Armando has had some good articles recently ... but IMHO, this is not one of them. He missed the mark with this one. We did not draft depth. We have exactly 1 good pass rusher, so we drafted arguably the 2nd best pass rusher in this draft. He may eventually replace Wake, but make no mistake about it, Harris will start on passing downs. Pass rushers are a vital part of the defense, and calling them depth is wholly incorrect.
Then looking at Raekwon McMillan, this kid is going to start. The only questions are where and when? IMHO, the when will be game 1. The where is harder to identify, but my guess (100% speculation) is that it will initially be at Sam with Timmons manning the middle. Ultimately though, I see McMillan starting at Mike for 10+ years ... but it is unclear whether that will start this year or next.
Tankersley, yes he was brought in sort of as depth, but really it is to be the starting corner opposite Xavien Howard. Maxwell holds down that spot now, and Tank is too raw to compete for it outright this year, but eventually, that is the plan. This is the prospect that requires the most development.
Isaac Asiata is absolutely being brought in to start. He's definitely not a depth pick. If he becomes depth, then Asiata has either gotten injured early or simply flopped. Asiata was chosen to be our starting guard and blow open lanes for the J-Train.
The DT's are depth ... but they're later 5th and 6th round picks! At that point in the draft a team is lucky to get depth. Heck, we were super-fortunate to get a starting quality LG like Asiata in the 5th. The top two picks were 100% need picks to obtain a starter. We just got lucky that for once our need matched up with BPA where we drafted. Our draft was absolutely not about depth. Armondo missed the mark this time.
Free agency was about depth and plugging holes ... but that's what it is supposed to be about. In that process we obtained starters too, but not stars. Starters like the re-signing of Stills and Branch, the acquisition of Timmons and Allen/McDonald at Safety (one will start, and if we have any injuries, both will start at some point). I'd say we brought in Larsen as depth, but only because we drafted Asiata to start. See, there are only so many starting spots ... and we filled them .. with starters.
It must be hard to come up with coherent themes to write pieces every day. I admit this is probably quite challenging. But they can't all be gems. This article is not Armondo's best.
