A couple of decent draftees last year does not erase the fact that this defense has one star player, and that is Sean Lee.
I think Collins looks like a future star, 5 sacks as a rookie DT is extremely impressive.
The point about our defense not having enough talent remains though, but I'd still mostly put it on taking outsized risks in the draft for no good reason.
Trade ups for Claiborne and Lawrence both cost us 3rd rounders, Gregory and Smith don't require any explanation, Bruce Carter and Lee were of course injury risks.
The only defensive players we've taken in the first 3 rounds since 2010 who haven't cost us a premium pick in a trade up or who haven't had some kind of serious injury/character risk have been Tyrone Crawford, J.J. Wilcox (who had like 2 years of experience as a safety in college), Byron Jones and Maliek Collins.
That's four players since 2010 who haven't required a significant trade up or who have came with a significant risk, and of those players I'd say Jones and Collins were hits, perhaps Crawford as well if you ignore the contract. Of course they hit on Lee but that's one risk that's panned out so far, and you have to take into consideration that Crawford was drafted to play a 3-4.
The point is that the talent evaluation isn't terrible, it's that they take unnecessary risks that don't pan out. If they just "play it down the middle" moving forward I think we should be fine.
