There's a few things working for us here:
1. this is one of the better FA DL/DE classes in a long while. You have a lot of competition out there. The word is that the Raiders are hot after Bennett. It seems odd they're so hot to get after Bennett, but haven't offered a contract to Justin Houston, who's younger, and by most accounts, a more desirable FA get.
2. Depth. I honestly think Scruggs could fill in; maybe not on the same level, but I also think Bennett and Avril helped each other out. Brooks is also an intriguing option, and I'm not convinced that McDonald couldn't play tha position, at least at DT. Losing Bennett won't be the end of the world....it costs us some versatility, but we have players that can do close to what he does, just not at both positions.
3. One of the first suitors for Bennett in every article is the Raiders. They'd have to offer Bennett at least 12 mil/year to make going to CA worth it from a state tax perspective. If they throw that much money at Bennett, they won't be throwing that much money at Houston. Even if they want to retain Houston and pay him, it will probably piss him off that someone else got a larger contract offer first, and from another team.
I'm guessing we offered Bennett around 8 mil/year and he was serious about that 10 mil/year number. If he get that much, he puts himself in line with guys like Johnson from Cincy, Houston from the Raiders, and probably more than Tuck or Allen will get.
I'm also not too worried. When it comes to drafting, we've shown to be exceptional, and this is a draft class that has some great DE options. If we know we're not going to get Bennett, we can probably keep McDonald and McDaniel. Clinton can slide over, or come in with the Nickle package. We'll be ok.