how did they take a step back? they where in the SB and 1 play away from repeating lol. they actualy gotten better on offensive with Jimmy graham, not to mention that rookie WR lockette. jackson provides experience behind lynch. very important cause christine and turbin where pretty underwhelming and not very reliable. only question on offense is the inexperience of the o-line but wilson is used to making plays behind a bad o-line anyways and has more weapons lol. i think cary willliams is a great fit for that defense. he can actually play press and be physical knowing thomas got coverage over the top. also with avril and bennett you dont have to cover long. they will mis kam with his holdout but he will be back at some point cause he got 0 leverage since he has 3 years remaining lol. the thing you might be overlooking is that the guys they signed long term are very young which in our case where old guys. they have a solid foundation and just need to keep finding pieces to plug in. lynch is 29 and he is the oldest guy who is in their long term plans lol. they only have 7 players over 30 . 2 are the back up QBs. 1 is a P cary Williams and blackmon are 31. kevin Williams is the oldest guy at 35. mebane and bennet are 30 , their K is 30 and everyone else is younger. they have a very young team which is very unlike our SB teams..