If Nick Dehdashtian is back healthy it will improve that DL significantly. He was a leader in sacks and TFL in his junior season in '17.
Salu was on the team but was a red-shirt last season. If he is ahead of Farrel Hester (who played a lot last season) then he is a player. He's also ahead of converted DB Demetrious Gibbs and RS F Malcolm Johnson, so that LB group is deep and talented.
How does the addition of Florida grad transfer Rayshad Jackson change what you would expect to be the rotation? Does he have the size to play DE or just ILB?
Salu appears to be ahead of Hester, but Hester could see time in certain packages.
Salu and Hester are pretty similar players to be honest.
Gibbs move to ILB seemed odd, but I think he will play in sub packages. He's easy added 15-20 pounds.
Instead of bringing in another Safety or CB vs 3WR sets Gibbs with his length comes in at ILB and you can stay more in your 'base defense'.
Jackson has size to play DE but whether it suits his skill set, I don't know. Nothing in his career suggests he is much of a pass rusher. More of an ILB.
That would most likely impact Salu and Hester more than Viramontes. (I would guess).
Dehdashtian will provide flexibility. But in 2017 Hughes lead the DL with 7 TFL and was tied with Dedashtian in sacks with 2. (Site I looked at had those numbers).
Dehdashtian has definitely flashed. No doubt. But does his return cancel the loss of Mann who had better numbers last year? I don't know. I hope so..
Malcolm Johnson has shifted to DE.
In the new scheme they were running a lot of 2 DL with hands in the dirt and one standing up. Behind them were 4 LBs. Johnson was playing in the standup DE spot. He was behind Neal.
One good thing is it may be difficult to determine where pressure is coming from and for QBs to read coverages. Similar to Rocky Long and his 3-3-5 defenseat SDSU.
I don't mean to come off negative.
But last years defense was so bad, I'm not sure enough was done to fix it..
