Bill Belichick was not blowing smoke when he said that he thought the guys already on the Team and developing in his three year DE--> OLB training school were better and certainly more advanced than the rookies that were slower and smaller in this past draft.
He had drafted or picked up four developing trainees at OLB. They are Shawn Crabel 65 245# 4.6 star, Pierre Woods 6 5 250# 4.7 who has graduated after 4 years of DE-OLB training, Vincent Redd 6 6 260# 4.55 OLB who played for Groh at Virginia, and Angelo Craig 6 5 245# 4.? whose position was given to senior Connor Barwin after he graduated, but not before, at Cincinnati.
How was Matthews, a guy who never started until half way through his senior year better than, Crabel, Woods, or Redd? He wasn't.
Maybin was only a raw sophomore who left school really too early, and will need a couple of years of training to just become a normal NFL player. How is he better than Crabel, Woods or Redd? He isn't.
Barwin was not given the OLB job while Angelo Craig had it at the University of Cincinnati How was he better than Craig? He wasn't... in the eyes of his college coaches.
As I see it, the fans OLB fear is just that, fear of the unknown. BB and the Coaches see everyday, unlike us, exactly what they have at OLB, and they acted as if they didn't care about drafting an OLB candidate.
I see that Pierre Woods won the SOLB job late last season away from Vrable and then lost it three games latter when he went on IR. But he is the incumbent and young starter there, with no one to challenge him. Woods is pretty much like Meriwether after his rookie season. Fans were fearful and uncertain about him. Vince Redd looks like he has the size and style to be Pierre's backup and competitor for the tough SOLB position. SOLB is not primarily a pass rushing position. The only Criticism of Woods from fans, is that they haven't seen much from him yet as a pass rusher, yet the Coaches say he is a good pass rusher.
AD is a pro-bowler and the incumbent at WOLB, which is the primary pass rushing position. He is a good pass rusher, and a tough run defender too. There are few better than him. We need for him to stay healthy. His loss was a key to the poor pass rushing stats from last year. For experienced and proven depth, the Pats re-acquired TBC who has demonstrated on his previous stay with the Pats that he can get after QBs from the WOLB position. In addition, the Pats are grooming their prize third round draft pick of 2008, Shawn Crabel, to challenge AD for his WOLB job.
So I don't really think there is as much to fear at OLB as people think.
Similarly, the Pats seldom had more than three playable ILBs, and they have that now in Mayo, Guyton and Bruschi. McKenzie was drafted to augment that group and inherit Bruschi's job when he retires. He is still on course for that in 2010, despite his IR status. They have some flexibility too. AD can fill in, in an emergency. UDFA Antonio Appleby is the two-down runstuffer that fans coveted,and trained by Al Groh. But he is a specialist and only good at that. But still he may be better than Alexander, as a part time specialist reserve runstuffer for 3rd/4th and 1 situations.
So I don't really think there is as much to fear at ILB as people think.
