JoeSixPat
Pro Bowl Player
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- Nov 8, 2004
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Today's Felger article makes points worth noting, but in many ways Felger doesn't show a lot of depth in reporting
http://patriots.bostonherald.com/patriots/view.bg?articleid=151484
Depth is an issue, no doubt about it, but Felger's view is very superficial IMO. Much of the veteran "depth" lost was just getting too old or were no longer effective - some never were.
We're supposed to reminisce about the good old days when we had JJ Stokes for depth at WR? And that's the best he could do for veteran WR depth that we no longer have?
So Roman Phifer and Ted Johnson retired. Not too much you can do about that, and this season, with the cap spending frenzy, the competition for quality veteran depth was extremely high and we'd have had to overspend.
IMO, it seems the coaching staff feels there are a lot of young players, who, while they are not marquis names, have a lot of potential to one day be well-known veteran names...
Meanwhile, I think Felger completely overlooks the way that BB built this team's depth in the first place. Look back to 2000/2001 - we're in salary cap hell and can't be FA players. BB scans the waiver wires throughout camp and brings in a lot of quality guys who understand his system and veteran cuts from other teams on the cheap. Many of those guys wound up being quality players who were here for a number of years.
Once our own camp competition is over I'd expect BB to be a VERY active player in that market again this season, giving us quality depth once again - the difference being, unlike 2000/2001 - right now we've got SB caliber starters.
So a little more insight from Felger would have been nice IMO but I suppose I shouldn't expect too much.
http://patriots.bostonherald.com/patriots/view.bg?articleid=151484
Depth is an issue, no doubt about it, but Felger's view is very superficial IMO. Much of the veteran "depth" lost was just getting too old or were no longer effective - some never were.
We're supposed to reminisce about the good old days when we had JJ Stokes for depth at WR? And that's the best he could do for veteran WR depth that we no longer have?
So Roman Phifer and Ted Johnson retired. Not too much you can do about that, and this season, with the cap spending frenzy, the competition for quality veteran depth was extremely high and we'd have had to overspend.
IMO, it seems the coaching staff feels there are a lot of young players, who, while they are not marquis names, have a lot of potential to one day be well-known veteran names...
Meanwhile, I think Felger completely overlooks the way that BB built this team's depth in the first place. Look back to 2000/2001 - we're in salary cap hell and can't be FA players. BB scans the waiver wires throughout camp and brings in a lot of quality guys who understand his system and veteran cuts from other teams on the cheap. Many of those guys wound up being quality players who were here for a number of years.
Once our own camp competition is over I'd expect BB to be a VERY active player in that market again this season, giving us quality depth once again - the difference being, unlike 2000/2001 - right now we've got SB caliber starters.
So a little more insight from Felger would have been nice IMO but I suppose I shouldn't expect too much.