Why the 2007 defense will be in the top 10

I've been reading alot of threads on here lately talking about our defense and how bad it was and it's gonna be. I know alot of you have been sipping the bitter "skins suck" cool aid that has been leaked into the Washington Media for the past few years sense Snyder got here... but believe me, it's not true. I see the defense that they have put together this year and you know what, I like it!

This year the skins listened to the advice of the fans that have been screaming the same thing over past ten years, they did not give away draft picks or chase the big name free agents. They used sound scouting and nabbed some gems in the draft, free agent market and undrafted market that WILL help this defense for many years to come.

H.B. Blades will be a star for the skins in 3 years. He will learn the system from fletcher and become a fletcher/ Zach Thomas type player for the skins. Justin Hickman can become the pass rusher that we have been looking for, although undersized at 6'1 254 he has a high motor and had major results in college. Byron Westbrook has the speed 4.35 and aggressiveness to become a good young player for us. Landry combined with Taylor has the potiential to be the best safety tandem in the league.

In the free agent market we picked a solid back ups in Macklin and Stoutmire. A leader and playcaller in Fletcher, and the Swagger/ attitude for our D in "the mouth of the south", Smoot. So What, we don't have the biggest baddest physical specimen on our team, but if the coaches motivate these guys properly we'll be a top defense in 07. Rocky wil be better in 07 and so will Rogers. Hopefully we keep Springs for one more year and he is healthy for the 07.

The Defensive line will be fine because of the better secondary, that can actually COVER, we will be able to send more blitzes from all over. Golston and Montgomery should be expected to do good things now know what to expect and most like have put on some more muscle in the off season.

In Conclusion Remember the saying "its not the size of the dog in the fight, but the fight in the dog"? Don't underestimate the heart this Defense in 07 The Skins will be a force to reckon with.

Man, I hope you are right!

I believe you're correct on your points. If we stay healthy, we'll have one of the better Ds in the league, just like we did a few years ago. Even if we lose some players to injuries, we won't repeat last year because we have the depth that can keep us going. Last year, our lack of depth, especially in the secondary KILLED us.

The key will be how much Golsten and Montgomery develop. We need those guys to step it up a couple of notches...couple that w/ Daniels and Carter at DE, we have a semi-decent pass rush.

If we can stay injury free, I don't see why our D can be top 10, if not, top 15. I think Top 15 is a little more realistic.

Not to burst your bubble, but you're putting a WHOLE lot on the pure measurables of our undrafted picks.

Top 10 in terms of what? Points allowed? Yards? Turnovers?

This much I DO know and it makes me take heart in at least a ten to twelve ranking raise defensively:

Warrick Holdman is gone. I don't care how bad Rocky or Lemar are, there is NO WAY that either of them could play worse than Holdman.

Marshall out of the middle. While I think he's a great backer, he should thrive more in his natural spot at weakside.

London Fletcher IN the middle. Has he lost a step? That's tough to say, but you couldn't have picked a better person to fill the middle.

Landry, Smoot, Pierson, Macklin all provide us QUALITY depth. Kenny Wright, Adam Archuleta and Mike Rumph were NOT quality depth. How many times were you beating your head against a wall watching AA or Kenny Wright get torched?

Those facts alone are enough to make me feel better about our defense.

Westbrook has 4.3 speed? I scowerd the internet and I found 4.6 speed. Please forward source.

This much I DO know and it makes me take heart in at least a ten to twelve ranking raise defensively:

Warrick Holdman is gone. I don't care how bad Rocky or Lemar are, there is NO WAY that either of them could play worse than Holdman.

Marshall out of the middle. While I think he's a great backer, he should thrive more in his natural spot at weakside.

London Fletcher IN the middle. Has he lost a step? That's tough to say, but you couldn't have picked a better person to fill the middle.

Landry, Smoot, Pierson, Macklin all provide us QUALITY depth. Kenny Wright, Adam Archuleta and Mike Rumph were NOT quality depth. How many times were you beating your head against a wall watching AA or Kenny Wright get torched?

Those facts alone are enough to make me feel better about our defense.

exactly my thoughts...good points dude

Westbrook has 4.3 speed? I scowerd the internet and I found 4.6 speed. Please forward source.

I didn't find 4.3 anywhere. I found quite a few places stating he had 4.4. Nothing to be ashamed of.