[Bengal Cat]

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.

No doubt theres a lot of ifs. Will Thurman return? Will Deltha Oneal get back to form? Will J Joseph continue to mature? Will Dexter Jackson stay healthy? Will Sam Adams get into shape? Will the young players (Geathers and Peko) continue to come on? But my biggest quarrel with the defense was...somehow you have to find a way to stop the run and get pressure on the QB.