No doubt but the counterargument is that Mills was banged up at times and missed our two biggest wins of the season.
Cross missed multiple games and was probably operating at 80% in the playoffs, thus greatly reduced.
Ben Mo was absent from game 5 onward.
So in many respects, the defense has already shown what it can do without those guys at various stretches. We need more guys to emerge on the DL because Cross/Mills absence was very noticeable. But so was the loss of all of our edge rushers.
Returning are Traore, Logan Thomas, Botelho, Bryce Young, potentially Onye, Dixon, Burnham, Hinish, Mullins (my personal dark horse), Rubio and we're bringing in some high potential disruptors in Dawson and Hughes. I left Mukham, Houstan and Vernon off until I hear a single good report on their progress. Tuihalamaka was left off because I think he's far less effective against the best teams and I think he'll again find himself relegated to the 3rd or 4th best option at DE. That's 12 guys to produce 8 serious rotation pieces. I really like those odds.
Kizer was truly an excellent LB for us but that room is loaded and we get a further developed KVA, Sneed, Bowen, Ausberry, Faraimo and a lot of guys who'd like to prove themselves.
And our secondary has a ton of experience, even if a bit thin. And the transfer nickel (D. Smith) looks to be a great addition. Watts' departure is the only unanswered question in my mind, still a lot of options but he was so damn good the last two seasons. Shuler needs to elevate his game to fill some of that massive void.
