Monday Patriots Notebook 4/27: Interesting Week Ahead For Patriots, Scarnecchia Still in Solder's Corner, More Notes
This week should be an interesting one when the Patriots make their draft picks.
The NFL Draft is now just days away, and coming off of a Super Bowl win the Patriots will look to improve a roster that returns the vast majority of talent on the offensive side of the football, while the defensive side still has some question marks after losing some key players this offseason.
The obvious losses are Darrelle Revis (Jets) and Brandon Browner (Saints), both of whom left via free agency and were key players on the defensive side of the football. However, they also lost linebackers Akeem Ayers (Rams) and Jonathan Casillas (Giants), which while not as significant, the two were decent role players and will affect how the team continues to address some needs in the coming months.
This year the Patriots have nine picks, one more than the eight they had in 2014. Last year's draft saw them address the offensive side of the football, using six of those eight on offensive players, most notably coming away with center Bryan Stork, quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo and running back James white. The year before in 2013 they went the other way, making seven total selections, five of which were spent on defensive guys that included Jamie Collins, Logan Ryan, Duron Harmon and Michael Buchanan. The same held true in 2012 when they made seven picks, six of which were used on defensive players, including Chandler Jones (21st overall) and Dont'a Hightower (25th overall), as well as special teams standout Nate Ebner (197th) and defensive back Alfonzo Dennard (224th).
Given their needs on the defensive side of the ball, it will be hard not to see that as the priority this time around heading into this weekend. However, there are quite a few analysts out there who, given this year's deep class of receivers, see New England potentially making a move to grab one in the early rounds. That would be interesting to say the least, and would likely tell you all you need to know about how they feel about former second-round pick Aaron Dobson, who despite an impressive career at Marshall hasn't been able to carry that success into the NFL thus far after two seasons dealing with a foot injury. There have also been other whispers about issues between he and offensive coach Josh McDaniels (which were later refuted by head coach Bill Belichick). Either way, Dobson will certainly be facing one of the most challenging training camps coming up of his young career.
The vast majority of mock drafts seem to favor offensive and defensive line as the more likely scenarios, while a few others favor cornerback or linebacker. We'll have a database coming this week that will allow you to sort through many of them, as well as get a look at who many believe other teams could be targeting.
At the end of the day the only people who have an inkling of what the Patriots plan will be sit within the confines of Gillette Stadium and as we know, they're not planning on revealing anything. Needless to say given Bill Belichick's past history, it should be another interesting weekend.
SCARNECCHIA WAS IN SOLDER'S CORNER DURING CANCER PLIGHT:
Former Patriots offensive line coach Dante Scarnecchia may have retired in 2013, but that didn't stop him from being in Nate Solder's corner last season as the offensive tackle faced his battle with testicular cancer.
According to the Boston Herald, Scarnecchia was among the few people who knew about Solder's diagnosis, and the former coach wasn't surprised about the fact Solder kept it to himself and fought through it.
“That’s him. That’s so much him. He doesn’t say a whole lot about things, things like that,” Scarnecchia told the Herald. “He tries to meet all issues head on. He doesn’t avoid them. That’s not him. That’s not the way he does things. He meets everything head on, and he met this one head on. To his credit, he did really well.”
Solder went through a stretch where there were critics locally on sports radio about his play, with none of them obviously aware of what the veteran was dealing with on a personal level. He certainly could have said something, but instead he never made excuses and fought through it, finishing the back half of the season strong and was a key component in keeping Seattle's defense at bay during their Super Bowl win.
That didn't surprise Scarnecchia, who was impressed with how Solder handled himself.
“He’s a big boy. He understands all that stuff (from critics),” Scarnecchia said. “On the games he struggled, I thought he bounced back. Most importantly, the last half of the season, and in the playoffs in particular, he and Sebastian (Vollmer) really acquitted themselves really well. They really played very, very well. They played their best football when it counted the most. As a result, you keep Tom upright, and it worked out great.”
Solder is in the final year of his rookie contract, which will hopefully see him receive an extension in the coming months to keep him in the fold protecting Tom Brady's blindside for the foreseeable future.
But overall, it's definitely quite a story and hopefully those who criticized him now have a better appreciation for him after what he's been through.
ADDITIONAL NOTES:
- C.J. Spiller may now be a member of the New Orleans Saints, but apparently he was very close to lining up behind Tom Brady this season before the deal was made. According to Grantland's Bill Simmons, the Patriots were pursuing Spiller and thought they had him, but the Saints swooped in and took him away. "They thought that was going to be their guy, and then the Saints came marching in with some ridiculous offer, even though they have one of the worst cap situations in the league, " said Simmons via TigerNet.com. "And the Patriots were flabbergasted."
- Sad news this morning after reports came out pertaining to 6-year old Danny Nickerson, who was the boy suffering from an inoperable brain tumor who caught the attention of everyone in New England after he received more than 150,000 birthday cards, passed away on Friday. It was quite a story, with his mom's plea on Facebook letting everyone know about her son's "love for receving mail" going viral and people responded in a big way and put a smile on the young boy's face. It's definitely a case of a young life ending far too soon and our thoughts go out to Danny's family.
- One note from ESPN Boston's Mike Reiss worth mentioning about the Patriots opening day opponents, the Pittsburgh Steelers, is the fact that the team's history without running back Le'Veon Bell hasn't worked out too well the last two seasons. As Reiss points out Pittsburgh is 0-4 without him, and Bell is suspended this year for the season opener.
- Jason La Canfora of Fox Sports recently talked about what the Patriots might do this weekend in his “The 7 Coaches, GMs and Owners Who Will Swing NFL Draft", which included a note on Belichick. La Canfora believes the Patriots could potentially make a move up from their spot at 32 overall and believes receiver or running back might be a possibility. "This cat [Belichick] has turned more than one draft on its ear and is even less concerned with what we think than is [Chip] Kelly,” La Canfora wrote. “Belichick has gone to great lengths to study receivers in this draft. But sitting at No. 32 might not where he wants to be to get one. Tom Brady isn’t getting any younger and the Pats could be in position to make a big move. Trading up for a pass catcher would make sense, taking a shot on a troubled kid like Dorial Green-Beckham at 32 could be equivalent to landing Randy Moss a half decade ago. I wouldn’t rule out taking a running back with the pick, either. But if there is an early run on receivers — and my hunch is three go in the top 10 — I can’t help but wonder if the Pats jump up. Regardless, Belichick is always among the truly intriguing figures on draft day.”
- Congratulations to Super Bowl hero Malcolm Butler, who has definitely had quite the offseason after making his historic interception back in February. The defensive back apparently recently had a child a couple of weeks ago. According to the news-record.com Malcolm Terel Butler Jr. was born on April 16th. Pencil him into your draft notebooks and scouting reports in 20-ish years.
