AndyJohnson

We normally (changing personell aside) move the 34 DEs inside, the OLBs to DE, take out the NT, and add a DB, and play nickle with 4 man fronts.

rookBoston

Here's what I read from the draft and off-season:

- BB has added significant depth with size and strength to his LB corp. Carpenter, Scott, Hightower, Jones, perhaps Bequette... adding Mayo, Spikes, Ninkovich and Fletcher back in, the unit has incredible versatility that it did not have last year. But, did he sign Carpenter and Scott in case he wasn't able to get LB help in the draft, or with the expectation that he'd add more LBs in the draft?

- I was surprised BB did not draft Devon Still or Brandon Thompson, or any of the prototypical DT/DE that would upgrade the 3-4 DL. I'm not sure if this is a vote of confidence in Deaderick and Pryor, or if BB is expecting to get Gerard Warren back for another go. Or, as you suggest, he is abandoning the traditional 3-4.

- With all the LBs that were added, none of them are all that great in coverage. Spikes, Carpenter, Jones, Cunningham, Hightower, Scott... these guys are all better rushing than dropping back. BB could have targeted Bobby Wagner or Sean Spence in the draft, or that skill set... and he didn't. That kind of coverage LB is actually not on the roster anywhere today, unless it's Fletcher, White.

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everlong

I was going to start a thread on this but from the opposite perspective. Teams have taken notice of the Gronk\Hernandez phenomenon and I think BB realizes that the copy cats are going to cause him to respond to it. I think this draft was not only a retooling to address the passing game but more importantly to give them the personnel flexibility to respond to any personnel grouping they'll be facing from week to week.

Colts drafted both Fleener and Allen. Bengals add Charles to Gresham. Chargers added Ladarious Green to go with Gates.

Those teams are going to be match up nightmares for most teams and these teams are going to effectively run out of the spread with the two TEs.

I can see the Pats doing two DL with Wilfork and Love and then using 5 DE\LB types to combat this. Size and speed.

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There's only two conclusions for Patriots fans on rookies. They are either a bust or being fitted for their bust in Canton.


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VrabelJr

With the amount of versatility that we have at LB and DE now I see us being in a 4-3 under as our base and nickel. People get too caught up in 3-4/4-3 talk. It's all about the alignment.

BBass

Last season I remember prior to Carters injury he ran a defense with a front 3 of Love-Wilfolk-Carter in the game before Carter got hurt. Carter was matched up against the an interior lineman and was able to use his spead. The responsibilities of a DE in a 3-4 for yapping are really on relevant toward the run game which is not an issue if you have Mayo-Spikes-Hightower pinching.

What's really happening is your simply running a basic 2-4 nickel with

DT - Wilfolk, Love, Brace
DT - Fanaene, Pryor, Deadrick
Hybrid DE/OLB - Jones, Scott, Baquette,
Hybrid DE/OLB - Ninkovich, Carter
Hybrid DE/OLB - Hightower, Cunningham
LB - Spikes, Fletcher
LB - Mayo, Carpenter

This will allow BB to move people around to the point of attack throughout the game. He can play the hybrids up or down and run odd and even fronts within series without subs.

Of all the 3-4 or 4-3 defenses out there who actually stops the pass? This is a passing league now and the spead, length and versatility of the players we've targeted seem to be based upon something new.

This talk of Seymour types at RE and elephant position sounds good because we won with it but that was also 6 years ago when stopping the run was important because we scored far less. But if our offense is putting up 30+ this new scheme will be fast, long and confusing against the pass and if the want to run fine we'll be up and there using time off the clock.

Fencer

I explained why I thought BB would neither go with a classical 2-gap 3-4 or a classical 1-gap 4-3. You responded by saying, it seems, that I'd mispredicted which of the two he'll use.

Please pardon me if I don't read and respond to the rest of the post. Perhaps you made some good points, but it seems we were talking past each other.

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Fencer

Indeed. That's part of the reasoning behind my multi-SAM idea. BB has always wanted to knock guys off their routes. These days, however, you can only do it in the first 5 yards.

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IcyPatriot

Fencer

I think it gets more exotic than that.

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"To lose one parent may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness." -- Oscar Wilde

IcyPatriot

The way I see it we're a 6-5 defense most of the time.

Seriously all the 3-4/4-3 talk but how often do we only have 4 DB's on the field?