mgteich

There are at least 13 very good opportunities for a rookie.

A rookie could easily win a spot at
QB, FB, OG, TE
or would you miss losing Eckel, Yates, Spach and/or one of Guiterrez/Cassel

A rookie could easily win a spot at
DE, ILB (2 spots), CB (3 spots), S
or would you miss S. Thomas, Slaughter, Webster, L. Sanders, Richardson, Andrews or the free agent jag ILB we sign before the draft
--------------------------

And that doesn't even count the possibility of a rookie beating out Hochstein or Alexander
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OFFENSE (25)
QB - 3 Tom Brady, Cassel, Gutierrez
RB - 3 Faulk, Maroney, Morris
FB - 2 Evans, Eckel
C - 1 Koppen
G - 4 Neal, Hochstein, Mankins, Yates
OT - 4 Light, Kaczur, O'Callaghan, Britt
WR - 5 Moss, Gaffney, Welker, Washington, Chad Jackson
TE - 3 Watson, Dave Thomas, Spach

DEFENSE (25)
DE - 4 Warren, Green, Seymour, Santonio Thomas
DT - 3 Wilfork, Le Kevin Smith, Wright
OLB- 3 Vrabel, Adalius Thomas, Woods
ILB- 5 Bruschi, Alexander, Slaughter, jag ILB to be signed, Izzo
CB - 5 Hobbs, Bryant, Sanders, Webster, Richardson
S - 5 Sanders, Harrison, Meriweather, Williams, Andrews/Ventrone/Aiken(this is a ST spot)

SPECIALISTS (3)
P - 1 Hanson
K - 1 Gostkowski
LS - 1 Paxton

PRIMARY NEEDS:
CB, ILB, ILB, TE
To replace Samuel, Colvin, Seau, Brady

PATRIOT64

You know despite my lack of like for Cassell who I may never be crazy about,I don't think the team will draft a QB this year.

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AdrianKlemm

It will be nice to hopefully get an infusion of young talent this year. Our previous few drafts have yielded a very low number of prospects, and the team needs to get a little younger.

nashvillepatsfan

please add punter to your list. i want a new punter.

Pats726

I agree...they din't draft one last year as well...BUT I think they will sign a UDFA...or nring in a vet...

BradyManny

Funny, I started a thread analyzing the roster saying it would be hard for rookies to win spots. But I'm coming to your side now. We haven't really re-stocked LB pre-draft the way I thought we would, telling me we will probably bring back Seau and or sign RFA Seward.

So I agree with you now that there will be some roster spots. Which is a good thing, b/c there are a slew of players in the mid rounds that have the upside of turning into starters on this team, particularly on the offensive line.

Tunescribe

Man, just looking at the current roster the defense definitely looks subpar. The holes left by Samuel, Seau (assuming he's done) and Colvin are pretty big, and Bruschi no longer is a force in the middle. The offense immediately upgrades with Dave Thomas and Sammy Morris returning, but we'll still need blocking help at tight end and youth in the OL. I wonder if rookies really can be counted on to pick up all this slack, which is considerable. I still think we need proven veteran help on the defense, unless some of the jags picked up so far in free agency pan out surprisingly well.

BradyManny

As far as I'm concerned, CB would be OK by me if the season started today, and thats not even considering the very deep CB class in the draft.

I share some of your concerns at LB, but ultimately, I'm sure it will get worked out. People cite the Beisel/Brown disaster as a Belichick failure, but BB was blinsided by issues out of his control at LB, and its hard to put any blame on him or Pioli for that. Other than that season, when has BB gone into a season with a LB corps that wasn't ready to compete.

I'm assuming we will sign both Seward and Seau, and we're adding them to the mix of Vrabel, Bruschi, AD, with AD offering the ability to play both ILB and OLB at a high level. If they draft an outside pass rushing force like Groves, then I would say they would have improved their LB unit from last season.

PatsWickedPissah

Excellent thread. I'm sick of the annual pre-draft, training camp bogus mantra about how stocked with depth and talent the team is, such that few if any rooks have a shot. Problem being that the core has aged and for one reason or another, sub-par draft picking and mistakes attempting to waive developmental guys onto the PS, we've not had a constant influx of sufficient quantity of young talent that has developed into the Bruschis of the 21st century. I'm very impresed with how the Colts lost starters on their D last year after winning the SB and contrary to expectations improved the unit with young starters from the draft.

__________________
Throughout history, poverty is the normal condition of man. Advances which permit this norm to be exceeded — here and there, now and then — are the work of an extremely small minority, frequently despised, often condemned, and almost always opposed by all right-thinking people. Whenever this tiny minority is kept from creating, or (as sometimes happens) is driven out of a society, the people then slip back into abject poverty.
This is known as "bad luck." RAH

Jimke

Bill Polian is a bit of a s.o.b. but he is really good at drafting

players and sifting thru the UDFAs and finding a few gems. In

a supposedly bad draft year, all of his draft picks made the team

last year and an undrafted rookie started in the defensive line.

Polian believes in drafting and coaching the heck out of the

rookies rather than signing free agents.