I say another 2 offseasons simply because of Whiz's penchant for slowly bringing along rookies. We're going to be drafting defense pretty heavily I presume, and it's going to take a while for every one of them to contribute on a consistent basis. We will probably add a couple vets through FA to be stop gaps, but I'm more looking for, in my assumption that it will take 2 offseasons, a group of young defenders that will make up our defensive core for years to come.
Right now there are some pretty hefty needs on defense. Whiz has expressed he is pretty pleased with the situation at OLB, however, we don't have anyone proven outside of Haggans. We have serious need at both ILB positions, assuming Dansby leaves which is pretty much a given. Hayes has back problems. Back problems don't go away most of the time.
We are in bad need of a NT. Watson has been inconsistent, Branch seems better suited for DE, and Robinson is old and not a true NT. If Rolles leaves, creates yet another position of need that is vital. It's going to be real hard to fill all these positions of need in just one offseason unless players on our current roster really step up i.e. Rashad Johnson, Ali Highsmith (doubt it), Reggie Walker, Baggs, Washington, Brown and Davis. The chances of all of them having a monumental improvement in one offseason is pretty slim.
I think management had done a good job of acquiring some talent needed for the 3-4, but their foresight lacked in seeing a situation like we are in now where we may be losing 3 quality guys and having one more banged up in Hayes who may not perform at his usual level.
I remember back to the 2008 season, where everybody was saying, 'Watson finally gets it, now if Branch can just do the same'. Unfortunately, Watson blew his knee-cap out the first day of practice on the treadmill. Nothing but a freak accident. Unfortunately Branch did not pan out at the nose.
From what the F.O. and coaching staff seems prepared to do this off-season, I have to beilieve that Watson is back to full strength, and is going to be our 2-down NT. If worse comes to worse, they can bring Robinson back for one more year to play on passing downs, until they get a draftee rookie ready to play the nose.
My guess is that they will look very hard at Darren Sharper in FA to provide insurance against losing Rolle. They may even try to bring in Larry Foote in the middle to take Dansby's slot to begin the year.
From there, they go to the draft, looking to pick up a quality ILB, NT, FS, CB, then maybe an OT, TE, QB. They might be able to trade Boldin, but if so, I would think that Philly and McNabb would be their 1st choice for obvious reasons. That could create competition at QB that Whiz likes so much, and give us solid back-up for this year. That would also make the contract that Q wants more attractive to Philly as they would be losing McNabbs.
Barring that, I would look for them to try to get additional Pick(s) for him in the draft, which could be used to add another ILB, or OLB, or CB, depending on where they feel the greatest need is. (At least for this year, I believe they will be forced to draft to fill need), as they have let too many holes develop, especially on the defensive side of the ball.
No matter which route they choose, they have to change their defensive philosophy, and be able to play tighter coverage at some point in games. (I figure that is why they hired Donnie Henderson). They will also have to change the manner in which they have been structuring contracts, so that we don't get caught again like we did this off-season with so many critical players moving at one time. At least this off-season, (provided they can get contract creative), there are a lot more FA's available than normal, even though not all are UFA's. It remains to be seen how many holes they can fill out of the lower ranked free agents in this year's offerings.
