Personally, I don't think it would be any bigger effort for us to switch to a decent 3-4 than what it will take for us to upgrade our 4-3.  Right now, assuming Schobel does not retire, we still have glaring needs at LB and DE.  I don't think Maybin will be an effective DE, so I am still saying we need a big upgrade at DE even if Schobel plays next year.  If Schobel retires, then we need 2 DE's and a LB.  That is not a pretty situation.

Now, should we switch to a 3-4, Stroud and Kyle can play the DE position.  We move Maybing to OLB and Poz and Kavika fill two other spots.  That leaves a hole at NT and LB.  No worse than we are in our existing 4-3 and in better position if Schobel retires.

Now, I realize that the NT in the 3-4 is the key to success.  So that is a huge hole that needs to be filled.  And I don't think you can expect a rookie (i.e. Cody) to come in and fill that void.  Raji didn't contribute immediately in GB this year, so I don't think we could expect that from a rookie.  However, there are some free agent NT's that could fill this void.  Wilfork, Hamptom, Pickett and Ferguson are all FA's (I believe).  Any of them would provide at least a solid one year stop gap at NT. 

Personally, with Maybin, I believe the 3-4 actually better suits our personnel than the 4-3 does.  I think we could actually field a very competitive defense if we switched to the 3-4 this year.  I think the biggest issue would be finding quality depth at DL and LB if we switch.  We don't have a great track record of healthy LB's and we'd have virtually no depth on the DL if we switched.

I think this is the way to go if, and only if, we can get one of the free agent  NT's in here.  Any thoughts?