Defensive potential

A lot has been discussed this off season about our defense. Most of us are worried about our secondary depth, Hayes back injury, DRC's knee, and if Dan Williams is the answer. Being the optimist that I am (aka homer) I was thinking about the potential of our pass D.

We all noticed the drop off in our pass D when Ware was injured, add that to the lack of defense our old OLB's and McFadden played, a sprinkle of injuries and you got yourself a D with some serious holes. Despite last season's outcome I believe we have the makings of a good D.

This is what I am thinking, even a declining Porter is better than Okeafor. You may not agree with profootballfocus's ratings but they do provide some scope. It has Okeafor and Berry rated as the two worst OLB's in the game. And I agree, I think they completely sucked. Think about this, if our team was the 6th best at sacking the QB last year with 43 and we added better players, it could potentially be very feisty. Not to mention with our schedule.

Yes our CB depth is concerning but a great pass rush with DRC, AW and KR covering their top three athletes isn't a scary prospect. There also won't be as much pressure on Toler to perform and hopefully it will allow him to adapt to the level of play in the NFL smoother. Don't forget we also were 7th in INT's with 21 and 5th in passes deflected last season... with McFadden.

And finally, as MBN pointed out in his post, Daryl Washington is an athletic linebacker who would probably flourish in that kind of defense. Because he is athletic he can cover most backs and TE's which eases some of the responsibilities of our safeties. And if we keep Porter fresh by rotating in our young blood often, we can help maintain Porters ability to play the game with high intensity and energy, something our D needs. Remember, we weren't that bad last year being ranked 14th in points allowed.

Yet that only problem is, a D like that does not do will without a lead. We are going to be susceptible to the run this year. Robinson has given it his all but he's done and Watson has disappointed. Williams is a rookie and there's no way you could expect him to step up and play well at one of the toughest positions in football. Hopefully he does, but history says he probably won't. And our middle is weak. As MBN also pointed out Hayes is injured and its starting to get worrisome, Washington is undersized for the middle in a 3-4, and Lenon at 32 is just a stop gap.

Moral of the story, if our O builds leads it's going to be a fun season. If our O doesn't... you can imagine