How bad is the condition of our defense ‘as-is’ ?
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I think it’s completely up in the air, once you get past Flowers. If new Okwara can get the pressure that some think he can, that’s gonna help. Flowers is great at setting the edge, and I don’t think he blew contain responsibility even once all season.
Okwara is a big question mark.
Hand is a big question mark?
New DT Shelton, was #3 ranked NT last year, so an upgrade if healthy.
The Penis dude? Question mark (rook)
Bryant - giant question mark.
We’re gonna need some stuff to be done by committee, IMO. Gonna need some luck with health. So hard to gage what we have, because they all got injured last year…then their backups got injured too. I feel like our only absolute proven commodity is Flowers. He’s gonna look even better, once he gets some help…and health.
That’s the DL
LBs
Daaaamn…Massive question marks all across the board, IMO.
Can Davis step up?
Reeves Maybin IMO was better than Jones, but didn’t get the reps
Ragland should be fine, if healthy
Feels to me, like the LBs are all over the place . That unit will need some cohesion, and will need some decent play from the DL to keep them semi-clean. Hard to say what to expect from them
LBs giant question mark.
Biggest factor in DBs may end up being the health of Trufant. If healthy, he should be a pretty solid (not as good as Slay) #1
Bear (Okudah) should be fine at 2
We have about 200 CBs and Ss on the roster, right now, so I’d like to think we could find some okay depth in there, but the truth is…If Trufant goes down, Okudah is depended upon as 1, then the dominoes could start to tumble.
I feel like our young and developing group of safeties is okay, not great. They should be fine.
All things considered, they should be much better than last year (not saying much, as they could have a #26 ranking and achieve that mark). I feel like last year was a bit flukie, because most of the injuries occurred across the DL. We had backups to backups out there. many games, Flowers was literally the only real starter.
Just on health alone, I’m hoping we can sneak up. I feel like their ceiling is maybe a 16-17 ranking, with a floor i’d rather not talk about.
Being the optimist, I’m gonna guess around a number 20 ranking on D, that will get a lot of help from a very versatile and electric Offense. Our O may make our D look better than they really are. Hoping our DC can make them look better than they actually are as well. I have no idea what to expect from the new DC. Literally can’t remember the dude’s name, right now.
Sure would be handy if I was smarter 
While Hand’s health is a big question mark he’s a freaking war daddy if healthy. Both he and Flowers are really, really good players. Not quite stars but just a small notch down. But can Hand stay healthy?
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Also, I’m not sure if we’re considering J. Okwara a DL but he’s going to prove to be a terrific addition IMO.
Word! I probably like Flowers better than you (and most others in here), but I agree with you. If Hand can return to form, he will need to be accounted for. That makes Flowers look better too.
Hope you’re right, my brother. His college reels look reeeeeeel niiiice. Hope that translates to NFL. He looks very aggressive, smart, and athletic. I rarely buy into rookie hype. I didn’t even buy into hype on Such or Barry. LOL.
Surprisingly, I really have faith that Swift’s game is going to translate really nicely. SO excited about him.
Julian is probably going to get his ass whooped in run game early on. Best case probably an outside leverage funnel it back inside type rather than someone who can hold a firm edge. But I can’t remember the last time we’ve had that much twitchiness coming off the edge. Cliff Avril I guess. Avril may have been even faster but I think Okwara is significantly more bendy.
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I’ll address the title of the thread “List our best defensive linemen…”
Flowers is an easy pick as our #1 DL and is easily a starter on any club.
Hand is a really good defender in this style of defense but he needs to stay healthy!
Shelton is solid rotational interior defender.
So, 3 good players with 1 of them being oft-injured.
Behind them we have a rookie (Penisini), a career backup (Williams), a late-round prospect in Strong Jr and a largely ineffective Romeo Okwara.
So, we have starters where starters should be and backups where backups should be. If we suffer even 1 injury, we’re wrecked.
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Dude, my kid frequents this board
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Got a pretty good laugh out of that, man. I’m having trouble letting go of that name 
Especially bc his first name is John. I have the perfect nickname for him.
The Urinal
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Promising news about Romeo Okwara.
He is doing better here than he WAS on NYG.
‘’’’’'pDET: 29 G 15 starts , 1pass D , 2 ff , 9 sacks, 67 comb tkl , 42 solo , 25 ass , 9 TFL
NY: 22 G 4 starts , 2pass D , 0 ff , 1 sack , 28 comb tkl , 13 solo , 15 asst 2 TFL
DET: 24 QB hit , AV 9 .
NY: 7 QB hit , AV 3
“Pro Football Reference” stats.