[More Cowbell]

The players they lost in FA were not impact players. Besides...this defense was ranked almost at the bottom of the league, so what if they lost some? Why keep them? They weren't doing any good with them. Let's see how the draft goes then we can determin how much they have helped themselves in the offseason.

The players they lost may not have been impact players, but they weren't scrubs either, and the loss of good, solid performers will still hurt. You're right, they were one the worst defenses last year and they had a lot of improvements to make, but now they need to do even more to fix things. If the defense was terrible with Brian Simmons and Kaesviharn, it stands to reason that it is even worse without them.

This is not a case of addition by subtraction, like when you get rid of a knucklehead. Until the draft is finished, the defense is worse now than it was before free agency.