All of our defensive tackles are overstated on this forum. It's parallel to opinion of the team as a whole. When there's a great defensive tackle on the roster then nobody is debating it because he's making plays and jumping out as one of the premier players on the field on a weekly basis. That doesn't describe McIntosh or Norton and it doesn't describe Willis last year.
There are defensive tackles from all the recent powerhouses atop the 2018 draft board right now, guys from Alabama, Ohio State, Clemson, Michigan, Washington, Stanford, Florida State and so forth. The Canes guys are not there. Mark Walton is currently projected to go higher than anybody from our roster. That might not hold up after the combine, etc. but if we had an elite player he would already be up the ladder.
I enjoyed Canes football even during the '70s because defensive tackle is my favorite position and we always had star players there, despite the lackluster won/loss record. I haven't been suckered by this recent upturn specifically because our defensive tackles are not much of anything. Norton is a joke compared to someone like Vea from Washington. McIntosh is not even close to the kid from Florida, Taven Bryan. And so forth.
It's like the Dolphins butchering the first round picks every season and fans trying to pretend it doesn't matter. Golden missed the top defensive tackle targets year after year. We didn't magically overcome that and find dominant kids in the bushes. No, we found kids who allowed a nice upgrade to second tier status. Preferable to where we've been but acres from where we need to go.