Well we had one of the best secondaries in the league when Tashaun Gipson was still healthy, a middling to below average pass rush and the worst run defense in the league. I think we have the ability to be a top ten defense next year because we will have the right personnel and depth on our roster betweeen existing players, players returning from injury, our FA signings and who I think we'll end up drafting (barring injury). Also the defense really started going about a third of the way through the season when our guys got used to Pettine's attacking 3-4 (even while Hoyer and Co. fell apart and kept them on the field for the majority of the game as the season came to an end.)
My opinion here, but our secondary got better in free agency letting Buster "deep PI call" Skrine walk and signing an actual #2 corner back in Tramon Williams, meanwhile we have good developmental guys to plug into the nickel in Gilbert, Desir and K'Waun Williams when we are playing our base pass defense scheme. The kicker and whether or not we will have a truly elite secondary next season hinges on whether or not the three second year players can do what's asked of them in Pettine's system. Pettine specifically likes his players in similar position groups to be able to play every position on the field to mix up the looks you give the opposing offense. There will probably be times during these games where anyone of these guys will need to play CB #1. I trust in K'Waun after seeing him play consitenly well for and undrafted rookie the whole season, Desir had a very strong end of season especially during the Carolina game, and Gilbert while ultimately a disappointment showed a lot of promise during the Colts game and has been working out this offseason with Joe Haden in Florida. I believe this part of our defense has the potential to be elite with the players we have on our roster now.
After the way we were obliterated by every no name back and his brother last season, I don't see us walking away from the draft without a few run stoppers for our front seven especially a true NT possibly in the first round. In FA We signed a good veteran in Randy Starks to play 3-4 DE who apparently is a pretty good pass rushing lineman. We'll also be getting our depth back from our IR in Armonty Bryant, who was playing well before going down and Phil Taylor who is switching back to NT this season. When healthy Phil Taylor is an above average run defense unto himself. We have a solid ILB corp between Dansby, Roberston, and Kirksey. I see the run defense improving with the potential to be anywhere from average to above average depending on whether or not we draft some of the upper tier, ready to start defensive tackles and if Phil stays healthy (which is kind of a big if at this point).
The weak part of the defense will probably end up being the edge rush unless we make a best player available pick at #12 or #19 with one of the top guys. Undersized Mingo has his put up or shut up year coming up, he's shown plenty of flashes but hasn't quite gotten there yet with a consistent level of play. He's been hurt both seasons, a collapsed lung the first year and a dead arm the second. I'm not confident that he's not snake bitten because of his size. Our best edge rusher in Paul Kruger had 11 of our 31 sacks last season. We brought up an OLB named Scott Solomon from our practice squad who played out of his mind when he was given the opportunity to start, he had something like 2 sacks, 2 forced fumbles, one recovered on the twenty six snaps he played last season. Not really ready to hitch my star to a flash in the pan practice player but he is supposedly very intriguing to our coaching staff. I see this unit's ceiling as middle of the pack unless we draft the guy next month.
Will we be top 10? I think we have the potential to be, especially with our secondary, but it rests on a ton of hypotheticals. Who will we draft to stop the run or rush from the edge? Will our second year DBs step up? Can we stay relatively healthy (Phil Taylor especially)?