I’m with you both on that. To slow a great passing attack, def need to cause havoc with your front 4. I hope that Shelton is able to do that this upcoming season along side Dexter. Slaton was solid this year but I don’t feel anyone on the DL this past season commanded a double team. While they were solid at getting to the QB with just four, seemed like there wasn’t that extra ump with rushing the passer from Cox and Carter that we got previously from Greenard and Polite. Felt Bogle was the best at purely rushing the passer On the flipside, it probably has more to do with teams knowing they could bail themselves out against our pass rush by just targeting Marco and Stiner.
One thing I noticed in a difference with that extra ump from Greenard over Cox is that they seemed to get into a similar position to be able to make a play, but Greenard seemed to have better timing or recognition of the passing motion or a better reach than Cox that Greenard could affect the QB's arm, sometimes resulting in a turnover and sometimes just affecting the throw or stopping the throw. My biggest takeaway from losing Zu is defending the run, besides consistently holding the edge (his last year) he was the best I have seen at crashing in on the running back. So many running plays he had arms wrapped on the RB before the RB hit the hole.
What I think that I think is if we had 2 animals at tackle that carter and Cox would be absolute game wreckers. I’m fairly sure that’s what I believe
I think Carter, Cox, Slaton, and Campbell were all about on the same level. Nice players, but not difference makers.