Correct. And they also finally spent money on free agency. All that makes a difference.
He wasn't coaching THIS GB team.
Yea, they spent alot of resources on defense that didn't come to fruition until McCarthy was gone.
They spent a bunch of FA money the first offseason after McCarthy left in 2019 signing Za'Darius Smith, Preston Smith and Adrian Amos. They also had two firsts in 2019 thanks to trade downs from the previous year and took Gary and Savage, so that's 5 guys all on defense acquired with premium resources the first offseason after McCarthy left.
They also took Jaire Alexander with their 1 in 2018 and while good as a rookie he didn't really become an elite, All-Pro type player until 2019-2020.
So they basically built out most of the core of their defense the first offseason McCarthy left. We actually have the resources to do something similar this offseason, it's just a matter of whether or not the front office is willing to go after a legitimate starter in their prime in FA.