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In the latest edition of Pros and Cons we will break down the Buffalo Bills starting defense has they head into the 2008 season.

Pros:

The Buffalo Bills appear to be very stacked at the secondary position. The sure starter appears to be Terrence McGee with Will James, Leodis McKelvin, Reggie Corner, Ashton Youboty and Jabari Greer all fighting for the second starting spot.

The safety position also looks pretty stacked up with Donte Whitner starting at the strong safety spot and Ko Simpson and George Wilson battling it out for the starting free safety spot. Looking at the depth at these positions, Byron Scott and John “The Grass Hopper” Wendling appear to be solid reserves.

Looking at this defensive line Aaron Schobel appears to be entering the 2008 season in the best shape of his life and he is coming off another Pro Bowl season with an impressive five forced fumbles last season. Speaking of Pro Bowl, the Bills finally did something to fix there defensive tackle issues ever since letting Sam Adams and Pat Williams go by trading for former Pro Bowler Marcus Stroud. The other end position looks pretty solid as well with sic year veteran Chris Kelsay who is very solid with making the tackles and is looking to replicate his impressive 2006 season.

The linebacker core has gained a huge lift with the return of middle linebacker Paul Posluszny who missed 13 games last season with a broken forearm. Posluszny showed huge upside at Penn State with several 100 plus tackling seasons. The linebacking core also gained a big free agent in Kawika Mitchell who is coming off a Superbowl win vs. division rival: the Patriots. Mitchell brings experience and is coming off his best season with 87 tackles (45 solo).

When linebackers London Fletcher, Takeo Spikes and Jeff Posey all left this team, one player remained in stepped up as a leader and that was starting strong side linebacker Angelo Crowell. Crowell has posted 90-plus tackle seasons in each of the past three seasons (140 in 2007, 95 in 2006, and 125 in 2005) and has been very flexible changing positions. Crowell, played primarily at strong side linebacker, but has seen action on the weak side and in the middle over the past four seasons.

Cons:

The Bills defense do have a flaw at the defensive tackle position next to Marcus Stroud. The Bills have three players vying for the starting position and all three either don’t have starting experience or no success at the starting position and they are John McCargo, Kyle Williams and Spencer Johnson. Last years starter Kyle Williams is not a household name but is coming off his best season with a career high 81 tackles but definitely needs to improve his run defense and also needs to be more consistent shedding the tacklers. McCargo who was drafted in the first round in the 2006 draft has been riddled with a foot injury but has shown great upside last season playing in all 16 games posting a career-high 45 tackles and first career fumble recovery, forced a fumble and had 2.5 sacks. The huge downside on McCargo is the fact that he needs to be more aggressive in the trenches and needs to improve his awareness. On the same week the Bills traded for Marcus Stroud they quietly acquired in the off-season to improve the depth at the defensive tackle position. Like McCargo and Williams, Johnson also played in all 16 games last season for the Vikings playing behind Pro Bowlers Kevin and Pat Williams so that definitely is a plus. Johnson definitely has great field awareness but needs to improve his run stopping skills and also needs to work on his footwork.

Overall- For this team to only have one small hole on this defense, is a very good thing and I expect big things from this defense and do admit that Stroud will definitely make whoever starts next to him look good due to being doubled teamed most of the time.