Ways we can improve from within

Look, we all agree losing Dawkins stinks. Say what you will about Buckhalter, L.J. Smith, Lito Sheppard and Sean Considine. They too are gone.

Until the next shoe drops, there are no improvements to get excited about, and the draft is a ways off.

But the cupboard is most certainly not bare. For the optimists among us, aren't there ways we can improve from within?

Here are a few:

-- Move Klecko back to DT to create a four-man rotation with Bunkley, Patterson and Laws.

-- Abiamiri looks pretty good, and he might just be scratching the surface, especially with his play against the run. Clemons really didn't do a whole lot until late in the year, we could probably get more out of him.

-- Shawn Andrews could play this year. That'd be nice. With him, Max-Jean Gilles, Herremans and Nick Cole healthy alongside Jamaal Jackson, we have the makings of a decent line even if Tra Thomas, Stacy Andrews or King Dunlap aren't able to give us anything (and one must suspect at least one of them will).

-- Reggie Brown. This is a peculiar case to me. Clearly he fell out of favor last year, and with DeSean, Curtis and Avant, we aren't desperate for his production. But unless he manages to get included in a draft-day trade, I figure he might still be around ... and he could be better than a rotational guy. We could certainly get more out of him than we did last year.