I think the Hitch decision was a little riskier than what some of you are thinking. Jaylon was coming off a 2017 season where he looked hobbled and sucked most of the time, and we had no idea what would be available in the draft. Letting Hitch walk for a $45 million deal elsewhere was an easy decision, but we didn't really have a good replacement behind him. It was Jaylon at an unknown level of health, and Lee for however long his health would hold up.
Jaylon turned it on, then our BPA in the draft turned out to be another LB who was ready to ball the hell out way, way earlier than anyone thought a 1 year starter at Boise State would be able to. So our succession plan at LB went dang near perfect, but we also got pretty lucky too.
I guess the closest parallel is if we let Lawrence walk, Randy Gregory comes back and goes beast mode, and we draft a DE in the second who plays at a top-ten level starting in Week 2. It's like the best case scenario, but it's nothing you'd expect to happen either.