They speak to an internal confidence that their offense will be putting up points. Starting with the DL they let two 1T run stuffers go and drafted guys who are good penetrators on the interior. Snead alluded to that being intentional as well, that they want interior rush threat next to AD on pass downs. They loaded up multiple rush threat additions for edge in the draft. The defensive front at large is going to have a ton of new faces and most of them specialize in rushing the passer in terms of their strengths in their game.
I'm worried about the run defense. But the game has changed quite a bit and stopping the pass is how you win games in today's NFL. So could be that I'm just an old barnacle when it comes to prioritizing stuffing the run.
Thing is I think the teams that are loading up run games, like Seattle and SF in our division, will be properly zigging when the league is zagging. SF after all has been in the mix deep into the playoffs two years running on the heels of a strong defense and run game. And of course if Seattle gets their ground game going with Charbs in that backfield they're gonna be tough, though they need to get better on defense if they want to beat teams on the ground.
That's the drawback of course to the run game. You need strong defense paired with it. But either way it's going to be an instructive season in this division I think. My expectation is the run game deficiencies place us squarely at third in division but never know maybe McVay proves that line of thought wrong yet again. So I am hopeful as always.
