RayClay

Incredible that lawfirm might only be 5th or 6th. That kind of year. Woody's year was nice, but not tops. He could have had a lesser year abd the team still functions.

McCourty was phenomenal, but he was our 1st round pick.

It has to be Arrington. At a position where one mistake means a crucial touchdown, the guy was awesome.

I'm not judging him against the best, I'm judging him against the black hole we had when Butler struggled.

This guy didn't even exist, he was a special teams only player who never would have made the team otherwise. BB invented him. Like Dr. Frankenstein. Is there any evidence anywhere that this guy was ready to even back up at CB?

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jmt57

What's really interesting from this list is that you have four players (BJGE, Arrington, Ninkovich, Connolly) who many that would not make the roster; four that we were warned would not contribute because Belichick rarely plays rookies; and two (Woodhead, Branch) who were brought in after being deemed not worthy of playing time elsewhere.

There's no wrong answer for that question from this group.

dex13

got to go with McCourty. Woodhead came out of nowhere but McCourty was the rock that the defense sorely needed. He went beyond all expectations.

patsfan-1982

Devin McCourty, being all pro as a rookie is a big one....BJGE geting 1000 yerds is cool to but for me it's the rookie TE's

Rob Gronkowski, and Aaron Hernandez, have 87 rec 1109 yerds and 16 TD's they have helped Brady, take the passing game to the next level

asfpnepRefugee

Not me. I was high on Gronkowski before the draft. I wasn't super familiar w/ Hernandez, but it was clear the main issue with him was off the field - if he kept his nose clean, he'd be good in the receiver type TE role. Granted, I figured Crump was nothing more than a blocker at this point, so yes, it was good to see he still had some moves. Did the TE corps exceed my expectations? Sure it did ... but I already had high expectations in the first place.

asfpnepRefugee

Pro bowl and all pro aren't the same thing

italian pat patriot

Mc Courty took my vote

Ochmed Jones

As McCourty has gotten better each week, it seems that BB is starting to use him similar to what he did with Law. McCourty holds down one side of the field by himself and then BB uses the safeties and LBers to help Arrington and cover more of the underneath stuff.

This is a huge responsibility to a rookie and he has more than shown he can handle it.

jbb9s

I believe the Patriots are 48-6 in the last 3 seasons Branch has played for the Patriots. Actually this is a bit off, they only have 5 losses since he wasn't with the team this year for the Jets loss.

Mogamedogz

Before voting or looking at any posts in this thread... Mcourty better be winning this in a LANDSLIDE. If he isn't I may need to look for a different fan site out of embarassment.