Weaknesses: Until they prove otherwise, it's the defense. After giving up an NFL single-season record 7,042 total yards in 2012, it would have been easy for Payton to completely blow things up and start all over.

But he took a different approach. He fired defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo and announced he would switch to a 3-4 scheme, then hired Rob Ryan to implement the new alignment.

There was little turnover in personnel, however, which means Payton is confident the players who were around for last year will benefit from a new leader and a new scheme even though they brought in a few new pieces like cornerback Keenan Lewis, safety Kenny Vaccaro and nose tackle John Jenkins.