mgteich

We could still decide to find a roster player by signing free agents or trading for players. However, as of now, we are looking to the draft. All the players below could be upgraded.

RB BJGE
OLB Redd
DE Smith
SS Williams
FS Spann
OG Yates
ILB Ruud
QB Gutierrez
P Hanson

moss4ever

I agree. It's kind of sad but part of nfl reality that the fringe players are always fighting for the roster spot and it's never secure because there are always "better" players coming out of college to challenge them.

Patsfanin Philly

They might be fringe here in NE but in other cities (den,KC, Clev, Atl?), they will be watching the waiver wire to scoop them up.

TealSox

Hard to up-grade Gutierrez at QB since he has the most experience behind Brady. Some rookie isn't going to save the Pats from Brady missing an offensive series or two.

__________________
"It's not whether you get knocked down; it's whether you get up."Vince Lombardi


Pats fan since 1993

spacecrime

Neither is Gute. KOC is backup QB, not Gute. Even as a rookie, KOC was #2 and Gute #3. In fact, Gute had been cut and was not picked up by anyone. If Brady had not gone down, Gute wouldn't even have been a Pat. I think his is the position most likely to be upgraded.

spacecrime

The odds of all those players being upgraded is pretty much nil. The odds of five or six of them, are pretty good, though. Depends of who gets drafted and how good they turn out to be.

ANyway you look at it, we have more draft picks than can make the team.

KY Pats Fan

don't know how you can lump all of those guys together. Ruud was on IR last year but by all accounts he is smart (BB trait) and is a tough player. Redd did a servicable job for being a rookie. Tank was hurt last year but BB must think that he has some potential to bring him back in this year. And BJGE, he had a terrific 5 or 6 game run last year when the Pats needed him. No need to throw these guys under the bus so quickly.

Lamanai

Don't forget injuries...They strike all players, fringe or not. Figure to lose a couple of players during TC or Pre-season.

Fact is, they *could* carry eleven rookies, but it just isn't a good situation to have so many inexperienced players on the roster. You could lose a game early in the year that keeps you from making the playoffs.

supafly

I don't believe he is throwing them under the bus, simply stating where we could use upgrades still. It's a very relevant post in regards to the draft coming up, and where any of those guys could possibly upgrade. One thing BB is adamant about is providing superior depth, it also promotes better positional competition--which is what we want. That's one reason that a lot of other teams pick up our guys that get pushed out, not because anyone's saying their no good, but because we simply upgraded.

But I agree that some, if not a lot of those guys have potential--so I can see where you're coming from. He's just pointing out which positions can be upgraded.

supafly

Fact is if 5 or 6 make it, that would still be great--really don't see more than that, but that's just my opinion. It just depends on how BB and the coaches feel about the potential of some of those guys on the list, vs. some of the new rookies. You can pretty much throw in a 'surprise' sort of cut too almost every year. It's all about how we stand depth-wise.

That's why I'm somewhat of a defender of the 07 draft still, because even though we didn't keep hardly any guys, we still accomplished what was needed that yr, which is obvious by the record and SB appearance. We still had some decent depth even last yr too, even despite the crazy and unusual amount of injuries--as we still finished in the top 10 on defense, and were competitive down the stretch.