....There are two factors here though. One of them is the talent issue. Alot of people are talking about the play of USC players being inflated by the talent around them. When you have Cushing and Maualuga around you, it can also deflate your numbers. Especially if you're behind some decent D-line. Watching him play, he does look like the slightly better player. I do agree that it's only slightly though, maybe it's not enough to justify this trade, but that's just me.
The trade itsself really wasn't that bad imo. We kept stocking up on draft picks and it ended us up with the players people tend to remember like Jennings, Nelson and Collins (All 2nd rounders btw), but we also got players like Underwood, Hodge and Rouse. Nothing against those last there, they're solid, but they make up for the depth everyone wants. We have quite some.
Maybe it was time to get two players who can make an impact on defense. We're stocked up on linebackers, stocked up on safetys, stocked up on O-linemen. We could get another project, but that would leave us in a continuous 2-3 year progression cycle where we're waiting for players like Giacomini, Peprah and Rouse to become solid players.....