In 2022 after Cole Holcomb got injured we seemed to largely play with just Jamin Davis at LB as he was our only starter quality player at the position, and elected to have an extra D-Linemen to help hold up blockers or have an extra DB to help with coverage

Davis is a rangy LB who can cover side line to sideline, we signed Cody Barton who offers the same rangy qualities and re-signed Khaleke Hudson that also similar qualities. Those are our top 3 players at the position, normally you'd want to pair one of these guys with a bigger thumper type LB that can come up and take O-Lineman coming to the 2nd level. I figured we'd target such a player in the draft, yet that never came to fruition

With the drafting of Phildarian Mathis in the 2nd last year, that's an awfully high pick to use as solely a back up. I expected us to tag and trade Payne this past offseason, which the first happened, but rather than trade him we gave him a huge extension

We could always sign another LB, but does anyone else feel like this means the staff has decided to role with the 5-1-5 as our new base of Defense? This would give Mathis a starting role on the Defense and allow him to really live up to that high draft pick, and as of the time I'm writing this Matt Ioannidis is still available to sign. Given how the roster is currently constructed it just seems like the best course of action to largely stick to a 5-1-5 or 4-1-6 (rookie Martin in the slot, Butler as Buffalo Nickel) alignment