Actually these draft picks help our pass rush because they're formation changing picks. As many of us predicted, we're moving to the 34, which requires your NT and both DE's to occupy OL guys and free up the LB's to make plays. At the moment our LB's are Taylor, Porter, Torbor, Ayodele, Anderson, Moses and Crowder, and having fewer blockers on Taylor and Porter means we should still generate a good pass rush.
As far as our draftee DE's not being good pass rushers, it's all relative. Merling has very good lateral quickness and uses his length well. He will be a good pass rusher as a 34 DE, but that position doesn't do much pass rushing all in all. Langford has enough skills to play DE or eventually even NT, and he should be a good pocket-pusher that will help the pass rush.
Where you see the labels about these guys not being good pass rushers is when they're played at different positions. For instance, there are some people (not me) who believe Merling can play OLB. IMHO, that's where he becomes too slow or not instinctive enough or unable to get by blockers etc. to become an elite pass rushing OLB. For all of his physical gifts, many of us expected more from him in college. Sure, he platooned, had a sports hernia, etc., but the bottom line is that he played plenty of snaps healthy and didn't generate the results expected from his athleticism on a defense of that stature. He was a good collegian, but I don't think he can become a good NFL OLB. Others disagree.
Ditto for a 43 DE for both guys. In the 43 the DE's need to generate a lot of the pass rush, and in that formation both guys would be a bit suspect, particularly Langford who would likely play DT in a 43. But, playing them in a 34 they're not really asked to generate much of a pass rush, instead they're asked to occupy blockers so the OLB's can generate the pass rush. Luckily for us, we have 2 elite pass rushing OLB's in Taylor and Porter.
