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Spikes actually has more speed than his 40 time would equate to.
Not by much, and that wasn't what I claimed, in any case. I stated that he was extremely slow, which he is.
To say that he was drafted to fill a scheme that the Pats no longer run would be a fallacy on your part. The Pats still do run the 3-4 on occasion. They also run the 4-3 Under, which is similar.
Reading comprehension fail. Let me simplify this for you:
"My guess would be that, like Cunningham, Spikes was drafted to play in a base defensive scheme that the Patriots no longer run"
"was drafted to play in a base defensive scheme"
"base defensive scheme"
"base"
Key word in that statement. As a 3-4 ILB, there's a lot of value in the Ted Johnson role of stacking and shedding blockers, and in the process freeing up Mayo to be a Bruschi-style playmaker. His ability to see plays developing and be in the right place at the right time within a fairly small window, in that role, is a lot more important than straight-line speed. As a MLB with four down linemen in front of him, his strengths are far less required, and his limitations in space become a major issue. How many times this season did you see a receiver crossing the field in front of him, and then catching the ball cleanly and turning upfield when he was simply unable to keep up?
As far as another team trading for him, what would they give up? I don't see why any rival GM would give more than a 6th rounder for a guy like him with one year left on his contract. His being on the field creates almost as many problems as it solves.
He would have had a lot more value in 1993, but in 2013 he's too much of a liability in coverage to be anything more than a situational contributor. Pretty much the same thing I've been saying about Chung for the last few years, although to Spikes' credit he does have the advantage of being a significantly better football player than Chung- at least he's extremely good at the one dimension that his game does have.