I understand and agree with many of the excellent posts on the new defense. My concern is the ability of our Cover 2 trained secondary to handle the rest of the field. We are still looking at two 2nd round picks (Flowers and Pollard), a 5th rounder (Carr) and a 7th rounder (Paige) to take care of the rest of the field. I don’t think that Flowers or Carr can ever even approach Ashante Samuel nor do we have a Rodney Harrison in the secondary.
We might improve against the run provided Tank along with Edwards can handle over center but with Hali and Vrabel in the 3-4, I don’t think we can generate enough of a pass rush to protect our corners. I think that is why we are gambling on Washington. Flowers and Carr were somewhat protected in a Cover two; they won’t be now. BTW I don’t believe in the Cover Two, at least the bend don’t break version practiced by Herm, but I feel the transition for the corners could be as or even more challenging than that for Dorsey or DJ. I don’t have much faith in Hali or McBride in either a 3-4 or a 4-3 under so I will leave them out of the equation.
Pollard and Paige can hit when they connect but I don’t think either has the speed to contain big plays if we allow a five step quarterback drop. I don't think we would have recieved a 4th round pick for either or Pioli would have pulled the trigger. The jury is still out on Morgan. Carl drafted players exclusively for the 4-3 and Herm's Cover Two. Any good NFL quarterback can pick apart a mediocre secondary absent a furious pash ruch. I am very surprised that we have not spent some free agent bucks on a veteran safety like a Rod Woodson of prior years or at least a cover corner.
I see this years version of the defense giving up 21 to 28 a game and I don’t feel that we have the wide receivers, offensive line, tight end or a pass catching running back to score that many points. I hope for the best and am glad about the new regime but it will take time.