Let me be clear, I'm an absolute fan of this defense. And I do think it will eventually be our secret sauce. But, I can't see it being this year. The defense requires a lot of work for the front 4 especially. It' is DB heavy and uses its S's a little differently than most defenses. The LB's need to be more versatile, and the DL have to be very good in a wide variety of roles, which is probably one of the reasons we were so happy to draft Wilkins, because in addition to being great athletically and work-ethic-wise and a good citizen … he also has the flexibility to play all across the DL from NT to DT to DE, and he's exceptionally smart, so he's bright enough and hard working enough to learn all those roles.
But, we simply don't have the pass rushers to make this defense great this year. And, we have an excellent nucleus of DB's … but we need more DB's. More CB's and as we move on from Reshad Jones and TJ McDonald (both SS's) we'll need a couple more young S's in the new mold. This is going to take time. Don't be disappointed if our DL doesn't look good in 2019, because the learning curve is bad enough, but going through that without a pass rush or enough DE's or DB's to run the system is even worse. Oh yeah, we don't really have a true NT either.
I'm with ya bro … this defense is a great thing. It just may take a little longer to see it, so don't let it get you down.
But, we simply don't have the pass rushers to make this defense great this year. And, we have an excellent nucleus of DB's … but we need more DB's. More CB's and as we move on from Reshad Jones and TJ McDonald (both SS's) we'll need a couple more young S's in the new mold. This is going to take time. Don't be disappointed if our DL doesn't look good in 2019, because the learning curve is bad enough, but going through that without a pass rush or enough DE's or DB's to run the system is even worse. Oh yeah, we don't really have a true NT either.
I'm with ya bro … this defense is a great thing. It just may take a little longer to see it, so don't let it get you down.