I'd certainly love to keep Richard but his impact is being way overblown. He's obviously improved the defense but I feel like he's getting way more credit than he deserves based on his Seattle pedigree and the fact that he's young and charismatic.
No, that's not it at all.
I'm not saying the guy is a defensive genius or is the next Bill Belichick, but I do think your underestimating his impact.
Have you forgotten the soft brand of defense we've been playing under Rod Marinelli all of these years? If Richard wasn't here we would still be rolling out all of those awful 3 man rushes and soft coverage schemes.
All that aggressiveness you are seeing out there is all because of Richard. If we lose him and don't replace him and choose to just give it all back to that old goof, you're going to see a significant difference in that unit next season and it will not be a good one.