Im sure it would help our team to get a guy like Vanden Bosch, but if you think its easy to just pick up a guy who can get you 12 sacks and 60 tackles a year, you should just go back to playing madden.
If you want a guy like that who is already proven, expect to pay record salaries. Nate Clements last year wasn't that good of a CB, but he scored the highest contract ever. Its all relative. The best DE available this year will get the highest contract ever given to a DE. If a guy like KVB was available, he'd be the best guy available. Therefore by your logic, if we want a guy like KVB, we are going to have to spend pretty much our entire free agent budget.
I think we finally have enough playmakers on our DL to fill the rest with role players. You don't need stars at every position to win. If you look at some of the top defensive teams in the league (Pittsburgh, Tampa, etc) you see that not ALL of them have a defensive line made up of superstars.
Williams is our 10+ sacks, 60 tackles guy.
Okoye should be good for 5-8 sacks and 40 takles a year
I think the problems we've had all year was injury. Weaver had that shoulder, TJ was out for a few games, Okoye hit the rookie wall. Add to that our secondary woes, and you have a tough job for our DL.
Its tough for DBs to get good coverage if the DL isn't providing pressure, but its even tougher for the DL to provide ANY pressure if the QB can pick apart the secondary with ease.
Smith said himself that his schemes were limited this year because every week he had to teach a new guy to be a starter.
I am of the belief that our defense will be MUCH improved with a little consistency. I'd love to pick up a guy who can give us a little extra pass rush every once in a while, but I definately don't think that should be our #1 priority.