BradyManny

In the absurd Trade Brady thread in the other section of this forum, some misguided forumers were ready to ship Brady for day 1 picks and "rebuild the defense". It got me to thinking, even if we managed to trade Cassel for a high first round pick, for instance, who is there in this draft that will come in and be an immediate upgrade? Who could be like Mayo, Seymour, Mankins or any of the other players recently drafted by the Pats who started most or all of their rookie year.

Aaron Curry is the only guy I can think of, he's going top 5.

All the CBs, Smith, Moore, they're all fine - but none is a huge upgrade, particularly short term, over what we have, and won't start their rookie year.

Sintim sounds fine by me, but he will take time, whether he plays outside or inside.

Basically, looking at this draft, I do not see a single player, like Mayo, who can come in and start Year 1 on the defensive side of the ball. Maybe that's not a problem, and maybe our contributions will come from the Sophomores (Wheatley, Wilhite, Crable), not the rookies. As it is, our defensive woes have been greatly exaggerated and we go into 09 in much better shape than the pundits and many forumers would have us believe.

But, if we are looking for an immediate impact player in this draft in Day 1, I think its going to be either WR or TE. I'd say OL b/c there are some good prospects, but nobody is beating any of the incumbents out of a job right now.

tombonneau

Good post. However, I would argue that neither before or after last year's draft did you or anyone else think Mayo would come in and start year one. So anything is possible.

I think that any of the LBs could possibly come in and start in the middle over Bruschi. I think it's less likely (but still possible) that the staff could find a CB they like who could stop opposite Hobbs. Safety is the only other spot where someone could replace Harrison as a starter, but this is least likely.

I agree that WR or TE might be more likely, as someone like Harvin could "start" in Gaffney's spot. I doubt however that a TE could supplant Waston as the starter, and I'm hoping that as the Pats have gone to more of a spread and less of a TE-focused offense, our days of Round 1 TEs are through (remember, Watson was taken when the Pats offense ran a lot more two TE sets.)

BradyManny

Yeah, good point about the 2TE sets. I guess I can see someone challenging Watson in certain packages though. His blocking has improved tremendously, but his production in the passing game has left something to be desired. Maybe it was a lack of Brady in there. Two years ago, it looked like Watson was on his way to becoming a top tier TE, but he's been derailed by injuries and hands of stone.

As for LB - if anyone is going to supplant Bruschi in the base D, it'd be Guyton I'd think. SILB - particularly when we're talking about the base D and primarily run defense - is tough to draft for, there aren't a lot of guys with the size for it in this draft.

As for safety, I am working under the assumption that Sanders will be back - if he's not, then we'll have no choice but to find a starting caliber safety elsewhere.

patchick

At safety right now, you'd only have to improve on Antwain Spann. Nothing against Spann, who is a useful player, but I have to believe that somewhere in this draft is a guy who could beat him out. Malcolm Jenkins at FS should certainly fill that bill. (BTW, why does Michael Hamlin's name never come up in our safety discussions?)

p8ryts

We need to replace James Sanders too. We need a hitter back there unless Rodney comes back but he hasn't been able to last the season. Meriweather is improving but we need a hitter that stops Keller in his tracks on third down.

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spann31

do you guys look at Guyton as a starting linebacker for the future? If so I don't see the big fuss of must getting a linebacker first round. Also do you see Guyton as an inside linebacker or outside linebacker.

Box_O_Rocks

No Hamlin? Oh yee of the degrading memory...

Now to BManny's question -- first identify the hole:

LT - Light, LG - Mankins, C - Koppen, RG - Neal, RT - Kaczur
TE - Watson, RB - Maroney, QB - Brady, WR - Moss, WR - Welker
DE - Seymour, NT - Wilfork, DE - Warren
OLB - Woods, ILB - Mayo, ILB - Thomas, OLB - Vrabel
CB - Hobbs, S - Meriweather, S - open, CB - Wilhite

The one open slot can be addressed by re-signing James Sanders.

This may not be the ideal line-up, but it's a servicable one with young players who were measurably improving towards the end of the season (or prior to going on IR).

The next question, is where are the holes in the depth chart for situational players?

LT - Levoir, LG - Yates/Connelly, C - Connelly/Wendell, RG - Yates/Connelly, RT - Levoir/O'Callaghan
DE - Green/Smith, NT - open, DE - Green/Smith
OLB - open*, ILB - Guyton, ILB - Guyton, OLB - open*
CB - Wheatley/Richardson, S - Spann, S - Spann, CB - Wheatley/Richardson
* Redd took some reps at OLB towards the end of the season, but I'm not sure he's advanced enough to be part of the rotation yet.

rNT can be addressed by re-signing Wright.
rOLB either comes out of the developmental pool of Crable, Redd, Craig, Ruud, and Robertson, or by drafting a 3-4 experienced OLB (Sintim, Cushing, Matthews) or finding someone if FA or trade. I vote for Sintim.

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Box_O_Rocks

I'm not sure about Guyton yet, he did well as a situational ILB. I don't see him as a regular part of the OLB rotation, but a servicable emergency player. This season should give us a better idea of his upside.

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AzPatsFan

I basically agree but for one spot and player. I'm know I'm just a broken record but a young, big, fast, mean, complete, smart, team-leading ILB, next to Mayo would work wonders. His names start with a J and end with an S...

SunnyDenmark

BOR - great way to analyze the situation by looking at depth chart. However, not sure why Bruschi is not listed anywhere as he is still under contract. But at this stage of career probably best listed as a situational player.

What strikes me the most in looking at the depth chart above, is EVEN with hopefully resigning Sanders - how weak the depth is in the DB area. If also resign Rodney, he can probably be only realistically counted on for 1/2 season as he body just doesnt hold up the last 3 years. Same for CB's as well even without injuries it is a big dropoff in talent after starters.

By point being - that with the bigger drop off in talent - then the more realistic the chance that a rookie day one pick could come in and contribute immediately (like Mayo, Seymore, etc.) And to me that seems to point toward both the safety and CB positions. Furthemore, one could argue that also CB and Safety are also the weakest positions when the starters are considered.