3 big items left!

[SamBam39]

1) entend asante

2) veteran LB depth

3) good draft


we do these three things, and we will be locked and loaded, for this year, and the future!

 

[PATRIOT64]

1) entend asante

2) veteran LB depth

3) good draft


we do these three things, and we will be locked and loaded, for this year, and the future!

I would rather see some veteran Secondary help,Thats where we get injured mostly every year it seems..There are several very good LBs in the early part of the draft but CBs may not be as plentiful or talented when we have our turns to pick.

Does any team want to have a bad draft?,I think no draft is concidered really good until the season ends and you can evaluate them as a whole then.

 

[VJCPatriot]

Did you mean Extend Asante?

 

[SamBam39]

Did you mean Extend Asante?

yeah - sorry - extend!

as for the draft, I see us drafting both LB and secondary help, but I figure we've already got same useable backups for the secondary besides who we draft, and I think we need a coupl eof those at LB as well - guys like Gardner or Seau, or the guy from the falcons they were considering signing.

extending Asante is the biggie though.

 

[mcsully]

maybe he meant extense

 

[sebman2112]

I would rather see some veteran Secondary help,Thats where we get injured mostly every year it seems..There are several very good LBs in the early part of the draft but CBs may not be as plentiful or talented when we have our turns to pick.

Does any team want to have a bad draft?,I think no draft is concidered really good until the season ends and you can evaluate them as a whole then.

We already have vet's in the secondary...If anything they need to add more youth/playmakers. That was part of the problem at Safety last year nobody made any game changing plays. Also, NE has had more success with young secondary players, than they have with young LB's.
Hawkins: 1 INT, 2 FF (good), and only 3 PD's.
Sanders: 1 sack, 1 INT, 1 PD
Harrison: 1 sack, 1 FF, 1 INT, 3 PD's

Now out of the main starting rotation at Safety NE had a total of 2 sacks, 3 FF's, 3 INT's, and 7 PD's.

 

[Fantasic4x50x54x59x55]

I believe we have enough Veteranship in our LB Corp... Bruschi,Vrabel,Thomas,Colvin--What we need is a some fresh,young legs to follow in their footsteps..

Extending Samuel is VERY important...We can't compare this situation to Ty Laws for he is much younger, and has alot more ahead of him, then TY did 2 seasons ago.

Come on...The Pats having a bad draft is like hell freezing over...It wont happen:rocker:

 

[Fantasic4x50x54x59x55]

I would rather see some veteran Secondary help,Thats where we get injured mostly every year it seems..There are several very good LBs in the early part of the draft but CBs may not be as plentiful or talented when we have our turns to pick.

:agree: :ditto: :yeahthat:

 

[sebman2112]

I believe we have enough Veteranship in our LB Corp... Bruschi,Vrabel,Thomas,Colvin--What we need is a some fresh,young legs to follow in their footsteps..

Extending Samuel is VERY important...We can't compare this situation to Ty Laws for he is much younger, and has alot more ahead of him, then TY did 2 seasons ago.

Come on...The Pats having a bad draft is like hell freezing over...It wont happen:rocker:

Yea, they need to extend Samuel, and this is a different situation.
Ty Law was 30-31 during those contract negotiations, coming off injury, and talking about putting food on the table.
Asante Samuel is hopefully just entering his prime, and coming off his best season as a pro, and one of his most durable to date.

 

[Fantasic4x50x54x59x55]

Yea, they need to extend Samuel, and this is a different situation.
Ty Law was 30-31 during those contract negotiations, coming off injury, and talking about putting food on the table.
Asante Samuel is hopefully just entering his prime, and coming off his best season as a pro, and one of his most durable to date.

:rocker: Right you are.

 

[MrTibbs]

Veteran help? Are you freakin serious? We need YOUTH at safety, we need athletes who can run at safety AND LB. I'd love nothing more then to see LB and safety addressed in round 1. Send Griffin here home to papa and a LB that can run!

 

[mgteich]

And exactly how old do you think Sanders, Wilson, Baker and Andrews are? Even Mitchell is 28. Only Hawkins and Harrison are 30.

Veteran help? Are you freakin serious? We need YOUTH at safety, we need athletes who can run at safety AND LB. I'd love nothing more then to see LB and safety addressed in round 1. Send Griffin here home to papa and a LB that can run!

 

[sebman2112]

And exactly how old do you think Sanders, Wilson, Baker and Andrews are? Even Mitchell is 28. Only Hawkins and Harrison are 30.

Wlison hasn't played at a high level since early 2005, is a free agent after this season, and has been injury prone.
Baker? Please, he's nothing more than an emergency backup.
Mitchell? Same as Baker.

Sanders is the only young Safety who did anything last year, and even he's a free agent after '08. Plus, he's not that much of a play maker, but more of a rotational starter/backup.

 

[SamBam39]

I look at things on 2 levels:

The first level is, do we have enough talent and depth to be covered at a particular position? Can we go into the season with what we have now and compete, even if it is not ideal? (These are the 'must haves')

The second level is, how great is the talent, what is the contract status of the players involved, what are the ages of the players and how great is the depth at the position? (These are the 'would be ideals')

Regarding the secondary, yes, there are plenty of ways to improve the situation regarding the second level questions, but at least we have the first level questions taken care of. Regarding the linebackers, we're still visibly short handed depth-wise on the first level of questions.

So while I expect the Pats to improve each area regarding the second level questions via the draft, I'd still like to see them do a little something to help the linebacker depth, regarding the first level questions, before the draft.

And as I've said, I think signing Asante to an extension, answers alot of first and second level questions for the secondary, at least it certainly takes alot of pressure off.

The nice thing is, these are basically our only areas left of any kind of concern really, and I'm confident the Pats will adress them both successfully as we go forward too!