Good thoughts from Fox on DC.

From the Panther.com page.

"Our system will not change," Fox said. "We will explore a number of avenues before naming a new defensive coordinator, but the players will not be faced with something different. We have a good group of young players and a very capable staff on defense and will continue to be strong on that side of the ball."

Good, glad to hear... with that being said, I think more now that our DC will be a promoted guy either from this team or another, but not a guy that has been DC before. Least not one that coached in the NFL last year.

 

That's encouraging. I really hope the new DC comes from the inside. I imagine that there are a lot of assistants at the Senior Bowl that would like to be a position coach for this defence.

 

MILLS!!!

 

What the Hell is he suppose to say?

We lost our DC, now we are going to suck? It is a huge blow. Worst defense to 2nd best is a huge accomplishment. I think we will have trouble duplicating that without Del Rio.

 

Our D staff saw how Del Rio got what he got out of these guys, if we promote from w/ in we should be able to maintain that attitude and limit any slip in production.

 

hell they're already number 2... how much farther do we have to get... they now know what they can do... Del Rio showed them they could now all they need is someone to keep them from getting slack

 

They were the worst defense last year and 2nd this year. Del Rio was the DC this year. I think he had a little to do with the jump from worst to 2nd best. The players responded to Del Rio's energy and passion. You can't just plug in someone that has watched Del Rio in and regain that.

 

I have to agree 100% with baby bird-flipper on this one. So much for riding our defense into the playoffs next year. To help offset the crater that Del Rio leaves we should patch the two leaky positions on an otherwise solid defense. Since there is so much talent at DT in the ’03 class (and so little at OT by comparison) we may as well take one of the top 3 DTs at #9. That pick would complete a championship level D-line.

In the 2nd we could take any one of several DBs (another area of strong depth in the ’03 draft) that should still be available and represent an upgrade in talent for our secondary. We would at least be getting decent value with our top two picks instead of grasping at straws like Gross and Kingsbury in the hopes that they will eventually develop into key offensive elements. Plugging our two remaining D holes will make Del Rios replacement look a little better.

As far as our O goes we will have to lean on off-season vet acquisitions and wait for next years draft. In free agency we can then pull out the stops to acquire 3 or 4 offensive elite players like Davis and Petitgout who can IMMEDIATELY improve our offense and we are back in the hunt. There is enough depth this year to upgrade our WR position in the 3rd (to replace Byrd or Hankton).

Next year we draft guys like QB Manning WR Woods or OT Carey to elevate the future of our offense when there will be much more offensive talent available. We will only be trying to squeeze water from a rock by “need-picking” with a mediocre 1st round prospect like Gross and a mid round talent like Kingsbury (or Boller or any QB that won’t be picked before us) in the 2nd.

 

Granted, it's not that easy. But it seems to me to make more sense than to bring in somebody who hasn't watched it and who would have to learn the system. I think we have three position coaches on defence who seemed to get the most out of their personnel and who might be good coaches in their own right.