Thanks for the tidbits of new information Andy! I hate the dead-zone we're heading into...

When you said, "Maybe Valentine can play at nickel," my knee-jerk reaction was "That would be crazy; you NEED a third outside CB ready to go in case of injury!"

But after thinking about it a little, I calmed down and thought, "Well, Valentine COULD play a bunch of nickel and STILL be your backup at outside CB if an injury occurred."
I could see Valentine's skill set of effective length/ball skills and strong, aggressive tackling, being very valuable against TEs and taller/big slot WRs.

I consider Valentine better than Stokes in every way except speed, but of course that's a BIG difference, Stokes' 4.25 vs. Valentine's 4.44. Valentine is plenty fast enough, but Stokes is one of the fastest CBs in the league (and he said he feels faster than ever this spring), and the rest of his skills are decent.

I loved hearing about Cooper's speed; it is going to be key to this new defense. I just hope we aren't going to give up ten yards 75% of the time a team runs at us.

Andy, you do a nice job of presenting your information. The summary you provide at the end is precisely what is done by many of the more effective speakers...a little of the old tell them what I'm going to tell them...then tell them...and finish by telling what I told them. A good method of having the information stick with you audience.