Patspsycho

Off The Grid

Ah! An exceptionally intriguing article. Thanks for rolling this one over here.

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I am firmly convinced that 99% of the impetus behind Burgess's Late Season Revival came from him reaching that Critical Mass of Repetition where a System finally CLICKS for a player, and have always said so.

That's why it was such an ATROCITY to surrender a 3rd and a 5th for him: It was pretty much a given that he'd need most of the year to start being Productive.

Of course, it helped that Belichick finally concluded that switching Burgess to OLB wasn't working, and redeployed Burgess towards a position of much greater relative comfort.

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And I really like Reiss's conclusion: Burgess's greatest contribution to the OLB Crew ~ and to the Pass Rush ~ would be to NOT play OLB, but to build on his stellar work, down the stretch, last year, and line up on the Front Line.

robertweathers

I give Reiss credit for doing some additional digging and changing his initial assessment.

The question is, whats the tipping point in production vs cost for the trade? There are two schools of thought. No question his 2009 production was not equal to the cost. However, if he has a 10 sack season (with numerous hurries and game-altering plays mixed in), is it fair to say that the trade will then be "worth it"?

__________________
“I'm not really concerned about the other 31 teams,” - Bill Belichick

"If a player has talent and doesn't succeed, that means that they either don't want to be successful or I have failed as a coach." - Bill Belichick

Off The Grid

Very good question.

The answer is: No chance in HELL.

We just picked up Burgess for NOTHING. Any one of 32 teams could've signed him.

I'll stipulate that it can at least be argued that it was worth SOMETHING to give him that critical year in learning the system. The potential difference in his impact on our 2010 team IS huge.

Bostonian1962

So we spent a third and fifth round pick for a player that is a situational pass rusher? Oh well.

363839

Yes but we were and are still desperate for a pass rusher.
Highly unlikely we were going to get that from a 3rd or 5th round rookie anyways. BB's got tons of picks, I mean there wasn't a lot out there.
If DB keeps his game at the level of the last 4 games of 09, I think it will be well worth those picks. Especially considering our strong position for next years draft.

Gwedd

Concur. I suspect that Burgess will pick up where he left off and I am looking for very good production from him.

eom

I love reiss, but he could've saved himself a few hours and checked that stuff out in 2 minutes at profootballfocus --- no, I don't work there.

Deus Irae

Those 3rd and 5th round rookies would now have a season under their belts, and Burgess would have been available as a pass rushing DE specialist free agent this offseason, if the Raiders didn't cut him last season.

He'll never have been worth those picks.

__________________
"The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane."
- Marcus Aurelius

fair catch fryar

In 2008 we spent a 3rd and 5th on Crable and Slater respectively, can't say they've really panned out yet either.(still crossing my fingers) For 2010, I'm optimistic for the Pats defense this year, lots of speed/ youth + some veteran leadership including Burgess with a year under his belt in a BB defense. Maybe he'll contribute and maybe not. It's all relative.