Re: How much have we improved player personnel?
I think the D all around got better this offseason but I'll start with Run Defense:
In another thread there was a discussion about the reason for the poor run defense.
I thought it was less of DL issue then a LB/S issue.
Watching the games that was my thought and imo its supported by 3rd party data (football outsiders, PFF).
Baker, Ricky Jean, Paea were/are historically solid against the run.
From watching the games and this is supported again by PFF; all the LBs not named Foster were poor against the run.
Same goes for the S spot, would you have guessed that Hall was the best S against the run and he was learning the S position.
Stephen Daniels was a player I liked during the draft process. You can find 2 of his games on nflbreakdown; and from watching the games I would be hard pressed to say that Reggie Ragland is better then him, they may as well be twins.
IF Daniels plays in the base D the run defense is gonna improve.
The FA S, David Bruton I haven't watched him extensively but he's known for physical play as a core special teamer and he graded well against the run 75 which would make him by far the highest graded run stopping S on the roster.
Su'a Craven fits the mold of a solid run stopper, the dude played LB in college and imho will make even more of an impact in the NFL with the move to SS.
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