I think a DC with a DB background can absolutely help the secondary, and maybe even elevate average players to occasionally good or above average. I don't think Owens et al. are average players. Moreover, I think that while Barry's scheme protected the safeties to an extent and made the CBs look bad by having them so far off, I think Hafley's scheme will do more to elevate the CB's at the expense of the safeties by having the CBs play closer to LOS, press, play man, etc. more -- which is what Jaire, Stokes, and Valentine are good at. If you only have one safety deep they better have range, instincts, and be able to tackle. Savage had one of those abilities, Ford has maybe two of them, Owens I'm not sure has any... you get the idea. Maybe you play them down as the box safety, but none of them were reliable tacklers last year, and box safeties are easier to find. If you don't have a deep safety who with range to the sideline and ability to reliably get a guy onn the ground, you're exposed.

I think Ford, Owens, Savage might be fine depth, but I wouldn't want them starting for 17+ games. I don't think they will perform well in the new scheme.