T
TealSox
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That would leave us with what, two or three picks in the entire 2012 draft? I don't think that will be their choice.
Assuming they aren't moving down in this years draft, while acquiring picks for 2013.
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CLICK HERE to Register for a free account and login for a smoother ad-free experience. It's easy, and only takes a few moments.That would leave us with what, two or three picks in the entire 2012 draft? I don't think that will be their choice.
Wes Welker for Jared Allen,
Wes Welker for Tim Tebow,
Wes Welker for current and or future draft picks.
Right now we have little to no holes going into the draft.
Something has to occur to stir us up cutting or trading Wes would do just that,
Gonzalez and Stallworth who can both do some damage in the slot.
Softens the blow.
...Some of you guys are acting like we didn't just go to the Super Bowl and have back to back #1 seeds in the past 2 yrs.
If they managed to have a middle of the road defense being 15th in pts allowed, and made great strides against top notch competition in the playoffs, then why wouldn't they be able to improve in a couple of areas with 5 picks in the first 100 choices, and a bunch of recent free agency signings--with only more to come?
The holes in the defense may not be as many as you think though.
They are potentially one or two players away from being a lot better, most likely coming in the front seven. One playmaker at DE/OLB + one solid big guy with youth and muscle on the line, and things are a lot better than you think.
I am still hoping for a guy like Castillo at DE, that would really lessen the needs on the line in my opinion. I think there will be a low level FA signing or two at some point, like last yr if Castillo doesn't come here. Carter will almost certainly be back. Pryor is returning from injury, and has the potential to be a strong presence as an interior rusher. Fanene and Scott are also here for competition and depth. Wilfork, Deaderick, and Love are all here. The D line will be addressed still, but it should be a lot closer to being just as good as last yr, if not improved altogether.
LB is pretty set, with the addition of a 1st/2nd round pick. They have Mayo, Spikes, Fletcher, Ninkovich, Cunningham, White, Tarpinian, and maybe even M.Carter. One more big, young, playmaker here--and we're instantly in good shape.
CB/S are also in a lot better shape than you are thinking, at least in my opinion. We saw great strides down the stretch of the season last yr, and IIRC they only allowed one 300+ passer in the last 1/2 of the season, including playoffs. That's over the last 11 games. A lot of the earlier problems were due to scheme change, injuries, and the struggles of DMcC and the safeties. As long as the safety position is improved, we have McCourty, Dowling, Arrington, Moore, and a few ST'er as CB's.
Safety is probably the biggest problem/weakness on this team. A positive aspect of this is that many of the CB's can likely also back up or even take over one of the safety positions in a worst case scenario; although that is not what we necessarily want to have to rely on.
I am seeing a total of maybe 4-5 possible improvements out of the 25 (approx.) players on defense. A couple of those will be addressed via the draft. A couple of those will still be addessed via free agency, or team cuts later on in the spring/summer. When you think about it, that isn't as many "holes" as you'd think. The positions of front seven (3-4 improvements/additional depth), and backline secondary (maybe 2 improvements/additional depth) are not that bad of a situation to be in.
Actually we may be getting tight. Jason at jetcap has us at $118.4M for top 51 plus dead cap on an adjusted cap of around $128.9. But that does not yet include Lloyd, Fanene, Gallery, Fells, Scott, Cole or Stallworth. Those deals will likely eat up $5 million plus even with adjustment for replacing current top 51 since a couple of them are multi year deals averaging in the $2-3M range that will likely hit this years cap in excess of $1M. Eventually we have to have space for the rookie cap, and ours will be on the high side pending what he trades out of...
So if he's still interested in retaining Benny and Carter and/or Anderson let alone coveting any other potential cuts or remaining FA... And I do expect him to bring Branch back.
Wes Welker for Jared Allen,
Wes Welker for Tim Tebow,
Wes Welker for current and or future draft picks.
Right now we have little to no holes going into the draft.
Something has to occur to stir us up cutting or trading Wes would do just that,
Gonzalez and Stallworth who can both do some damage in the slot.
Softens the blow.
Wes Welker for Jared Allen,
Wes Welker for Tim Tebow,
Wes Welker for current and or future draft picks.
Right now we have little to no holes going into the draft.
Something has to occur to stir us up cutting or trading Wes would do just that,
Gonzalez and Stallworth who can both do some damage in the slot.
Softens the blow.
He probably doesn't realize that we only have 6 picks in the draft this yr, and that would total between 33% to 50% of the entire draft.
Then again, when you consider the fact that we will most definitely be trading down for additional picks this yr, his early side prediction of 2 may not be too far off.
I can't imagine Belichick being okay with not having any picks in the 5th, 6th, or 7th rounds, so I am sure that some of the early picks will be traded into a round or two lower; with the additon of some picks added in of course.
But for now, those spots are holes.
I agree that he Defense is a lot better than people think. Fans were really down on McCourty, who in many cases was blamed erroneously. He was often playing "inside and behind trail technique" correcly, with a Safety supposed to come over and pickup "outside and over" technique.
They were no where to befound, always so late and just in time to see McCourty have to make the tackles after a completion. McCourty at FS along with the return of Chung changed that for the other CBs; Gregory will change that, along with an extra year for Edelman to transition from college QB, good PR, and slot WR, to his future position as a FS. This will allow McCourty to return to CB most of the time.
But I disagree about trading for lower round picks this year. I think the verification of that is the rather extensive signing of vet FAs right now. In normal years those positions might be expected to be filled with draftees and Bill Belichick is loading up on vet FAs in lieu of that.
I agree that Bill will trade out and up for a high pick next season though as has been his modus operandi. A 1, or a 2, for a 2 and a 1, next season, for example.
1.) The Patriots aren't winning on the strength of a top defense. They're winning because of their offense.
2.) When we say things like "This team needs only... X players", that's sometimes misleading. Does the team "need" to upgrade over Arrington? Probably not, as he can be protected as long as both of the other CBs are getting it done. Would it be in the team's best interest to replace Arrington as one of the team's top 3 CBs? Absolutely.
3.) This team is weak at both DE spots, at 1 OLB spot (arguably both spots) and at least 1 safety spot. 2 of the top 3 spots at corner are open questions, as well. Realistically, the team likely doesn't know if it's really in good shape at 6 of the 11 starting spots, and that's even when giving the nod to Ninkovich. Time will tell, but it's to be expected that the optimists will say things like "Dowling looked great before getting injured..." while others will say "Dowling's made of glass and we don't know how good he is anyway....". It's the annual over/under rating of the players.
I understand what you're saying, Deus.
As far as the CB situation goes, I've never been sold on Arrington playing straight up/outside CB; however, he seems to be a viable solution to play the slot. I think that was the idea last yr before Dowling got injured. All in all, I think adding a CB is a possibility, although an unlikely one. It's my opinion that Belichick is going to be fine with the CB's that we have.
If I had to guess at picks, I'd say DL and OLB/DE of course, (maybe even 2 this yr--why not?), and also a safety. The depth for those will have to continue to be added via cuts etc, and they'll have to be creative.
At the end of the day though, I can't help by see an improvment from last yr. I could be way off base, and I'd be the first to admit it if so.
I hear what you're saying, and I think that there's definitely a valid argument for being optimistic right now.
It's a somewhat new position for me, as I'm not an extremely optimistic kind of guy.
Lots of draft picks, and improvements on offense too. I think the defense should be good enough to keep us in a managable position.
I don't think we go back to the 2004 days on that side of the ball, as those days will have to wait; but some of the problems from last year should be improved.
. I think the defense should be good enough to keep us in a managable position.
Maybe we could have the draft early? :rocker:
Then there wouldn't be any holes as of March 20th, with the season 6 months away.
I'm not seeing this as any different than any other year, or a situation that every other team in the NFL doesn't have.
Improvements and additions always need to be made, especially on the back end of a rebuilding phase. It's a good thing the team has 5 picks in the first 100 choices, and hasn't lost more than they've added on that side of the ball.
I missed something.
We had a below average defense last year.
We've replaced an outside pass-rush of Carter and Anderson with one of Scott.
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Our biggest weakness last year was at safety.
We brought in Gregory to replace Ihedigbo as our starter.
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How is this manageable?
You again appear to be responding to things I haven't said.
What I said in the first place: "...As for holes and the draft -- think defense -- plenty of holes there..."
Nothing about the defense being bad, nothing about there not being time, nothing about being worse off than other teams, etc.