mgteich

Cunningham. Banta-Cain, Ninkovich, Moore, Murrell
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We expect to add a free agent. How is this so much worse than adding a draftee?

For those who say "it depends who we get", the answer we should get someone that Belichick values more than the 2nd round draftees. That won't take much. And, while I think an OLB or two will be brought in at least for competition, Belichick might be fine with what we have.

After all, the linebacking crew should be better with experience this year. We added Cunningham, Moore, Spikes and Fletcher last year. I suspect that Belichick expects improvement from these FOUR youngsters. Some think the linebacking corps was addressed in 2010. Four is a lot of additions (not even counting White).

Also, the linebacking corp should be better with some improvement expected in the secondary (Add Bodden and Darling, more experience for Arrington) and the DL (switch Warrens, add Stroud and perhaps Wright, more experience for Brace).

A_Ghost_In_The_Machine

Hopefully Cunningham should make a big jump this year. We all know it takes time to convert from a 4-3 DE in college to a 3-4 OLB in what is a pretty difficult system to learn so hopefully with a year of experience he'll be greatly improved, just hoping the lockout doesn't hinder that too much. (As an aside, Andre Tippett didn't record a single sack as a rookie and we all know how that turned out, not saying Cunningham is the next coming of Tippett but just that I wouldn't worry too much about him only having a single sack last year.)

Moore played extremely well I thought given how little time he had to learn the system. Sure he was being used as a 4-3 sub rusher but hopefully, like Cunningham, with a bit of time to learn the 3-4 OLB position he should be good to go.

I've never been a fan of TBC, personally I think he's overrated and was overpaid following one good season (10 or so sacks with something like 5 coming in one game against a pitiful Bills O-line). Frankly I see him as just a body to fill space, albeit one who understands how to play the 3-4 OLB position (which is no small feat in itself).

I like Ninkovich but I'm not sure how much he'll improve from last season. He's been with us a few years now which would suggest that he should understand the system fully but maybe getting a good amount of playing time will help him more than just getting practice reps. Regardless I think he'll be a solid contributer but not spectacular

resdubwhite

Realistically Cunningham should have had 5 or 6 sacks last year. Thats no exaggeration.

I think he has the tools to be a good deal better this year. I would expect another body will enter the equation through free agency. TBC being the one on the block.

convertedpatsfan

Cunningham's development is going to be a big part of how this group fares. And I'm interested to see how Moore does with a full TC. There's also the possibility of Ninko improving.

I wish we added someone via the draft, but I concede that they probably wouldn't have helped much. It's rare to get a 3-down guy at OLB when he's converting from DL. More than likely, we would have gotten a project who would have been behind Ninko in terms of development. Alternatively, we draft a pass rush specialist who may or may not have been an upgrade over Tully in year one, but doubtful it'd be a huge upgrade considering we didn't move up to the top 10.

So short-term, we can get by. Long-term, this position definitely could use another solid young draft pick.

randomk1

Realistically he had 1 sack. He did apply some nice pressure at times but that doesn't change the fact that he couldn't finish a sack by bringing a QB down or he just came close and had some flags that should've been called for him. But he still had 1 sack. I have no doubt in my mind that he will improve on that though.

Defsoul

Wasn't Cunningham hurt for the majority of training camp and preseason games? I think he was injured in the joint-practice with the Saints, but I'm not 100% sure. That had to hurt his development early.

robertweathers

Correct- IIRC he suffered a high-ankle sprain. Depending on it's severity, not an easy injury to get over.

With that said, not sure if it nagged him all year and that was the main reason that he didn't make a "big impact" but I do believe in 2011 he will be more productive in this system.

__________________
“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

Marqui

I think Ninkovich is a useless jag. Replace him in FA with Ray Edwards or something.

robertweathers

Can't have All-Pros at every position, Marqui.

62 tackles, 4 sacks and 2 INTs is not useless.

__________________
“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

Shelterdog

I'll bet they'll try to do this, and if they can't sign Edwards they'll add a guy like Chris Gocong who can compete with Ninkovich and TBC.