SeanBruschi54

I mean really. The guy was great for us last year when he was in the middle. When Colvin went down you saw him involved in games more but the team suffered tremendously. His presence in the inside was so significant that most people didn't realize he was a factor at all.

I hope HOPE! We draft a Gholston or Long or some outside rush terror so that we can keep Thomas on the inside hes more valuable there than any other position.

BelichickFan

I keep pointing out that Vrabel had 9.5 sacks with Colvin in and 3 sacks without him - and all 3 sacks came in one game against Miami.

We missed Colvin and we'll miss him again if the plan is to go with what we went with after Colvin got hurt.

Rob0729

Well, it is far from guaranteed that Thomas will play outside. We still could bring in Haggans or even Colvin back if he is healthy. Gholston is shooting up the board and there is even talks that Miami could take him over Chris Long. I think if Long somehow drops to five, the Pats have to consider trading up to jump over the Jets to take him. I don't know if they will. I still think Miami's interest in Gholston is more information gathering than serious interest at this point. But if Long is in striking distance, it will be tough to pass up.

IcyPatriot

AD would have been a bigger factor had he not been dropping into coverage all the time because Seau and Bruschi are too slow. This team needs a pass rusher and vrabel is not that guy ... he just chalks up sacks against weak teams. AD has great value to this team getting after the QB ... give us some youth at ILB and AD will destroy QB's this year.

Rob0729

The thing is Vrabel was better than his sacks stats indicated after Colvin went down. His best game of the year was against the Steelers (IMHO) and he didn't register a sack in the game eventhough he almost single-handily shut down Roethlisberger.

Again, the question is how much did we miss Colvin or how much did the fact that we had to move two players out of position (Thomas and Bruschi) and as two rotational guys to be full time starters (Bruschi and Seau). I think Colvin can be replaced.

I think with what we had last year, if we lost either Vrabel or Colvin we were in some trouble because it would still ask three out of the four LBs to play out of position and/or play a full time role when they are best suited for a part-time role. Granted right now we are in worse shape until we fill in some holes.

SeanBruschi54

I dont care who it is the Patriots will not trade up for anyone they're either picking at 7 or going lower.

Rob0729

You don't know that for sure. The Pats typically don't trade up, but they have in the past like when they traded up to get Graham.

SeanBruschi54

They needed a TE and they had him targeted and the only way to get him was to move up into the 20's.

I could use a similar argument against you and say they didnt trade up for Wilfork. They let him fall if he was going to fall.

BRiZ

i hope you are joking right? Thomas was horrible last year inside, your inside backer needs to make more than one solo tackle a game, his only good game was against SD the rest were aweful. Hes a probowler on the outside.

SeanBruschi54

Finally someone who agrees with the outisde argument. Please explain why you think he is better on the outside.