Comments on: On The Radar: Who Have The Patriots Had their Eye on?

By: kevin

kevin — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 15:43:25 +0000

I tend to agree with derek about the OL. despite their great performance last season I recall depth being somwhat of an issue.. Matt light retires??, Brian waters retires??, Logan mankins recovery is longer then expected?? And our QB Who is another year older is one hit away from ??

Yes there are a lot of what ifs but i think the OL is always a priority! especially when you have Brady..

Now I recall reading somewhere a while ago that OL is weak in this years draf. But now I see there are a few projected 1st round talants so idk..

But my best guess is BB has not forgotton our needs and is probably eyeing and waiting for a last minute free agent OL to sign…

By: bryan

bryan — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 14:37:18 +0000

exactly our o-line is one of the deepest in the NFL. I wouldnt mind trading our picks to move up and grab that guard decastro though hes a beastbut other than him we are fine and mark my workds buy week 8 waters will want back in kinda like seau but waters is a machine

By: DaBruinz

DaBruinz — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 04:20:07 +0000

Derek – Sorry, but this is a very poor article, specifically when talking about the O-line.

You completely ignore the additions of Solder, Cannon and McDonald last year on the O-line. All 3 proved to be better than advertised. In fact, one could potentially say that McDonald was the better of the 3 guys who replace Koppen last year. Even if you remove Matt Light and Brian Waters, the Pats also have two other OT prospects whom they made it a point to re-sign in Hix and Kopa. At worst, they’d have a 4th OT in one of the two of them.

You ignore the addition of veteran Robert Gallery who will be taking over for Mankins to start the season. Remember that Mankins, in all likelihood, will be starting the season on the PUP as he continues to recover from his ACL surgery and get ready to be in game shape.

So, they just replaced 30-33% of their 9-10 O-line spots with guys who are 23 or younger. One (Solder) is the heir apparent to Matt Light at LT. The other (Cannon), for all intents and purposes, shut down one of the best Pass Rushers in the league last year with very little help despite not being in 100% game shape because of his recovery from Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma.

Lastly, this year the draft is not particularly strong for the O-line. So, it really shouldn’t come as a surprise that the Pats would turn to veterans such as Gallery rather than waste a draft pick in the 1st four rounds (the only rounds they currently have picks for) on positions for which they don’t rate the players highly.