Ramfan128":fr1cn38o said:
Great move for the Niners though, and they'll have their pick of any pass rusher in the draft. That defense should be better - although I'm not sure about the secondary.
Yeah, the secondary is the big issue.
Let's PRETEND that Ford can replicate his production from last year and get 13 sacks again.
Then let's PRETEND that the rookie Edge they take at #2 is as advertised and can get 10 sacks.
Then let's PRETEND that Buckner levels up again and can go from 12 to 15 sacks.
If ALL OF THOSE things happen, the 9ers this year have the Chiefs pass rush from last year (those were the sack totals for Ford, Houston, and Jones last year), and the Chiefs pass defense from last year really wasn't very good at all.
I love the Verrett signing, but it's a total flyer that likely won't lead to anything.
Everyone talks about how pass rush is the most important part of a defense, but that's not really true anymore.
It used to be that if you had pass rush they could get to the QB before routes developed and eliminate the play. But with the arrival of college passing concepts everyone runs quick game now, and the relationship has flipped: you need really talented people in the secondary for even really good pass rushers to have time to get to the QB at all.
This is good for football overall (defense is much more of a team sport than it has probably ever been before), but good pass rush == good pass defense doesn't really apply nearly as much as even it did five years ago.