborne. Outside of Scandrick, I don't even know which CBs will be on the roster this season. Despite the uncertainty, I am happy to see that we're not becoming complacent. We could have been complacent with a "good enough" interior O-line a few years ago of Costa-Livings-Bernadeau but we chose to address the area instead and now we have the most dominant interior O-line in the league. Many people are said to see Moore go, but he really wasn't a very talented football player. I thought he made the most out of every opportunity and I haven't wished a former Cowboy more success in a long time, but he was never going to be a great CB. I don't know what we're going to do at CB, but I'm glad to see us only keeping the guys (or guy) who is a true star (Scandrick). I'm almost certain that our 1st round pick will be on CB. I'm hoping for Marcus Peters out of Washington. And with an improved pass rush, our secondary should be better. Safety is looking like another year of Church/Wilcox.

All in all, I'm happy to see that we're not afraid to move on from JAGs like Moore, Hayden, Spencer, Selvie. We still haven't added any legitimate talent aside from Hardy, but sometimes addition by subtraction is good enough. What scares me is that we seem to be reliant on our four best defensive players - Hardy, Crawford, Scandrick and Lee. If one of those guys goes down, we can be in real trouble. Luckily, we still have the rest of free agency and the draft to address these issues.

 

[LittleBoyBlue]

Here's the thing for me....

Hardy now brings disruption. The missing players are not as big a factor as we think. I believe.

The old mans(Marinelli) job gets easier. Smoke and mirrors before now becomes .... Smoke and mirrors with "the kraken" coming out of the smoke.

 

[Crown Royal]

I'm happy with the defensive direction. Success is when opportunity and preparation meet. Right now they are really preparing, and then a guy like Hardy is the opportunity. Add another couple of players on draft day and keep it up for 2-3 offseasons and you're giving yourself the best shot to succeed.

 

[Silver N Blue]

Great post man and I agree still need a cb to upgrade the level of play Moore provided last year and clearly another LB that can play on all three downs.

 

[revospeed]

I really think we need a tall, rangy corner. We currently do not have a corner that matches up well with bigger receivers that the Cowboys will play next year. I do like how Scandrick and Patmon match up with the smurfs of our division though. My first choice would be Kevin Johnson from Wake Forrest and then Jalen Collins from LSU. There seems to be some disagreement about Collins though. Some think he's the second best corner in the draft, others think he's a 3rd rounder. I hope he's on the board in the second if we don't get Johnson at 27.

 

[ghst187]

I think we aren't in such bad shape at CB but will definitely need one in the top three rounds. I actually think Patmon is a player on the verge and at a minimum will step right in where Moore was or probably fill in even better. The dude has some game in him, the kind of game we all wish Carr and MoClay had to go with their size and natural abilities. MoClay has to be on his way out. But having Scandrick, Carr, Patmon, and a top tier rookie should be fine with an upgraded DL. I wish we had the resources to upgrade Church at S but maybe we find someone late that can play.
I'd love to have McClain back but Brinkley should be fine to replace him for the most part. A healthy Sean Lee is a huge difference maker. I would have loved to see Carter pick up for us where he left off this past season but really no reason to pay LBers big money, esp if you already have one LB making big money.
I'd like our DL 1000% more with Hardy. Would love to have Spencer back to back up and bide time if Hardy is suspended for a long period of time but also hate to give him the kind of money he'll want. Sadly, I think we'll be forced to use a high draft pick on a DE for all of 1) depth 2) to start the season for a suspended Hardy and 3) we probably won't pay Hardy next year. I'd really prefer to use one of our high draft picks on a DT like Bennett, Grady, or maybe a mid-round on Hardison. Otherwise, Brent is going to have to ball.

 

[kevm3]

As of right now, on paper, the defense is garbage. I'm glad we got Hardy, but it's a waste for 1 year if we don't end up resigning him. Although Hardy may make an impact, we lost so many pieces at other positions, it's a lateral move, if not a backwards move. We need to resign McClain and fill in some of those other positions via the draft and stop with all of these lame stop-gap contracts. You simply have to open up your wallet for certain players.

 

[skinsscalper]

As of right now, on paper, the defense is garbage. I'm glad we got Hardy, but it's a waste for 1 year if we don't end up resigning him. Although Hardy may make an impact, we lost so many pieces at other positions, it's a lateral move, if not a backwards move. We need to resign McClain and fill in some of those other positions via the draft and stop with all of these lame stop-gap contracts. You simply have to open up your wallet for certain players.

This is almost a carbon copy of the posts people were making last year at this time. Only last year it was that Durant was a JAG, Carter just didn't get it, we were gonna be atrocious because we lost Hatcher and Ware, there was no way we were going to improve on the worst defensive performance in team history, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Some slow learners around this place.

 

[Mr Cowboy]

What I see on defense is a DLine with Crawford and a bunch of future Home Depot employees. Many here are putting hope in Brent, but at his best he was never more than a 10-12 snaps a game player. Hayden is what he is and Bishop is a high effort, low talent player. Behind Crawford you have nothing other than perhaps Whaley. At safety, you have two strong safeties who can hit, but take bad angles far too often. This team needs and has needed a true safety for some time. I think we are set at LB, and would hate to spend more valuable resources at CB. Hopefully Claiborne can play at least as well as Moore did last year.