This.
DA had a very specific set of skills he wanted in each position. Baun didn't meet that criteria because he couldn't pass cover as a linebacker. So instead of taking exceptional talent and finding a way to use it, DA benched him all the time.
Also, where Payton would take a walk on and use his skills and give him playing time over a 1st round pick if he were playing better then that 1st round pick, DA would not. If you weren't a known name you pretty much never had a shot in the front 7. It's as if DA had no idea what he was doing with the front 7. Where as in the secondary we saw exceptional performance increases from everyone.
It's possible that he were relying on his position coaches for who to use there. But either way, its not good. He was either relying on position coaches who sucked or he pretended to know what he was doing there and didn't, and sucked. Pick your poison.
But there's no excuse in letting 1 of the best pass rushers in the league and 1 of the best linebackers in the league leave when they weren't demanding big contracts at all, while spending all this draft capitol on pass rushers and (soon because of Davis age) linebackers.
Just awful team management.