just a breakdown of defense

i thought i'd give a breakdown our defense with the addition of seymour, plus the other positions. 

last year our DL consisted of scott, warren, kelly, and burgess. 

burgess is gone, but is replaced by another successful pass rusher in greg ellis, who has a good-great pre-season in my book.

then we added seymour.  with the addition of seymour, we should have an easier time in stopping the run. i don't think he'll turn this defense into a top 10 team in stopping the run(maybe he will, but i doubt it), but we'll certainly not get run all over the place. i think they'll put him in the middle with kelly, to provide morrison more freedom in pursuing the runner when there's not a blocker in his face.

so i don't know if scott or someone else will start at the end opposite of ellis, but whoever does, he has to to able to stand up to the right tackle so howard and morrison can make a play before the RB gains 5 yards. which begs the question that would it be better if seymour started opposite of ellis? i don't know, but it should work anyways.

for the LB's we got howard, morrison, and...... whoever wins this position.  howard and morrison are, in my opinion, no doubt talented LB's who have speed and great coverage ability, as well as good-great run defending. now the question is, who would start at the left side?

brown and alston are the two likely candidates, and i heard they both done well this preseason. but i don't think alston or brown will be able to defend that side as well as howard(although i don't expect them to play at his level), but maybe we'll see how one of them does does at the position this season. I've also been hearing that we should pick up derrick brooks. if we do, that would be awesome, but i'm not sure how he'll do at that side because he played middle and right outside LB, and i'd be like vrabel or howard playing at opposite ends(although i think even howard can make the transition pretty easiliy). but brooks will be a great veteran to pick up.

for the cornerbacks, we got asomugha(hope i spelled it correctly), johnson, routte, and bowie(just naming 4 for now). i don''t need to talk about asomugha's awesomeness, for he is god at corner. so on to johnson. johnson has speed, lots of it. his coverage is great, but not THAT great. he still needs some work, but i will say that he's like ellis hobbs opposite of samuel, but maybe better. i'm not too knowledgeable about him. i know routte is inconsistent, so to me the best thing is to use him as a nickle, or not use him that much at all. he is the reason why we must grab another corner that is consistent and more reliable. i haven't looked at any corners on the market at the moment, so feel free to fill me in. i don't know anything about bowie, so i'll take your guys word for it that he is worse than routte(if not then correct me). 

and lastly, safety positions. tyvon branch is a definite starter. all i know is that he needs a bit more work in coverage and reading plays. he is more of a big hitter, but can't always rely on the big hit. michael huff is a coverage type safety(i think). he needs to turn into that 1st round draft pick that we've been hoping for. if he continues to be inconsistent, then we'll be seeing more of our rookie mike mitchell. mike is a BIG hitter, but needs to be a smart hitter, and cannot throw slam his own body against a big TE or a very elusive RB or WR, because chances are it might not happen. i hear his coverage is good-great, but i haven't seen him perform with the raiders yet in pre-season, so i don't much at the moment.

seymour and the new DL should help the secondary more, and the LB's as well.

That's the end, and i'll probably write an offensive version tomorrow. If i made any mistakes about a players ability or whatnot, feel free to tell me. Im open to gain more knowledge, and im pretty sure you guys are more knowledgeable about the raiders than i am. :)