You seem to be missing where half the defense, the better half at that, missed a lot of time, or were hampered by injuries. If all of our returning starters are healthy, plus Smith, and a 2nd round safety I think it's a good unit, that's pretty much middle of the road. Obviously if you lose half your defensive starters for long stretches it's not going to be great.
They're switching from the terrible scheme they ran last year, that will put guys like Okoye in better position to play to their strengths. Bush wants to have a fast attacking defense that makes big plays. They're not going to stuff the run, and there's nobody at 15 that's going to change that. I see signs that they will be an average defense without spending 8 draft picks on defense.
What do you think our offense would have looked like if Schaub, Johnson, Winston, Walter, Daniels and Slaton had missed, or been slowed for 6-10 games each last season? I'm guessing somewhere around 30.