Thompkins

And so commences The Fourteenth (or is it fifteenth? I've honestly lost count here, guys) Grand Amendola Debate.

Bruins29 said:

Who said he was going to replace him? Also can you tell us who the Pats should have signed last off season at WR?

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No one was going to replace Welker. The pass offense was designed to revolve around the Welker role, and the way the defense schemed against it. When Welker was allowed to roam free, he was the primary target and virtually always open. When the defense focussed on Welker, the play design was based upon taking advantage of that. Since Moss was traded, it was a Welker-centric offense, because the defense dictated that it needed to be.
The converse of BBs defensive philosophy of take away the biggest threat is to have your offense revolve around what the defense is trying to take away.
Welker was a unique talent at getting open when left alone, so if the D left him alone, it was a quick, easy read, and usually a completion. When we was focussed on routes were designed to take advantage of the scheme that tried to take him away.
Once Welker left, we were defended differently. You cannot put someone in Welkers role if his role is derived from the focus the defense puts on him, if they do not put the same focus on the other guy.

Amendola did not take Welkers place, Edelman did not take Welkers place. The offense changed because the defense it faced changed.

Dobson has a chronic injury and I doubt he's ready by season opening.

kennyb said:

Dobson has a chronic injury and I doubt he's ready by season opening.

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Chronic? He suffered the injury once and is recovering from it. An injury is only chronic is it never goes away or recurs.

These prediction threads are always amusing. First of all the OP is right - it does appear that a spot on the roster is currently Thompkins to lose - but then again camp positional competition seldom goes as anyone predicts

Aside from that every writer and fan wants to be "right" about their prediction - so much so they'll twist stats one way or another and actually root AGAINST a Patriots so they can have bragging rights

Those are the times you should be VERY happy to be wrong about your predictions - so those who think Thompkins will be on the outside looking in should and want to be able to say "I told you so" really should adjust their attitude and root that they are going to be proven idiotically wrong!

Efstratios said:

And so commences The Fourteenth (or is it fifteenth? I've honestly lost count here, guys) Grand Amendola Debate.

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Dont know why a certain someone thinks this is funny. Its kinda sick and pathetic that someone can't just accept he is a Patriot and we should be rooting for him 100% regardless of his past injuries.

AndyJohnson said:

Chronic? He suffered the injury once and is recovering from it. An injury is only chronic is it never goes away or recurs.

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He did aggravate the injury after originally suffering it.

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/eye-on...rt-patriots-wr-aaron-dobson-underwent-surgery

But toward the end of the year, he was affected by a stress fracture in his foot that kept him out three weeks, and after he returned in Week 17, he re-aggravated the injury.

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That said, I still wouldn't call it chronic. He just played on it again too soon after the original injury.

kennyb said:

Dobson has a chronic injury and I doubt he's ready by season opening.

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He has the same chronic injury and the same operation that Edelman endured while catching over 100 balls.

BradyFTW! said:

He did aggravate the injury after originally suffering it.

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/eye-on...rt-patriots-wr-aaron-dobson-underwent-surgery



That said, I still wouldn't call it chronic. He just played on it again too soon after the original injury.

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Foot fractures are very slow to heal. That's why he and Edelman got screws interpreted through surgery. Edelman had a setback before the season. We don't know that Dobson has, they are just being careful, I bet

kennyb said:

Dobson has a chronic injury and I doubt he's ready by season opening.

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Hahaha, lmao

Watch Edelman will get hurt week 1 and then Amendola will play all season just to annoy everyone. I do want to see what will happen for Thompkins and Lafell this preseason

Seriously, we've kept Jake "No Show" Bequette, ain't no way Thompkins gets cut. Hopefully him and Amendola make huge leaps going into their second years here.

deters said:

Seriously, we've kept Jake "No Show" Bequette, ain't no way Thompkins gets cut. Hopefully him and Amendola make huge leaps going into their second years here.

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The numbers are going to make things interesting this year.

3 QBs
5 RBS (2 HB, 1 FB, 2 3rdB)
2 TEs
10 OL
6 WRs

9 DL (5 DT, 4DE)
6 LB
9 DB (Revis, Browner, Dennard, Arrington, Ryan, McCourty, Harmon, 2 of the remaining safeties)

4 ST (Slater, Gost, Allen, LS)


That's 54 players right there, and that's not keeping much dead weight. Fiddling with dropping a LB gets you to 53, cutting one of the IOL vets (Wendell/Connolly) would take it down to 52 at the start, and Browner being suspended would then take it down to 51 at the start, but the roster is tight this year, and that's with carrying just 2 TEs and not signing anyone else's cuts. Barring injury, BB's going to have to make some tough decisions, and it's even possible that no UDFA makes it this year.

deters said:

Seriously, we've kept Jake "No Show" Bequette, ain't no way Thompkins gets cut. Hopefully him and Amendola make huge leaps going into their second years here.

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Thompkins' chances have increased since mini camp/OTAs in my opinion, and the uncertainty of the injury situation with Dobson (at least to the point of him not yet seeing the field) definitely helps his cause. I think it's looking like he'll definitely make it, at least as it pertains to July 29th anyway.

Now...whether or not he can actually be active on gamedays is up to several different factors, obviously including the overall injury situation at WR for that particular week, along with the development/lack of from players such as LaFell and Thompkins himself. One more very important aspect would be whether or not Josh Boyce is active and returning kickoffs, which would obviously decrease Thompkins' chances of seeing the gameday roster.

Deus Irae said:

The numbers are going to make things interesting this year.

3 QBs
5 RBS (2 HB, 1 FB, 2 3rdB)
2 TEs
10 OL
6 WRs

9 DL (5 DT, 4DE)
6 LB
9 DB (Revis, Browner, Dennard, Arrington, Ryan, McCourty, Harmon, 2 of the remaining safeties)

4 ST (Slater, Gost, Allen, LS)


That's 54 players right there, and that's not keeping much dead weight. Fiddling with dropping a LB gets you to 53, cutting one of the IOL vets (Wendell/Connolly) would take it down to 52 at the start, and Browner being suspended would then take it down to 51 at the start, but the roster is tight this year, and that's with carrying just 2 TEs and not signing anyone else's cuts. Barring injury, BB's going to have to make some tough decisions, and it's even possible that no UDFA makes it this year.

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Nice breakdown, Deus.

My guess is that you've pretty much pegged our wiggle room, and that we see all 3 of your examples coming true.

One of Connelly/Wendell is gone, take out a LB for the time being, and obviously take Browner's suspension into account. That takes it down to 51, and we'll be adding 2 more outside players from camp cutdowns--one which should be a replacement LB. That's a pretty decent guess at how it will shake out.

Of course I highly doubt it will follow that exact blueprint, but it's not a bad place to start.

Deus Irae said:

The numbers are going to make things interesting this year.

3 QBs
5 RBS (2 HB, 1 FB, 2 3rdB)
2 TEs
10 OL
6 WRs

9 DL (5 DT, 4DE)
6 LB
9 DB (Revis, Browner, Dennard, Arrington, Ryan, McCourty, Harmon, 2 of the remaining safeties)

4 ST (Slater, Gost, Allen, LS)


That's 54 players right there, and that's not keeping much dead weight. Fiddling with dropping a LB gets you to 53, cutting one of the IOL vets (Wendell/Connolly) would take it down to 52 at the start, and Browner being suspended would then take it down to 51 at the start, but the roster is tight this year, and that's with carrying just 2 TEs and not signing anyone else's cuts. Barring injury, BB's going to have to make some tough decisions, and it's even possible that no UDFA makes it this year.

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QB (3) Brady, Mallett, Garoppolo
RB (4) Ridley, White, Vereen, Develin
WR (7) Edelman, Amendola, Boyce, Thompkins, LaFell, Slater, Dobson
TE (3) Gronkowski, Hoomanawanui, Jones
C (2) Connolly, Stork
G (4) Mankins, Halapio, Kline, Cannon
T (3) Solder, Vollmer, Fleming
DE (4) Jones, Ninkovich, Smith, Buchanan
DT (5) Wilfork, Kelly, Siliga, Jones, Easley
ILB(3) Mayo, Hightower, Beauharnais
OLB(3) Collins, Anderson, Davis
CB (6) Revis, Browner, Dennard, Arrington, Ryan, Butler
SS (2) Harmon, Wilson
FS (2) McCourty, Chung
ST (3) Gostkowski, Allen, Aiken

Total players: 54

Imo, that is my ideal day 1 roster before any preseason games impact final training camp performance. Once Browner returns you cut Butler to get to 53. The only tough decisions I see are at RB, DT and LB. Either way, this is easily going to be the best team on paper we've had since 2008.

Thompkins is running with the first team. Thus, he is pretty much a lock unless he does something to screw it up. Dobson will have to prove his worth before getting a shot with the first team.

Nunchucks said:

Thompkins is running with the first team. Thus, he is pretty much a lock unless he does something to screw it up. Dobson will have to prove his worth before getting a shot with the first team.

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We really have to wonder how far this will set Dobson back "IF" he not practicing with the Team in the next couple of weeks.

Archeryaddict12 said:

Hahaha, lmao

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His injury isn't considered chronic YET. That's true.

Playing on a stress fracture before it's healed = chronic problem.

Now hear he has a screw put in.

He starts on pup was my point. We'll see.

I think we've known for almost 2 weeks about Dobson's situation pertaining to the fact that he's just recently started to run, and he was still in the boot sometime between 3-5 weeks ago.

I don't know that it necessarily means that he won't be returning in the next couple of weeks, or that he'll suddenly have to beat out Thompkins to regain his starting job again. He's clearly the more talented WR--by far. If he's healthy, I would expect him to have the job locked down.