I mean, losing Witten is addition by subtraction since his backup last year was better and Witten did so little with the 83 targets we gave him. Witten's presence hurt us 2019. Upgrading from him to someone who isn't an empty husk of a player anymore actually partially helps pick up the slack for the loss of Cobb, meaning that we have more cushion in what the replacement #3 needs to do.
Quinn's 10.5 sacks is the only stat we lose that is hard to replace.
The last time Randy Gregory played something approaching a full season, he gave us 6 sacks. So, if that's the level of player who replaces him, it means we need to make up 4.5 sacks somewhere else. It's important to make up that gap in production, so I'm not downplaying it. I'm just saying it's not the impossible task we sometimes make it out to be. Last year, Quinn and Lawrence combined for 15.5 sacks. If Lawrence rebounds and goes back to being a 10-sack guy, we're already over halfway there.
Calling Collins the #1 DT is cute, but that label doesn't change that losing his 4 sacks and his heft does not constitute an un-climbable mountain.
Byron's good in coverage but even he didn't have a knack for producing stats that can't be matched. And, no, I'm not talking about interceptions. In 2019, Byron allowed a passer rating of 87.7. Awuzie allowed a passer rating of 89.1, which is in the same ballpark. Jourdan Lewis allowed a passer rating of 86.8, so passers did worse for themselves throwing at him than they did throwing at Byron. Lewis matched Byron's 6 passes defended on the same number of targets. Awuzie had a ton more passes defended but he also got thrown at way more, so that's expected. Byron gave up 3 touchdowns in 2019. Lewis gave up fewer. Awuzie, despite being targeted way more, gave up the same number as Byron.
Does this mean Awuzie or Lewis steps up and becomes an equal replacement as the #1 guy? No, but we have no idea. We also have no idea how Byron would've looked in a new defense, bearing in mind his rise at CB coincided with Kris Richard. It's entirely possible the coaching staff shakeup would've reduced Byron back to being a guy who didn't look like a starting corner, in which case even if we brought back Byron, we weren't gonna be bringing back the 2018 version of him that was him at the peak of what he could potentially be.
Honestly, if Demarcus Lawrence rebounds like he ought to (surely he's better than the 5-sack season he gave us last year) and if the special teams gets competent, those two factors alone make us a better team than we were in 2019. If we have a good draft, all the better. If we get lucky and sniff out a bargain or two like we did with Cobb and Quinn, great.
I don't think the season is doomed based on any of the losses or decisions so far.
And if I'm being honest, I'm more worried about the coaching transition than the roster transitions at this point. If we're looking at an offseason where our new staff can't really install their systems in the spring because they don't end up getting to get their hands on the players until late in the summer? That's a rough set of circumstances for a team with a brand new staff. I'm much more worried about that than losing the Wittens and the Malieks of the world.
Las Vegas Cowboys ?