bronk37

we need a shut down corner, and i would like to get a veteran db in case hobbs gets hurt. As far as D pressure goes it dissappeared in the eagles game when colvin went down, colvin as much as people dog him was a sack specialist he had speed off the edge and forced teams to focus on him leaving vrable free to attack on the left side. I actually liked having adalius lined up in the middle because he is excellent in coverage and he is big enough to blitz or stuff the middle. Thomas is a decent pass rush guy but I dont think he has the same speed or repetoire of moves that colvin had.

Mike the Brit

Ah! Empirical research. I like that! My two cents is that a lot of successful blitzing came from Rodney. I think that we miss having a really dominant run-stopping, blitzing, punishing safety.

__________________
My prized possessions: Our family pictures; my dad and me getting doused by Bruschi in Super Bowl XXXIX [Shalize Manza Young Up Close with ... Bill Belichick]


To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.


They say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Well, Pats fans should be invincible by now. [Fitzy, 16 November 2009]

Still here to learn

MrBigglesWorth

I agree with you on AD

__________________
"There are two categories of superbowl participants that nobody remembers:

The team that lost the game and the team that only won one." Dwight White- Steelers

mgteich

I ignore future contract players who are likely Practice Squad guys. The exception is that I will include Dillard as a roster player since otherwise you are short a defensive back. Also I include Bruschi in the analysis since I don't see him retiring before the draft.

OFFENSE (28 competing for 27 current roster spots)
1) At QB, RB, TE and WR, there are no changes, except that Brady and Maroney are back to replace Cassel and Jordan. That certainly seems right.
2) At OL, you have competition at RT with O'Callaghan coming back to compete with Levoir and Britt for the two roster spots.
3) I agree with your re-signings of Evans, Gaffney, Hochstein and the ERFA's. I might not bother to tender Britt. I suppose a low tender doesn't make much difference. Also, Gaffney might not re-sign, which would mean that we would likely sign another free agent WR.
4) Your analysis shows that the offense is ready to play, even before the draft.
5) There will be the usual complement of low priced free agent to complete the Training Camp Roster.
6) For me, this analysis is fine, but hides the needs at TE and OG. We have gotten little prodcution out of the TE position since Graham left. Both starting guards (and Yates) are free agents after the 2009 season. We need to develop replacements or we need to re-sign Neal and Mankins.
7) The reason for so many roster spots (27), is that four of the WR rarely catch a ball. They are STers. So, we really have four STers disguised on the roster as wide receivers. We could consider as many as three to be vulnerable to defensive STer's.

DEFENSE (26 competing for 23 current roster spots; could be as high as 26 depending on how many linebackers are kept)
1) The DL is fine as long as we re-sign Wright and extend Seymour, Wilfork and Green. Otherwise, we have a serious need at DL.
2) We have 11 LB's competing for what are now 8 spots. I have no issue since I don't expect Ruud to make the team. And I expect that at least one of Izzo and Alexander won't be back. This position is fine coming into camp. We have another year to see how Woods, Crable and Redd develop. Until then, I am fine with Vrabel and Thomas. In a good world the three youngsters will get increasing time during the season. I see a need for yet another young ILB, unless Vrabel is being moved inside. So, in the end, one more young stud would be great.
3) We've reloaded at corner. We have Hobbs and the kids. We need to see what we have with Wheatley, Wilhite and Richardson. Hobbs is the "old vet". We'll look for a top corner in the draft, but I suspect that we have our youngsters. We will sign 2-3 vets for camp. Personally, I would like to see the three we have now come back to camp. We might find someone better in free agency, or not.
4) You "solve" the initial safety problem by re-signing James Sanders, Tank Williams, Spann
and Dillard. We need to upgrade here. I think the upgrade will be forced because I think this year's JAG, James Sanders, will get more from another team than we will give him (as did Gay and Wilson).

BOTTOM LINE
We can start free agency with a bunch of re-signings of our own free agents. We usually do. We might sign a someone from somewhere else in the first week, or not. As belichick likes to do, the above plan gets us ready to play before the draft. The draft is all about upgrades and future development. We should as small a set of critical needs going into the draft as possible. The last two years, we need a safety and then a linebacker. We did fine with Meriweather and Mayo. Guyton was a bonus.

The reality is that this team will be much better with Tom Brady back. The offense is fine now. It will be great again next year. The defense has player getting older and less effective, and youngsters stepping up to replace them, as has always been the case.
================================================== ==============
I guess if I could have three wishes for the offseason, my wishes would be
A) a healthy Tom Brady
B) health for the rest of the players; for example Maroney and A. Thomas
3) one game changing defensive back

I know many (including me) have said that we have won with less. But the fact is that Otis Smith would be the best back we have, by far. And he played opposite Ty Law. Similarly at safety. Milloy is gone and was replaced by Harrison. So who do we have now? Meriweather is OK and will improve more, but James Sanders is no Harrison.

mgteich

I responded to the format you provided. You give us a good start. I see no reason to believe that Bruschi will retire before we make decisions, so I added him to you list and ended up with 63 players before free agency and the draft.
============================================
ANOTHER ROSTER FORMAT

OFFENSE (18)
QB (2) Brady, O'Connell
RB (3) Maroney, Faulk, Morris
WR (4) Moss, Welker, GAFFNEY, Aiken
TE (2) Watson, Thomas
OL (7) Light,Mankins,Koppen,Neal, Kaczur,HOCHSTEIN,Levoir

DEFENSE (18)
DL (5) Seymour,Wilfork,Warren,Green,WRIGHT
LB (6) Thomas,Vrabel,Woods,Mayo,Guyton,Bruschi
DB (7) Hobbs,Wheatley,Wilhite,Richardson,Meriweather,J.SA NDERS,WILLIAMS

SPECIALISTS (3)
K (1) Gostkowski
P (1) HANSON
DS (1) PAXTON

SPECIAL TEAMERS (7) usually six are active
ST (7) EVANS, Washington, Slater, Ventrone, Izzo/Alexander, Spann, Redd

BACKUPS (7) often inactive
QB (1) Gutierrez
RB (1) BJGE
OL (2) Yates, Callaghan/Britt
TE (1) DeVree
DL (1) Smith
LB (1) Crable

Practice Squad Level Players (8)
WR Price
OL Connolly, Wendell
DL Adams
LB Robertson, Ruud
S Dillard
P Malone

BOTTOM LINE
We would now be ready for the off-season of upgrades from our 63 man squad. We have tentatively filled 53 roster spots plus 8 Practice Squad spots. In addition, we have an Izzo/Alexander and O'Callahgan/Britt occupying the same roster spots for now, resulting in two extra players. My suspicion is that this may settled before the free agency begins, either with retirements or by not tendering.

In order to ready without additions, we need to re-sign the following or replace them.
Gaffney, Hochstein, Wright, James Sanders, Evans, Paxton and Hanson. This is NOT a tall order. The more serious issue is to focus on extensions for those key players who are FA after the 2009 season: Seymour, Wilfork, Green, Mankins and Neal. If any of these players is not extended, this would create a greater draft need than the need for upgrade at any position.