Player who Breaks Through/Player who Regresses

[The Scrizz]

Hmmm, I will approach this as progression/regression in quality of play because stats are for suckers and the ball gets spread around so much that individual stats may suffer.

Progression: Spikes, the monster in the middle. Chung, hopefully with better CB depth he won't have to be covering other team's quick little 3rd receivers in the nickel and can do what he does best. Gronk, this kid is just scratching the surface of his potential.

Regression: Brace, less time with Haynesworth, return of Wright, more 4-3. Butler, can you regress from suck? Don't see him getting much run with Bowden and Ras I coming in and he isn't much of a ST. Could see him getting cut. Tate, Ocho = bench, bench = first in line to be cut.

 

[fnordcircle]

This is Edelman's year. This coaching staff won't forget he was basically the lone spark in the playoff game against the Jets.

 

[Bigatrop]

BREAKOUTS:

I'm being dead serious when I say I'm still waiting for Darius Butler to break out. The guy absolutely has all the physical tools to be just as good as the rest. Why is it that McCourty just came in and did what he did, but Darius cannot? What is it that just isn't clicking for him right now? Is his confidence in himself gone? I don't know. The guy is good . . . I believe that. He just isn't putting it together right now and it's driving me (and I'm sure the NE staff) crazy. Watching him last year, I see a guy who was typically in good position, but he just failed to make the play. Also, his tackling leaves a little to be desired. I still have hope for him.

While I would love it if this happened, I wouldn't hold my breath. Not only is the dude now at the bottom of the CB proverbial totem pole, but his onfield play has left much to be desired over the past 2 seasons.

Considering who he is behind in the depth chart (McCourty, Bodden, and Dowling), I don't expect him to even have the chance to breakout.

 

[Keyser Söze]

Darius Butler is more of an athlete than a NFL corner. He didn't even start playing football until late in high school.

 

[everlong]

I'll take Price on offense to come on and overtake Tate on the depth chart and have a solid 30/450 type of season. Obviously unless Tate can reestablish himself in the return game that could put his roster spot in danger.

On defense I'll echo others and go with Chung. I think he comes into his own this year and makes the Pro Bowl. On the regression I'm not sure who to take but I do think this is a make it or break it year for one of Brace and Pryor so both need good camps.

 

[FoxWhiskey]

Break trough:
Price
Cunningham
Love

Regress:
Spikes
Tate
Butler
Meriweather

 

[DaBronxPats14]

Player Who Breaks Through...... Haynesworth
Player Who Regresses............. Haynesworth

Its ALL Up To Him!

Ochocinco.......... Break Through Best Year Of His Career

 

[asfpnepRefugee]

Regression for me, and I hate to say it, but Devin McCourty. Before I get flamed, I think he's going to have a really good year, but he won't have the interception numbers like last year and he'll get a few more times. The corners as a whole, Bodden, Dowling, and McCourty will play extremely well.

No flames from me, I entered this thread to say McCourty as my regression pick. It's not that I think he *will* but that he's probably the most likely candidate due to how high of a level he played last season. This is compounded by the even loftier expectations that people have of him going into this season.

As for breakout, that I don't know. I guess I'd say Price for the same reason I went w/ McCourty. He showed so little last season (not his fault, really) and yet has already flashed here and there. Given any sort of real playing time one would think that he'd have to improve.

 

[asfpnepRefugee]

Certainly hope that Hernandez is not one to regress, as he can provide quite a mismatch nightmare for opposing defenses and coordinators. A.Hernandez should be a vital part of our success. I couldn't imagine him having too much less than the 45 catches that he put up last yr, unless you consider something around 35-40 a major regression.

Unless other teams finally bothered to watch tape and notice that Hernandez cuts to the inside every single time he catches the ball

 

[Rob0729]

Breakthrough:

Spikes - Looking impressive in camp thus far and will benefit most from a Haynesworth/Wilfork combo

Cunningham - Showed flashes last year. Going into the season healthy will do wonders.

Regress:

Branch - Getting up there in age. Will see a lot of balls he would have gotten last year go OchoCinco's way.

Woodhead: Loses playing time to Vereen.

 

[jeffbiologist]

I think with Haynesworth in the middle our ILBs have a great chance to step up. Mayo is already good, hard to see him improving all that much so Spikes is the obvious choice if he can keep his pants on. Regressing on D how can I say it without getting blasted....NTs get hurt easy, Vince is bigger than ever and I'm more concerned than ever because if he does go down Haynesworth's focus could then uncoil....bad news.

On offense I see no one givin love to Vereen. I think BB had him as the best RB in the draft otherwise he would have grabbed Ingram when he could. As he comes on I think you see most of the other RBs regress....except Faulk. I think Hernandez has a sophmore slump. And kinda hoping to see some of the young WRs step up...but 1 of em is likely to be cut or traded, who is it going to be??

 

[Rob0729]

I think with Haynesworth in the middle our ILBs have a great chance to step up. Mayo is already good, hard to see him improving all that much so Spikes is the obvious choice if he can keep his pants on. Regressing on D how can I say it without getting blasted....NTs get hurt easy, Vince is bigger than ever and I'm more concerned than ever because if he does go down Haynesworth's focus could then uncoil....bad news.

On offense I see no one givin love to Vereen. I think BB had him as the best RB in the draft otherwise he would have grabbed Ingram when he could. As he comes on I think you see most of the other RBs regress....except Faulk. I think Hernandez has a sophmore slump. And kinda hoping to see some of the young WRs step up...but 1 of em is likely to be cut or traded, who is it going to be??

I'm not giving any love to any rookie on any team. No offseason means you can't count on any rookie to make an impact this year.

 

[TruthSeeker]

Unless other teams finally bothered to watch tape and notice that Hernandez cuts to the inside every single time he catches the ball

It's all in the plan to set them up for the double moves this year.

 

[Coach42]

Breakthrough: Darius Butler. Got a lot of praise from the coaching staff and front office last year to only fall on his face. Let's face it you don't here either BB or Caserio handing out too much unwarranted praise towards their own players. I think he puts it all together this year and competes with McCourty and Bodden for playing time.

Regression: BJGE. Pats added a lot of talent to the back field over the last 12 months. I think that hampers his playing time and his numbers. I don't think there is any way in hell he sniffs 1k yards and double digit touchdowns again.

 

[Synovia]

I'm not giving any love to any rookie on any team. No offseason means you can't count on any rookie to make an impact this year.

While I agree, RB is about the least technical position in the NFL, and there's a history of mid-season UDFA players performing well.

 

[Calciumee]

I'm not giving any love to any rookie on any team. No offseason means you can't count on any rookie to make an impact this year.

Also, how can a rookie have a better season last year? They weren't in the NFL!

 

[s3antana5757]

Vollmer is already considered among the elites at RT. He'd be an elite LT if he played on that side.

I'm not going to flame you about your McCourty comment, but I will try to put it into perspective for you. In just about every aspect of the game, McCourty improved tremendously over the course of his rookie year. For the first half of the year, McCourty was making the adjusment to the NFL and learning to blanket his receiver consistently. It wasn't until the second half of the season that he was turning his head and making a play on the ball. This guy is a real ballhawk, and it doesn't stop while the ball is in the air.... he has great hands and a real knack for stripping the ball and creating fumbles. Combine this with better coverage by his team mates on the opposite side and in the middle of the field, and Devin will probably see a fair number of balls thrown his way. The only factor that I can see that affects his INTs negatively is that the defense will likely play significantly fewer snaps this year.

To us and to people in the know, he is. But ask a casual football fan of the 49ers, I doubt he knows who our RT is. He'll jump into the Thomas, Mankins, Nicks sort of brand name tackle.

I was trying to be somewhat polite for a first post so this wouldn't turn into a flame the OP thread. Basically I think McCourty gets beat alot more and his overall play declines. I don't care about INT's. Aso didn't have an INT until his 50th professional game and didn't have one(or had exactly one) last year. He's the top 1 or 2 CB's in the NFL.

 

[NEGoldenAge]

To us and to people in the know, he is. But ask a casual football fan of the 49ers, I doubt he knows who our RT is. He'll jump into the Thomas, Mankins, Nicks sort of brand name tackle.

I was trying to be somewhat polite for a first post so this wouldn't turn into a flame the OP thread. Basically I think McCourty gets beat alot more and his overall play declines. I don't care about INT's. Aso didn't have an INT until his 50th professional game and didn't have one(or had exactly one) last year. He's the top 1 or 2 CB's in the NFL.

Aso's coverage is much better than his ball skills and he plays a particular side of the field, often not covering the other teams #1. Combine all that with the fact that rest of the Raiders secondary isn't nearly as good as the Pat's, you comparison really starts to fall apart. As long as McCourty stays healthy, he has the focus, drive, talent and smarts to continue to improve.

 

[HomerSchooled]

Hernandez would seem a likely candidate to regress, since he drastically tailed off from how he started last season, and Gronk is just going to get more and more reps. That being said, TEs almost always make pretty substantial leaps their second year in a system. Considering how our TEs started, that could be pretty scary.

Branch, given his age, injury history, and miraculous contribution last year, is the most obvious player whose arrow is pointing down. As for breakout player, I too will go with Spikes. He had a knack for massive splash plays at Florida. He returned 4 interceptions for TDs from 2008-2009, most in Florida history, and most in CFB over that time. With another year in the system, and Wilfork/Haynesworth in front of him, I could see him making a handfull of TFLs, sacks, and INTs. I'm picturing a Bart Scott to Mayo's Ray Lewis.

 

[Don Kipines]

I worry about Dan Koppen, James Sanders, Chad Ochocinco and Leigh Bodden. Bodden in particular is a guy who never had great speed and made up for it with strength and balance and anticipation -- if he starts to age a little, to the point where he can't compensate for the lack of speed, he could fall off quickly, a little like Nate Clements.

I think Chad is facing an uphill battle. If he gets off to a slow start, drops a few balls, and misses some reads, I can see Brady freezing him out. It's not going to be like it was with Moss, who was burning guys deep over and over again. Chad doesn't have that speed anymore and if he's not dominating corners and getting wide open, Brady has so many other options that Ocho's role might be diminished. I also wonder if Taylor Price will get a shot at some point -- they might prefer to have a real speed guy out there, and if the kid can play, his shot will come at the expense of Branch's or Ocho's reps.

For breakout players I like Eric Moore. He just smells like one of those classic totally unlikely out-of-nowhere Pats success stories, like Vrabel or Steve Neal.