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I wonder how time will treat our current defense.
I think Poe and Houston are the premier players at their respective positions in the NFL and the only thing between them and the HOF is time. It's a shame cancer hit Berry, or the argument could be made that we have 3 of the leagues premier players on the defense.
Maybe Bailey grows into that kind of praise as well...he has made big leaps the last 2 years and is extremely hard to block with 1 man. He has the physical tools, for sure...and his improvement shows he has the work ethic, too.
Derrick Johnson is probably in the conversation for the best ILB in the NFL (prior to injury)..hopefully he can return and give us 2 years of solid play while grooming his replacement to be as outstanding as he was/is.
I know I'm probably alone on this one, but I think that if Dee Ford can stay healthy, he will be a tier 1 pass rusher...but needs to learn a lot to be a full time defender that isn't a liability. If he can learn some things from Hali and Houston, he has a chance to be an amazing player.
Hali has been one of the league leaders over the last 5 years in combined sacks, hurries and pressures. He has also grown from a "pass rusher only" to being an outstanding all around defender...though his career is obviously winding down...but he has the attitude at this point that he wants to teach the young guys (namely Dee Ford) to be better than him once they take over and that should keep him fresh going into the twilight of his nfl career.
Is it possible that over the next 5 years, this current defense adds a couple more pieces and becomes an all time great defensive unit?
I guess time will tell, but I lean towards yes.
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