The Defensive Backfield Is Pretty Set

[Pats726]

The most important thing is that a QB can't drop back and look for who Troy Brown is covering. I love Troy, like everyone does, but for the love of God, he has been our #3 CB in the playoffs two years in a row. We will go into next season with one of Hobbs, Samuel, Gay, Warfield, Scott as our #5 CB. If only two go out for the year, one of them will be our #3 CB. We have fixed the problem in the secondary barring another inexplicable group of injuries. If one of these guys steps up as a stud, great. But we've upgraded tremendously just having 5 playable guys.

Need a few more in case they go down..Poteat's role...which is very importnat...

 

[BelichickFan]

Need a few more in case they go down..Poteat's role...which is very importnat...

Hank may or may not make the team, we'll see. I'm willing to assume that we won't get unlucky again. There's absolutely no reason to think we'll be decimated, Samuel is the only one of the 5 with a thin, fragile build and even he has been reasonably durable. The others, is will take an unlucky twist, break or sprain to knock out.

 

[Pats726]

Hank may or may not make the team, we'll see. I'm willing to assume that we won't get unlucky again. There's absolutely no reason to think we'll be decimated, Samuel is the only one of the 5 with a thin, fragile build and even he has been reasonably durable. The others, is will take an unlucky twist, break or sprain to knock out.

Been really unlucky the last two years in DB injuries...I thought it was bad in 04, but last year?? Even worse..overall injuries really had a large facror on the outcome of the season.

 

[BelichickFan]

Been really unlucky the last two years in DB injuries...I thought it was bad in 04, but last year?? Even worse..overall injuries really had a large facror on the outcome of the season.

I still don't know what happened to Chad Scott. And Gay would have been fine for the playoffs if he hadn't rushed back due to other injuries. Getting Auto-Injured Ty Poole off the roster increases the chance of DBs staying healthy. And hopefully it'll be a little self fulfilling, if we have less guys out then little sprains won't need to be rushed. If we'd had a healthy Warfield (he's been very durable, until last year he'd missed four games in the last 6 years) instead of Poole, we would also have had Gay later in the season.

 

[MoLewisrocks]

I still have my doubts about safety -- particularly, strong safety. There's only Hawkins with any kind of record of competence there. And, even if Rodney comes back fully fit (which we devoutly hope) it must be time to draft a replacement.

I still have my doubts about safety too - but it's the FS. Having a little whine with his cheese still I see.....we all hope he can do more, because we certainly expected more last season. Justifiable or not, excuses don't cut it with this team. And if over the long haul Wilson needs a Rodney level replacement to function, he may be out a job before Rodney is. Felger charaterized him as a player who flourishes when he doesn't have to think - for himself let alone others. Not sure that kind of co-dependent talent will cut it with BB going forward.

Patriots | Wilson looking to make more plays in 2006 season
Tue, 4 Apr 2006 10:13:13 -0700

Mike Reiss, of the Boston Globe, reports New England Patriots FS Eugene Wilson is expecting to make a lot more plays in the 2006 season. After the injury to SS Rodney Harrison (knee), Wilson played with six different safeties, seven total, over the course of the 2005 season and he claims it affected him in a few ways. Wilson said, "With Rodney there, I was able to go down in the box sometimes, or get deep sometimes, switch things up. Whereas, when he was down, we were more vanilla. I was usually deep and it seemed like a lot of things were going away from me. I didn't feel like I had too many chances at all this year. The interceptions weren't really there. I also knew I had to step it up more as a leader, more as a vocal guy. I don't feel like it was a bad season, but I felt like I would have liked to have done more."

http://www.kffl.com/hotw/nfl

 

[Ochmed Jones]

Haven't the Patriots started the last two TCs with 15-16 DBs on the roster???? It's hard to imagine the game plan changing any this year.

 

[richpats]

My expectation is that we will have to sign 4 street-FA's during this coming season b/c all of the DB's we bring into camp will be on IR by December and those street guys will be our starting secondary

"If you have low expectations, you're never disappointed."

 

[ilduce06410]

bring in the alumni

What I see at corner is a bunch of "adequate" players. Does anyone else think we need a dominating No. 1 cornerback (like Law in his prime) back there? I do.

we need one somewhere in the backfield. that is rodney. i agree. you know i like poteat. i'm really high on samuel, gay, and wilson. hobbs will be difficult to deal with as a nickel back. i feel confident when a star is back there with them. reid and scott, i don't know yet. but none of the 'supporting cast' will be feared by other teams. can't go to war with average DBs, no matter how many of them we have. we'll be missing willie ray, and the loss of TJ is still apparent. so the pass rush won't be what it was.
mike haynes or raymond clayborn?

 

[Pats726]

Haven't the Patriots started the last two TCs with 15-16 DBs on the roster???? It's hard to imagine the game plan changing any this year.

Actually the last 2 years they've had 14 into camp 15 in 04, but one retired, never showed).

 

[mgteich]

Everyone would like a #1, shutdown corner. So what! Are we signing Law? Another top corner? Oh, you think you see a 2nd rounder who projects as the next Law? Nonesense! Those guys don't come often, and they are usually first rounders. You might get one later, but are you willing to cut Gay to find out?

What I see at corner is a bunch of "adequate" players. Does anyone else think we need a dominating No. 1 cornerback (like Law in his prime) back there? I do.

 

[tkayo]

I definately feel like the defense is being built from the inside out. So, a big playmaker at OLB is what we really need. I think that's what we are going to get in the draft. But with Rodney's potentially career ending injury: our secondary is missing a game changing playmaker.

 

[nickw308810]

Everyone would like a #1, shutdown corner. So what! Are we signing Law? Another top corner? Oh, you think you see a 2nd rounder who projects as the next Law? Nonesense! Those guys don't come often, and they are usually first rounders. You might get one later, but are you willing to cut Gay to find out?

I am not willing to cut Gay to find out. I think if anyone on our team can be a true number 1 it is him. But Scott, Warfield, and Poteat? These guys are the camp fodder you speak of. One for sure make the team, but I doubt all 3 would. This draft is stacked at CB, and I wouldn't put it past Belichick to take one on the first day. We have proven that we can win with Samuel and Gay starting, and you throw in Hobbs to the mix and that is a solid young trio. Adding a bigger, more physical playmaker (possibly even a KR) could help our team. If it is the 2nd round and a Richard Marshall, Jonathan Joseph, Kelly Jennings, or Ashton Youboty type player is on the board, how could we pass that up? As far as safety goes, it would be ideal to get a solid player who could play both. It doesn't get much better than Harrison and Wilson, lets just hope the depth develops.

 

[JoeSixPat]

The Defensive Backfield Is Pretty Set

People said the same thing last year.

 

[spacecrime]

People said the same thing last year.

having a backfield set before the draft, and injuries during the season are not related. Having the backfield set means there there are unlikely to be major additions, barring someone falling so far in the draft he can't be passed up.

 

[BelichickFan]

People said the same thing last year.

While we can't expect luck to change for no reason, we have no reason to think it'll happen again. Will we get unlucky ? Maybe. But these are mostly not fragile players so we should be fine. Warfield has hardly missed any games in his career, his suspension excluded. Other than that he's missed about 2-3 in 6 years.

 

[shakadave]

I like what I see of Hobbs and if the pats draft a cb high, that means that BB may not think so.

If they don't I think Hobbs will be our #1 in 3 years

I think Hobbs will be our #1 in 1/2 year.

 

[patpatriot]

If it is the 2nd round and a Richard Marshall, Jonathan Joseph, Kelly Jennings, or Ashton Youboty type player is on the board, how could we pass that up?

I agree, this is the round where we might find a potential starter who has "slipped". A guy I like here is Allen from Tennesse. Can play CB and S. Would have been a potential top 10-15 player if he hadn't injured his hip and so fell off the radar screen.

Another approach would be to wait and pick up a multi-talented but inexperienced guy like Gordon, Blackmon, or even Devin Hester (who has played some CB). These guys can return kicks, backup WRs, play ST while they learn their trade. It's unlikely that any but the highest rated CBs (Williams, Hill, Cromartie) could play significant minutes for this team. at CB.

 

[JoeSixPat]

having a backfield set before the draft, and injuries during the season are not related. Having the backfield set means there there are unlikely to be major additions, barring someone falling so far in the draft he can't be passed up.

Sorry to disagree but BB knows his history and he knows that throughout his tenure in NE he's often had to assemble a patchwork secondary.

We all thought he was going overboard bringing in guys last year and we now know he didn't bring in enough.

That's not to say that they all make the team but I think BB's philosophy is that the more guys he can bring into camp to give them some time to learn his system, the more guys he has out there as potential free agents during the system who can come up to speed if and when he needs them.

I'm hoping its "if" as well, but given the last few seasons its more likely to be "when"

 

[JoeSixPat]

I guess we weren't set.

I think they'll still bring in some rookies as well.

 

[drpatriot]

With the Jones signing, we now have eight safeties on our roster.

Harrison, Wilson, Hawkins, Sanders, Jones, Mitchell, Scott, Ventrone

I predict 5 make the team, and three of them are definitely Harrison, Wilson and Hawkins. I'd bet on Sanders and Mitchell as well because Scott hasn't really shown anything and Jones is just an older Mitchell at this point.