Questions Being Answered

[PATRIOTS-80]

It is early, but we've had months since the draft, a couple of minor camps, some roster moves and a couple of days of training camp.

RECEIVERS
Caldwell is a major pickup. Thomas is an excellent receiver. Maroney is fine coming out of the backfield. Brown is on the veteran practice schedule, and should contribute. Jackson looked great in minicamp, pulled a hammy, and will be back in a few days.

We need Branch to sign, and still have room to continue the competition for the #5 receiver, although having a couple of youngsters on the PS could work as well. I'd rather bring in another returner like Dwight and Davis last year to be the #5 receiver.

QB, OL, TE, RB, FB
There are no real issues other than who will win the various competitions for playing time. There are also some roster spots, but the competition is there.

DEFENSIVE LINE
The top four are ready, the backups are not. We need three to share some reps. Wright is stepping up, and has a great attitude, and should stick at a backup NT and as a special teamer. Hill is hurt. Sullivan is Sullivan and Smith and Thomas are the youngsters with a roster shot.

LINEBACKER
We have our four starters. The backups seem to be Banta-Cain, Brown and Gardner. We have youngsters competing for a spot or two in Alexander, Mincey and Roach. And we have top special team leaders in Davis and Izzo. Somehow this looks much better than a couple of month's ago, or even two weeks ago.

CORNER
Who will win the competition to start? We have lots of nickel backs. We have five corners plus Wilson; hopefully we'll find our starter, now that Law is not an option.

SAFETY
We have serveral who can start, or share starting depending on the opposition. We have seven competing for six spots, but Wilson could win a corner spot, and all could make the roster.

KICKER
Both seems fine.

RETURNERS
The search continues. Will we need to use a roster spot on a returner?

SPECIAL TEAMS COVERAGE
We brought in Mitchell and Jones to replace Chatham, and perhaps the decreased effectiveness of Davis. Wright will be more active. We should see some improvemnt.

BOTTOM LINE - WHAT ME WORRY?
For me, the open questions and potential weaknesses are at corner, returner and at wide receiver (until Branch is back).

You know what I absolutely agree with you!!!!!!!

QB POSITION:
Cassell is the #2. I think the question for the QB position is: does BB take 3 QB in camp. While some may think the question ridiculous, they probably would have never even dreamed BB would begin with 3 RB on the roster last year (a position with a lot of wear and tear). IMHO, if we lose Brady and Cassell ... what's the point? Run the game out, sign a guy off the street, do the best you can, and more than likely we're going to have a top 10 pick in the draft next year. Keeping the third QB could potentially kick off a developmental player at another position that we would like to keep. Keep the 2 QB idea in the back of your mind as a possibility.

RB POSITION:

We got 3 RB/2HB. What I think contributed to the turnovers at Denver, was not just the lack of a home game, but also the lack of a running game. John Lynch said after the game that they didn't really worry about the RB, because the RB just couldn't burn them. So they all stacked the line and run-blitzed Brady (instead of dropping back and letting him pick them apart). So what did BB do? He got himself a HOMERUN threat with Maroney. Sure Maroney will get stacked up, maybe even stopped for a loss. But once or twice a game, when a defender is out of position, he's gonna go with North-South speed right through the secondary for a big score.

Now I know what I will say is controversial, but I think Pass makes the team. The reason being is that I don't see Evans beating out Mills, and I don't see BB handing it to a rookie (Mills) over Pass. And I also don't see Evans over Pass either. We'll see if I'm wrong, but I'm betting that Pass/Mills is the most likely combination of H-backs on the roster. Evans has bounced around the league and could go on the shadow roster.

WR POSITION

I like Caldwell. Although Caldwell is not going be a ProBowler, I see him as a cog fitting in. Somehow its not hard to see Caldwell/Jackson combining to meet or beat Givens 59 catches last year. Steady Brown will be the possession WR that comes in on 3rd down and moves the chains.

I haven't commented on the Branch situation, but IMHO Branch it will turn out fine. First of all, we sat him out of pre-season games last year just so that he wouldn't get hurt. Second, we have a lot of cap room and not a lot of WRs. That's in Branch's favor, but what is not in his favor is that we have the Franchise tag (and a lot of cap room to keep using it).

I see us carrying 5 WR this year, as opposed to 6 last year. (Branch, Caldwell, Jackson, Brown, Childress).

TE

TE position is going to be huge this year. 2 TE I think will be our base offensive package. Last year, Brady only had 15% of his completions go to TE, but back in 2003 when we won the SB against Carolina, Brady had 21% of his completions go to TE. Expect Brady's completions to TEs to be closer to 2003 than 2005. In 2005, Brady threw a greater completion percentage to WR than in the past three years. Expect that number to go down.

I think Thomas will be a solid rookie contributor. Watson could very well replace Givens as far as a go-to guy for Brady.

OL

OL was part of running woes last year. Its hard to keep a good running game when you lose your LT, C and RT. It looks like Light and Koppen could be ready by opening day. If Koppen doesn't, Hochstein can fill in the first game or two. There was a lot of worry in the off-season about Light and Koppen, but just the fact that Light is practicing is a really good sign. I don't see the worry about those 2 right now that there was a couple of months ago. Incidentally, I noticed Wesely Britt is on the 2nd/1st team as the LT (when Light doesn't practice). With Kaczur's questionmark status, look for Britt to make the 53 because LT is an important position. With O'Callagan and Gorin practicing at RT, Kaczur could be PUPed and brought in if one of our tackles gets hurt.

An interesting thing to note is that if we take 5 in the backfield (3RB, 2 H-backs) that is 2 more than we took last year. We could get those two positions back by not taking a 3rd QB (thereby explaining why BB didn't go into FA to replace Flutie), and only taking 5 WR. If we don't get the 2 spots that way, its going to hurt the OL or the defense.

 

[pats1]

One thing to remember about the QB situation that BB noted in his press conference today:

Keeping only 2 QBs does free up a roster spot, but it doesn't allow a team to dress any more players on gamedays.

But he also said he'll do whatever is best for the team, and that there's no restriction/requirement that he'll, say, keep 1 UDFA on the roster or keep a certain number of players at one position. Used the 4 QBs kept in 2000 as an example.

 

[MrBigglesWorth]

D-line has quality, not quanity. Marquise Hill is always injured, this is his year as a make or break, similar to Bethel although they might hold onto him linger than they did Bethel. Mike Wright is still questionable, he's still a developing project. I would be weary of having him be a starter for an extended period of time. Sullivan is a lazy bum, he didn't even pass the conditioning test. I can't see him getting into shape in one or two weeks..... hence he will be far behind in the system. An LeKevin is a rookie, enough said.

Where's Klecko? I thought he dropped weight to be a backer.

I would say O-Line is the deepest position with Koppen and Light returning.

 

[PatsWickedPissah]

D-line has quality, not quanity. Marquise Hill is always injured, this is his year as a make or break, similar to Bethel although they might hold onto him linger than they did Bethel. Mike Wright is still questionable, he's still a developing project. I would be weary of having him be a starter for an extended period of time. Sullivan is a lazy bum, he didn't even pass the conditioning test. I can't see him getting into shape in one or two weeks..... hence he will be far behind in the system. An LeKevin is a rookie, enough said.

Where's Klecko? I thought he dropped weight to be a backer.

I would say O-Line is the deepest position with Koppen and Light returning.

Hill is an enigma to me. A huge guy and a project. Used on goaline D when healthy. Failed to make the gameday squad many Sundays. I'd previously labeled him a bust to have some fun controversy but rational perspective says this is his make or break pre-season. He could just make the team as the best available JAG DL reserve but you'd like more from a 2nd round pick.

This is Klecko's best opening to make it as a LB reserve. Otherwise there are too many good ST prospects to keep him just for that, prospective injuries aside.

EDIT: According to Reiss today...
"Dan Klecko, who had been working at outside linebacker in June's minicamp, has been back with the defensive linemen."

Oh well.

 

[mgteich]

My bet is that whoever we cut in the last week will not even be picked up by ANY other team, never mind a playoff team.

I believe "deepest" means "having depth".

Arguably, we have the best, or certainly one of the top three DL's in the league, counting the linemen who get 90% of the reps.

But let's go beyond the 90%. What depth do we have after the top four?

SULLIVAN - Will he play in the NFL this year? Should he?
SMITH - PS or will he make the squad as one of Players 51-53?
HILL - Can he stay on the field? Does it matter?
WRIGHT - He'll make the squad; he's more reliable that the rest and has a defined role. He also has a great attitude, and is working hard on special teams.

This is the BEST depth in the league? Many here disagree. However, we have a fine line, as long as the top four are not injured.

IMHO, Wright is our #5 DL. He almost didn't make our squad last year, and is questionable this year.

I'm not seeing where you're getting that.

The DL has and will remain the deepest position on the team.

 

[PATRIOTS-80]

It is early, but we've had months since the draft, a couple of minor camps, some roster moves and a couple of days of training camp.

RECEIVERS
Caldwell is a major pickup. Thomas is an excellent receiver. Maroney is fine coming out of the backfield. Brown is on the veteran practice schedule, and should contribute. Jackson looked great in minicamp, pulled a hammy, and will be back in a few days.

We need Branch to sign, and still have room to continue the competition for the #5 receiver, although having a couple of youngsters on the PS could work as well. I'd rather bring in another returner like Dwight and Davis last year to be the #5 receiver.

QB, OL, TE, RB, FB
There are no real issues other than who will win the various competitions for playing time. There are also some roster spots, but the competition is there.

DEFENSIVE LINE
The top four are ready, the backups are not. We need three to share some reps. Wright is stepping up, and has a great attitude, and should stick at a backup NT and as a special teamer. Hill is hurt. Sullivan is Sullivan and Smith and Thomas are the youngsters with a roster shot.

LINEBACKER
We have our four starters. The backups seem to be Banta-Cain, Brown and Gardner. We have youngsters competing for a spot or two in Alexander, Mincey and Roach. And we have top special team leaders in Davis and Izzo. Somehow this looks much better than a couple of month's ago, or even two weeks ago.

CORNER
Who will win the competition to start? We have lots of nickel backs. We have five corners plus Wilson; hopefully we'll find our starter, now that Law is not an option.

SAFETY
We have serveral who can start, or share starting depending on the opposition. We have seven competing for six spots, but Wilson could win a corner spot, and all could make the roster.

KICKER
Both seems fine.

RETURNERS
The search continues. Will we need to use a roster spot on a returner?

SPECIAL TEAMS COVERAGE
We brought in Mitchell and Jones to replace Chatham, and perhaps the decreased effectiveness of Davis. Wright will be more active. We should see some improvemnt.

BOTTOM LINE - WHAT ME WORRY?
For me, the open questions and potential weaknesses are at corner, returner and at wide receiver (until Branch is back).

As far as DL, I agree with you. The first four are set, the positions behind them are not. Sullivan doesn't look like he is going to make the squad if he can't get on the field. Mike Wright is playing at DE, and the rookie Smith is playing NT. Klecko is playing some NT too according to the pics. If Sullivan doesn't make the squad, and somehow I don't see Klecko winning the NT position, that means the rookie has got a legitimate chance to make the squad as the back-up NT. Last year Wright won a spot over Rodney Bailey just because he could play NT.

As far as LB, I agree with you. I think Vrabel, Beisel, Bruschi and Colvin are the first four. Chad Brown, and TBC are the back-up OLB; and Gardner is the back-up ILB. Izzo and Don Davis are STers. Alexander can't be PS, so either he makes the 53 or he doesn't. Alexander is playing at a position that doesn't have a lot of depth (ILB), and if he can contribute to ST he could get a spot. Mincey and Roach have an uphill battle as rookies in a complicated system. I'd like to see them IRed or sent to the PS.

I absolutely agree on the CB situation, although I would add that Willie Andrews could make the team as a returner and be considered the emergency CB.

And as far as the saftey situation, we got a lot of depth. I'm not really worried about it because I know Harrison will be back this season, either at opening day or soon thereafter. I like the depth ... there's almost too much (if there can be such a thing). Somebody's gonna get cut loose because we can't hang onto them all. Guss Scott's chances aren't good because we already drafted Sanders as the developmental young safety.

I mean look at it: we got Harrison, Wilson, Hawkins, Sanders, Mitchell, Tebucky, Guss Scott. Willie Andrews can also play S. Chad Scott also can play FS.

kicker -- I think Grammatica would have to beat the pants off the rookie to beat him out. If its a coin flip, I go with the rookie because of 2 reasons:

(1) BB must really like the rookie to "reach" for him that high.
(2) Grammatica has had injury issues the last couple of years.

I absolutely agree with you on ST!!!! Kevin Faulk allows you to give the rookie (maybe Andrews ... or Maroney?) a chance at the return game because he's a safety net. I think the returner spot competition will go right down to the wire.

 

[mgteich]

I agree with regard to Roach. However, he is a favorite of many here, and many think he has a shot of beating out Alexander. Some posted here, and on the other board, that when Claridge was cut, Roach became likely to make the 53. Personally, I agree with you. I think that the question is whether he will make the 8-man practice squad. IMHO, Alexander has a better chance than Mincey of making the 53, although I suspect that both will make it, depending on Banta-Cain's preseason (and future). Mincey is the #5 OLB, not a comfortable spot. Alexander is the #4 ILB.

Putting Alexander and Roach in the same category is crazy. Alexander is in his third year in the system and has lined up with the second-team defense so far. Roach is an undrafted free agent who has barely stepped on the field yet in training camp. I've been to three practices and haven't seen him out there once. Just because you know the name "Freddie Roach" doesn't mean he has a chance to make the team. From what I've seen so far, he's even behind Corey Mays, who you didn't even mention. Alexander is way ahead of Roach at this point.

 

[PATRIOTS-80]

My bet is that whoever we cut in the last week will not even be picked up by ANY other team, never mind a playoff team.

I believe "deepest" means "having depth".

Arguably, we have the best, or certainly one of the top three DL's in the league, counting the linemen who get 90% of the reps.

But let's go beyond the 90%. What depth do we have after the top four?

SULLIVAN - Will he play in the NFL this year? Should he?
SMITH - PS or will he make the squad as one of Players 51-53?
HILL - Can he stay on the field? Does it matter?
WRIGHT - He'll make the squad; he's more reliable that the rest and has a defined role. He also has a great attitude, and is working hard on special teams.

This is the BEST depth in the league? Many here disagree. However, we have a fine line, as long as the top four are not injured.

IMHO, Wright is our #5 DL. He almost didn't make our squad last year, and is questionable this year.

Like I previous post, my favorite is Smith. The reason is that why did BB even bring in Sullivan. As a NT. And who is playing back-up NT in camp? The rookie. I think Wright and Smith make it. If Hill can't beat Wright (their both playing DE), he won't make the team IMHO.

 

[PATRIOTS-80]

I agree with regard to Roach. However, he is a favorite of many here, and many think he has a shot of beating out Alexander. Some posted here, and on the other board, that when Claridge was cut, Roach became likely to make the 53. Personally, I agree with you. I think that the question is whether he will make the 8-man practice squad. IMHO, Alexander has a better chance than Mincey of making the 53, although I suspect that both will make it, depending on Banta-Cain's preseason (and future). Mincey is the #5 OLB, not a comfortable spot. Alexander is the #4 ILB.

wow we are thinking the same!! I was just thinking that. Alexander is playing at a position that doesn't have a lot of depth (ILB), whereas Mincey is at #5 at OLB. I'd like to hang-nail IR Mincey.

 

[spacecrime]

EDIT: According to Reiss today...
"Dan Klecko, who had been working at outside linebacker in June's minicamp, has been back with the defensive linemen."

He lined up as NT in at least the first session Friday and also today.

 

[JoeSixPat]

We need Branch to sign, and still have room to continue the competition for the #5 receiver, although having a couple of youngsters on the PS could work as well.

Branch is unsigned? I feel awful. All this time I've been under the assumption that he was signed and under contract through the end of this season, and have said some things that have probably been a little harsh.

My apologies to Deion and his family. It'd be one thing if he had a contract that he refused to honor, but the fact that he's not signed puts me very much on his side of this issue.

 

[Digger44]

My bet is that whoever we cut in the last week will not even be picked up by ANY other team, never mind a playoff team.

I believe "deepest" means "having depth".

Arguably, we have the best, or certainly one of the top three DL's in the league, counting the linemen who get 90% of the reps.

But let's go beyond the 90%. What depth do we have after the top four?

SULLIVAN - Will he play in the NFL this year? Should he?
SMITH - PS or will he make the squad as one of Players 51-53?
HILL - Can he stay on the field? Does it matter?
WRIGHT - He'll make the squad; he's more reliable that the rest and has a defined role. He also has a great attitude, and is working hard on special teams.

This is the BEST depth in the league? Many here disagree. However, we have a fine line, as long as the top four are not injured.

IMHO, Wright is our #5 DL. He almost didn't make our squad last year, and is questionable this year.

You are looking at it all wrong. The question is not who we have after the top four. It is who we have after the top three. That is what makes our depth different. Why can't people grasp that we run a 3-4, need a total of 6-7 DL and not a 4-3 where we need 8-9??????????????????????????

 

[Seymour93]

LINEBACKER
We have our four starters. The backups seem to be Banta-Cain, Brown and Gardner. We have youngsters competing for a spot or two in Alexander, Mincey and Roach. And we have top special team leaders in Davis and Izzo. Somehow this looks much better than a couple of month's ago, or even two weeks ago.

Care to elaborate? Because I fail to see the improvement.

 

[SoonerPatriot]

Premature at best on Caldwell and Maroney, at least see how they do as receivers in the Atlanta scrimmage before giving them a thumbs up.

Very premature on Caldwell. Major pick up????? C'mon.

 

[SoonerPatriot]

Care to elaborate? Because I fail to see the improvement.

Again, I fail to see how subtracting Willie while adding Chad Brown (again) and two or three guys who probably won't be able to help us much this year makes us better at the position.

 

[SoonerPatriot]

Do you really think Seymour and Sullivan will still be on the PUP list next week, nevermind September?

QUOTE]


Seymour will be fine. Sully is on the fast track to the waiver wire.

 

[mgteich]

I did NOT say we were better at the position compared to last year. Losing Willie is a major loss. Even if bb believes that Willie is over the hill, the loss for us is the same.

I indicated that I feel better than a couple of months ago or even a couple of weeks ago. I feel better because it is clear that bb has confidence in Beisel at ILB. He will play next to Bruschi and won't have to replace him as he did last year. I also have been impressed with all the stories on Chad Brown. I believe that he is a good addition to compete with TBC for reps at OLB. Also I am fine with Alexander and Gardner fighting it out for reps backing up at ILB.

Again, I fail to see how subtracting Willie while adding Chad Brown (again) and two or three guys who probably won't be able to help us much this year makes us better at the position.

 

[5 Rings for Brady!!]

Digger: Everyone here understands perfectly well that we run a 3-4 and that we also can switch up to a 4-3 several times a game, like in any short yardage or goal line situation.

But IMO we don't have 6-7 DL that are ready to play a whole season if need be. We have 4, if you think Green could play better than last year. After that we have Wright, who is not a true NT (nor is Jarvis Green).

If ANYONE steps up to be a true NT behind Wilfork during this camp, I will be MUCH happier with the depth. Right now I am not, because we have two back-up DE's and no back-up NT (that I think could play several games in a row).

Also, DL depth will cover for our LB situation, if our best LBs are injuried, we can go to a 4-3 (which we ran for 3 years because we didn't have enough healthy LB).

We need a back-up to Wilfork, a true wide-body two gap NT that could survive for as much as a whole season on the line. Can our new Cornhusker pick up the two gap? Who knows?

No Klecko jokes, please!

 

[Ochmed Jones]

Yo 5 rings,

While I agree that we need a FT backup NT, let's keep a couple of things in perspective. First the NT in the Patriots scheme has the LEAST amount of reads and keys on any given play. If there is one position on the Pats defense that a rookie can come in and with minimal study time do a fair job, it's the NT spot. Second both Warren and Seymour have experience playing the nose in a 3-4 defense. If Wilfork goes down, we have options.

Other camp observations thus far:

- Watson, Stone, etc. are dropping balls all over the place. The WR spot is very scary thus far. Faulk is the best receiver I've seen out there thus far.

- Sanders making a year two leap. He looks so much better out there this year. If he can avoid injuries, he could start for us this year.

- I like Alexander thus far as a run stopper specialist. However in coverage he's a nighrmare. I haven't seen Roach on the field yet, not even on ST.

- Wilson is a follower, not a leader. Moving him to the corner is a great move and I'm confident, he'll get better over time.

- Mankins is becoming a monster. I saw him drive Warren halfway to Vermont on 1 running play. On the next he pancaked Wilfork. (With a little help from Hoch.)

- Neal is not sharp, very inconsistent. I think he's had some type of surgery in the offseason.

- O'callaghan has surprised me thus far. I thought he was the offense's version of Sullivan, (big fat tub of gue) but I am wrong. Once he gets his hands on the defensive player, he can and will move that person. (Britt looks nice as well, kind of reminds me of Ashworth as far as a run blocker goes.)

- Thomas has a knack for finding soft spots in zones. He's veteran canny in that regard. The blocking however is substandard.

 

[5 Rings for Brady!!]

Ochmed: You should put this list on one of the training camp threads, it is pretty insightful. I like to hear what is really happening in camp, not just positive hype or fluff.