My thoughts from the other day revisited on a clear mind:
DE is a huge need for this team, let's not act like OLB is the only need. I've read a few media outlets recently that have been pining for us to draft a premier pass rusher like Quinn (although I'm not sold he's a premier pass rusher to begin with, I'll get to that later). As I was trying to say earlier, and it came out quite convoluted: the Patriots do technically play a 3-4 but the personnel and what they're asked to do is more akin to 5-2. Meaning the Patriots OLBs act as extensions of the defensive line in the standard formation, this is directly related to Belichicks defensive philosophy of playing a hybrid of man and zone at almost all times. It's a big part of the reason that some players would flop in our defense who thrive in others. Belichick is fanatical about the concept of reading and reacting as it directly stems from his basic [football] personality. Conceptually speaking, if you understand what another team is doing in football and have players who can rapidly identify this and counteract it you will win every game. It's a big part of the reason this team has won as many games as it has. This concept is also apparent on the offensive side of the football, the Patriots the last year have made a huge switch in philosophy that I've touched on before. It's called unpredictability, they drafted offensive players who can line up all over the formation and run just about every route. Not to mention that they run out of passing sets, and pass out of running sets. It's a big part of the reason why Moss was jettisoned, he was completely predictable and had little to no diversity (and he just wasn't that good at his one thing he did anymore either). It's part of the reason I wouldn't be shocked to see Welker not resigned either, but that's another conversation entirely. The concept being that as more and more and more teams try to attack defensively and force you into making mistakes, this offense keeps the defense on their heals and allows them to dictate the flow of the game as few players, especially on defense, have the capability to read the other teams formations and use almost encyclopedic knowledge from film study to attack them correctly (for example, Tom does this on offense).
Anywho, back to the defense. Belichick understands that if you just pin your ears back and rush that you will get exposed. Like the Pats do to the Steelers every time they play. The Steelers have a great defense against teams with QBs who can't identify the zone blitzes, but once you do they are exposed. You can game plan around these aggressive blitzes. So what Belichick wants his high [football] IQ players who can read what the offense is doing and accurately do their responsibility. This includes the OLBs. The Patriots will blitz, certainly, but not like teams like the Steelers or Packers. They will frequently ask their OLBs to engage with OTs or whoever is on their side and be ready to shed that block to attack a RB or hold it to force the RB to go to sideline allowing the pursuit to arrive. Granted, if the play is headed in the other direction they are asked to quickly disengage and partake in backside pursuit (something Cunningham is very good at, he has the makings of a very good strong side OLB). Because of this the OLBs are generally hoped to have good length and strong use of handle in order to be able to engage an offensive tackle and maintain control of said situation without just getting mauled (with the way tackles are built, especially left tackles, they will absolutely abuse most OLBs if they're asked to engage them head on in gap control).
In addition to maintaining a light amount of gap control against offensive lines, the LBs will also be asked to cover certain responsibilities based on the concept of 'Pattern Matching' (Nice writeup by a poster over on Footballsfuture ->
NFL Forum :: - Pattern Matching: Secondary coverage) so fluidity in space is a must.
So let's look at the prospect Aldon Smith. He has the natural size to play this position for New England (arm length, height, and weight and frame to expand that a bit more), he has good burst off the line, and he is fantastic in space for his size.
Let's compare two different prospects for the sake of argument I'll use Quinn vs Aldon Smith. Watch these two videos before reading the next part of this;
Quinn:
NFL Videos: 2011 combine workout: Robert Quinn
Smith:
NFL Videos: 2011 combine workout: Aldon Smith
If you watch that video, for the supposed super athlete that Quinn is I'm not too impressed with his ability to move in space (referring to his LB drills) he doesn't move fluidly or at least nearly as good as Aldon does. Aldon seems to quickly change direction, planting his foot and accelerating quickly which I believe Belichick values. I don't think it comes naturally to Quinn, he looked very hesitant. If you combine this space fluidity with the fact that I think Aldon could bulk up to 270-275 if he played here, I think you have a great prospect for the Patriots weakside OLB.
That said, I still see us grabbing a DE and trading out of the first round so I wouldn't get your hopes up for Smith. He's a bit of a pipe dream. I wouldn't mind, as we really need a new DE. I'll write up something on that in the next 48 hours.
