I agree. Wade has the ability to shut down the best. Where he failed this past season was leaving gaping holes in the middle of the defense against some poor teams. That seems fixable.
He wants to stay. If there was a slam dunk candidate to plug in and turn the defense into the 85 Bears then do it. That guy’s not on the map if he’s even out there.
So, you’ll have a learning/adjustment curve that only puts the defense at square one. Keep Wade. Find an heir. If Joe Barry was that heir, he’d be filling that role already.