The key to the success of this defense is it's positional flexibility and depth. Those are critical factors in this age of injuries and multiple offenses.
Some comments on the comments
Last year's defense lost 2 important pieces in Jones and Hicks. Hicks to a lesser degree in that IIRC, he only played in around 30% of the defensive snaps. Jones on the other hand was a major defensive snap eater as well as an excellent player. However, I think we don't really lose much in talent with him being replace by Sheard, but it certainly will bring up question about depth at the position.
The Solidest Defense In Many Years
I do NOT think that it is too early to look to the roster on defense. The offense is another story entirely.
DEFENSE (24-25, including STers)
DE (5) - Ninkovich, Sheard, Long, Flowers, Grissom
DT (5) - Brown, Branch, Knighton, Valentine, (Kuhn) (we might keep only four)
LB (4-5) - Collins, Hightower, McClellan, Freeney/Johnson/Humber, KGH
CB (5) - Butler, Jones, Ryan, Coleman, Roberts/Biggers/Jones
S (5) - McCourty, Chung, Harmon, Richards, King
PUP (or another list) - Ebner
PS - LB Roberts
THE LAST THREE ROSTER SPOTS ON DEFENSE - BATTLES AND ISSUES
1) Kuhn will make the 53 if Valentine isn't ready for prime time. Given the likely PUP's and possible suspension on offense, the 25th defensive roster spot is likely to be available to start the season.
2) I give KGH the edge at LB, because of his special team play. Clearly he could be beaten out by one of the others. Freeney, Humber and Rufus Johnson seem to be competing for the 5th LB spot. Johnson would also make it with an injury at DE.
3) Butler and Ryan played well last year, as did Coleman in the slot. We've added Jones. Roberts may be the 1st to come back from a rookie season on IR, or not. UDFA Jones and Biggers are there competing for his roster spot.
The key to the success of this defense is it's positional flexibility and depth. Those are critical factors in this age of injuries and multiple offenses.
Some comments on the comments
1. Last year's defense lost 2 important pieces in Jones and Hicks. Hicks to a lesser degree in that IIRC, he only played in around 30% of the defensive snaps. Jones on the other hand was a major defensive snap eater as well as an excellent player. However, I think we don't really lose much in talent with him being replace by Sheard, but it certainly will bring up questions about depth at the position. That being said, it is reasonable to think that either Long or Flowers should be able give a us a true 3 man rotation at the position. That's if only one of the two pans out.
2. Same goes for the DT position. Hicks is a loss, but Brown, who was good last season, should be better, this year. By the end of the season one could easily make the argument that Brown was the 2nd or 3rd best rookie defensive lineman in the league. He might just end up being one of BB's best draft picks before he is done. I think his potential impact is being overlooked by just about everyone at this point. Knighton and Branch give us an excellent 3 man rotation that should be better against the run than we were last season, even though we lose the explosive play of Easley and Hicks from the position
3. Some one earlier this month someone here made a terrifically insightful observation about the effect of the new rules making the chop block illegal in every instance, thus make elite bull rushers like Branch and Knighton even more valuable. It bears repeating in this thread and keep this in mind when you start to worry about push up the middle.
4. We should remember that our base defense is a 4-2-5, so that should limit fears about LB depth. It helps that you are starting with the best LB duo in the league, who are both in their contract year. So that might mean thousands of questions about 2017 and beyond, but is great news if all you are thinking about right now is 2016. Finding that 3rd rotational guy should be the goal of this TC. McClelan and Freeney are a good start, but no matter how you parse it, it will be a question going into the season.
5. Last season a majority of the defensive questions we had about this team were about the secondary, especially the CB's. Well fortunately almost all of those questions came back positive. We now know that in Butler we have a top 10 CB and arguably better than that. We know that Ryan is a lot better than being a JAG, and a solid #2 guy who was an improvement over the guy he replaced. Dependable is the word I think best describes him. So we not only have very good pair of starters at CB, we have a much better talent pool to develop the 3 guys who will play behind them, then he had going into last season. The same can be said for the safety position. Talented, deep, and for the most part experienced.
The depth and talent we have there will allow Patricia to be as flexible and multiple on defense as the OC is on offense. And it all starts with the DB depth and skill of the LB's.
Now granted I can't go without addressing the elephant in the room regarding the CB's and that is their uniform lack of size. It bothers the hell out of me, but evidently BB is OK with it, so I'm not going to agonize of it.
Overall, like every team in the off season, there are a lot of questions that will have to answered over the course of the 2016 season, but in my mind there are a lot fewer than last year's off season. So I'm comfortable to agree with MG that this looks like this defense has the "potential" to be one of the best in the BB era.
