Assuming wilfork, mayo, and kelly from IR and the rookies get more playing time, along with talib returning, as well as the players from the draft, how much improvement should we expect from the defense

They certainly showed a lot of flashes early this season when they were at or close to full health. As the injuries piled up they slowly went into a statistical free fall, especially against the run.

My expectations will be high, especially if they bring back Talib. If they don’t bring him back my expectations will be a little lower until they prove their secondary can be good. 

Say they lose Talib but bring in someone like Brent Grimes, I’d say the potential is there, but they’ll have to win me over.