Quote:I have faith in Caldwell to gather the talent necessary to get this defense on track for next year. But as it stands right now, you're right, we are absolute trash talent wise. Apart from Telvin, House, and Odrick, everyone else is average to below average at best. Gratz is atrocious, and a potato could provide more pass rush than Clemons and Branch. I think this defense would look a lot different if Caldwell had been able to land McCourty and the injuries to Marks and Fowler hadn't occurred. In other words, I think what Caldwell's original view for the defense  in 2015 didn't come to pass, and it has showed in a bad way.

 

Eh I've always questioned this "view", and I think, much like when he built this team "from scratch", I think Caldwell was once again over confident in his own evaluation.

 

Many of us had concerns that Marks wouldn't be ready. Did we do anything to address the interior line? No, DC was satisfied running with Abry Jones and Ziggy Hood.

 

Pass rush was a concern. Other than adding Fowler, did we do anything to address this position? No. DC was satisfied with the return of Branch. Keep in mind that most rookie DEs, even great ones like Allen, JPP, Watt don't provide immediate impact as a rookie.

 

Linebacker was a concern. Other than adding Skuta, did we do anything here? Nope. So while we had solid starters, the depth was clearly lacking. And whenever Poz got hurt, and Skuta got hurt, the dropoff was significant.

 

Would it look different had we landed McCourty? Yeah, for sure. That FS remains a hole. But keep in mind that the money that was to go to McCourty went to House and Skuta. Which means while we would have had McCourty...we'd have bigger holes at LB and....*gasp* Gratz at CB.

---