Let's not overthink this. As Hub said yesterday, the Bears effectively traded Peppers for Allen. What does that mean?
- Allen is here at $2M LESS than Peppers - good
- Allen is 2.5 years younger than Peppers - good
- Allen had significantly better production than Peppers (particularly last season) - good
- Allen had significantly better production than Peppers while playing 95% of their defensive snaps - good
The point? Yes, they are both aging players. Allen, however, is younger and simply puts up better numbers. Peppers had multiple games last season where he simply did NOT hit the stat sheet. Yes, the go back and tweak the stats so as not to show zeros, but we all saw it with our eyes. He was non-existent on the field for 90% of the season last year. And no, he was NOT getting double teamed. This isn't 2011.
No move is done in a vaccuum. This move, combined with the others that Emery has done in the offseason, has made the Bears defense CONSIDERABLY better. ONE play - ONE play - made by the defense (whether it's the William fumble pick up or the Conte **** up) against GB and this was a playoff team last year.
If the offense stays healthy can continue to put up similar numbers and the defense can just be a middle of the pack squad - say 13-20, they will be a playoff team.