Fencer

If I read Reiss's breakdowns correctly, he charted 19 plays last Sunday on which Solder played TE, but only 5 3-TE formations.

I.e., Solder played as the #2 TE on 14 snaps.

The plan may have been for even more than that; I don't know how it was affected by Vollmer getting hurt. (I do know that in general Cannon has played OT on downs where Solder has played TE.)

And Solder had 20 plays at TE the previous week, including one where he went out for a pass:

Charting Solder as a tight end - New England Patriots Blog - ESPN Boston

That's a pretty serious TE role for Solder.

It also suggests a way to exploit being invested in 3 different starting-quality OTs.

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jbb9s

Let's not get so excited until Vollmer gets back to health. Even when he has played, he hasn't been as good as he was last year.

jbb9s

wait, are you suggesting that if Vollmer can't go, you'd rather see Cannon in there at RT and Solder in there as a TE?

Just don't know about that for the long haul. I'd rather see the best players on the line full time for snap #1 thru snap #70 every game and in this case that is Solder in there at a traditional RT.

NinjaZX6R

I would say that when Cannon comes in, Solder moves to 3rd TE and Cannon is in at RT.

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The_Riddler

I am with you on this one. Solder never should have lost his starting RT job in the first place. He's the best RT on the team right now and that's where he belongs.

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Hey Rex have you met our new Tightends? Say Hi to Aaron and Gronk !

MP-Logick

So did Belichick plan this all along when he drafted him, based on Solder's previous experience as a TE? Instead of resigning Alge, he got his left tackle of the future and a dominant blocking tight end for the present.

strngplyr

It's possible, but I think he knew Light wouldn't be around forever and Solder looked like a unique dual-talent player that doesn't come around often.

Just another example of taking the player the BB believes is the best available at the current draft spot.

jbb9s

the problem with Light is that for 90% of the time he does his job and usually to his credit he has the toughest DE matchup. But the 10% usually will come mid - elimination game where he will just suck and the offense breaks down. Its like driving a sweet sports car but you know at one point you are going to be calling AAA. Well calling AAA during an hour away from a 19-0 season really sucks, and Light was a turnstile in that game.

Sciz

Personally, I think the plan was to let him sit and learn, but after Smith and Yeatman failed to show anything as receivers, he figured he might as well throw a 3rd OT out there.

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Fencer

That is, of course, the other reason it can be good to have 3 guys at 2 positions.

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