Breaking down the individual questions:
1: What's the deal with Ingram? Flashed bigtime in the post draft camp but what's with the teams removing him from their draft board because of his knee? Is it an issue or not? I think the guy is a potential stud but the knee thing scares me.
2: Is McCoy ready to be the primary backup to Westbrook on a contending team? He's only 20 yrs old and some reports say that he's not mature in his body just yet. Very talented guy but can he be counted on to last the season if called upon?
3: No upgrade what so ever to the front seven on defense. Will these guys improve? IMO Cole, Bunkley, Patterson, and Parker/Abirimiri are what they are. As a group they are average/steady at worst, occasional impact game at best.
4: Can the LBs improve in order to make this a dominant front seven? What concerns me is that this is a system defense which can be exposed if JJ is outcoached. Just not enough impact players to make a difference in a big game, i.e. the NFC Championship.
5: Without even addressing the other questions this team has,(QB performance in big games, OL changes, etc), does this team inspire confidence? What will it take to overcome the shortcomings that have plagued this team in years past?
1: Guy missed his entire senior season. That drops any player a ton on draft day. From what I've seen/heard, he may be a better receiver then Celek, but behind him in the blocking area. I've been scratching my head on this selection for a while, since we seemed to lack a blocker, but reports are that Celek has really focused in that area this off-season, so overall we should see an improvement at TE, with a ton of upside potential.2: Yes...and no. He probably isn't physically ready to handle 20 touches per game, so if Westbrook were lost early in the season, for the season, it could raise some issues. But our new FB could be a huge help in this regard. Also, reports are that he's already bulked up into the 210 area, so he may not be as far away physically as you think. My take is that RB wil only be a problem if Westy were to suffer serious (season ending) injury. More good news: Westbrook had surgery to clean out his knee, and reports it feels better then it has in years...swears he's in much better shape then he has been the last couple of seasons.
3: Um...yeah. These guys are all YOUNG...VERY VERY young. Abiamari looked ready to start before an injury last year, and Cole's a beast. The DT's are a terrific YOUNG rotation. The truth is, there was no room on the D-line except for a real stud. There's no realistic reason to expect this group to go backwards, and every reason to think they'll be even better then last year.
4: The system doesn't rely on the LB's to be impact players...it looks for impact from the D-line and CB's...areas Philly is deep in. None of these LB's are rookies anymore, but they're all very young. They should be better then last year just by natural progression.
5: The defense was top 5 last year, and returns 11 starters, MOST OF THEM VERY YOUNG (and presumably still improving). The secondary and the D-line are deep. No reason to expect anything less then a top-5 repeat, and I would expect a few more impact plays from the secondary. The offense was a top 10 last year, putting up a ton of yards and good points, but struggling a bit in SY and RZ efficiency. TE progression and the addition of Weaver should go a long way in helping those, and the addition of dynamic weapons like Maclin and McCoy have to be scaring the bejesus out of the NFC. The O-line was a concern going into the off-season, but has been addressed more then adequately. It could be argued that it's as good as ever, and deeper then most. So...the answer is YES. A perrrenial contender has gotten stronger in almost every regard.
I have more confidance in this particular team then in any previous Eagles squad...EVER.