BradyManny
Pro Bowl Player
- Joined
- Mar 13, 2006
- Messages
- 11,103
- Reaction score
- 1,520
I agree, Sanders is more a SS than a FS, but I doubt veteran freiendly BB is going to put Rodney on the bench for Sanders, even though Rodney is a year older and declining very rapidly; and I doubt very seriously that Merriweather, even though he should be improved in year 2, can beat out Sanders.
Healthy or not, Hobbs gives big cushions for underneath stuff. Whoever starts at CB opposite Hobbs is not going to be as good in our defense as Samuel was.
Therefore with Rodney declining and an unknown, maybe even a rookie starter opposite Hobbs, I can not imagine this secondary being as good as last seasons.
I have been working under the assumption - whether correct or not, only time will tell - that Meriweather's start in the Super Bowl indicates the free safety job is his to lose in TC. With his range and speed, he's a big upgrade in coverage over Sanders.
As for Sanders v. Harrison at SS, I think that works itself out. The Pats employ enough extra DB packages that they're both going to get time, particularly given Harrison is used a lot in a somewhat LB-ish role and used to cover TEs or backs. I imagine we'll see Meriweather, Sanders and Harrison on the field a fair amount together next season.
As for Hobbs, his big cushion was a product of the system last season, who knows what it [the coverage] will look like next year and what Capers signing means for the secondary. My guess is that having a true free safety with the range of Meriweather will allow the corners to play a little more aggressive than this past season, and Hobbs would definitely play better in that kind of coverage. As it is, by most measurables and metrics I've heard, Hobbs stacked up against Asante pretty well this season. It's hard - for me at least - to assign blame for a given play when it comes to looking at the Pats secondary, so giving blame to Hobbs for certain passes being completed, that's beyond me. I'm sure others on this are capable of that kind of analysis, but I'm not going to try.
All in all, I am pretty optimistic about the shape of the secondary and the defense in general next season, even with the loss of Asante.
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