I was so impressed with this young secondary flying around. You catch the ball, you don't get hit by one, you get two. Shades of "flying ninja turtles" come to mind-----
Good comparison. I think "Flying Mutant Ninja Turtles" is a great nickname for this defense.
Looking at our secondary, what I see right now is this:
Safeties
Meriweather and Sanders were essentially the starters most of last year, but Rodney Harrison was still the leader of the secondary. This year, Meriweather has clearly taken over and stepped out of Rodney's shadow, and is playing at an all pro level, and should still get better. With the emergence of McGowan and the drafting of Chung I think there is a good chance that by next year Sanders is the #4 safety on the depth chart. To have a starting-caliber guy (not a stud, but a decent starter) as #4 is tremendous positional depth. And the combination of skills those 4 guys bring allows us to run a lot of different packages. McGowan is signed through 2010, and I hope he will get an extension this offseason. All 4 are currently under 26, so this unit could be set for a very long time, and should only get better.
Cornerback
Doesn't it seem like ages ago that we all suffered through Deltha O'Neal at CB? What a difference a year makes. Bodden is a really fine CB, and Butler looks like he could be a young Darrelle Revis in the making. Wilhite and Wheatley are really not bad at all, and are great as the nickel and dime - Wheatley really compares favorably to Ellis Hobbs, who was our #1 CB last year. And all 4 are currently under 28 (3/4 under 25). Add in senior veteran Shawn Springs, still springy at 33 and able to play both CB and safety and to cover the big physical receivers, and we have tremendous depth and talent at the CB position, the best we've had since 2003 - not yet as good at the top, but deeper.
The Bottom Line
If we lock up Bodden and McGowan long term, this unit could be the best and deepest secondary in the NFL in a year or so. What an amazing turnaround.
