We should go after Adalius Thomas this offseason...

[Phokus]

He's a UFA and he's been very impressive the last few years. Given his explosiveness (4.5 40 i believe) and his size (270 pounds), i think he'd make a great replacement for willie mcginnest.

 

[cstjohn17]

He's a UFA and he's been very impressive the last few years. Given his explosiveness (4.5 40 i believe) and his size (270 pounds), i think he'd make a great replacement for willie mcginnest.

I would like to see the pats bring in someone in there prime, like they did with Colvin a couple of years ago. I don't know much about Thomas but he has had good production and could be a nice fit as an OLB. The other player to consider is Briggs at ILB.

Both of these players will take some serious scratch to sign but I like the idea of bringing in a solid veteran and adding a few players to develop via the draft.

 

[AzPatsFan]

I would like to see the pats bring in someone in there prime, like they did with Colvin a couple of years ago. I don't know much about Thomas but he has had good production and could be a nice fit as an OLB. The other player to consider is Briggs at ILB.

Both of these players will take some serious scratch to sign but I like the idea of bringing in a solid veteran and adding a few players to develop via the draft.

Agree. I've felt that the answer to the LB rebuilding is another Colvin type FA deal. But with the draft picks the Pats have, I would consider a big Dillon type trade. Just consider what the addition of Kieth Bulluck or Takeo Spikes would be to our LB corps.

 

[Koettbulle]

Thomas would be a very good addition to our LB core.
We need speed at linebacker again and he would definately bring it. And he has the body mass required to take on pulling guards and stand up to tackles.

 

[captain stone]

Thomas would be a very good addition to our LB core.
We need speed at linebacker again and he would definately bring it. And he has the body mass required to take on pulling guards and stand up to tackles.

Yes, he would, for all the reasons above. He also has experience in both 3-4 and 4-3 formations. With Thomas and Colvin at OLB, Vrabel could make the move to ILB permanent.

I remember being very disappointed when, during the 2000 draft, the Patriots did not use one of their two 5th-round picks on him. He wouldn't have been a reach, at all, with their 4th-round pick. That disappointment has remained ever since, esp. when one considers whom the Pats selected in his stead.

Signing Thomas away from the Baltimore Murderers would strengthen us, weaken them, and correct a 6+ year mistake.

 

[Miguel]

Why would not the Ravens place the franchise tag on him??

 

[captain stone]

Why would not the Ravens place the franchise tag on him??

They very well could, but if they don't...then I'm giving him a ring-a-ling.

 

[Jimke]

Rosevelt Colvin is the first and last premier free agent the Pats

will sign. They have enough problems re-signing their own good

players.

 

[zippo59]

Rosevelt Colvin is the first and last premier free agent the Pats

will sign. They have enough problems re-signing their own good

players.

Now this is a baseless statement.

 

[ironwasp]

Rosevelt Colvin is the first and last premier free agent the Pats

will sign. They have enough problems re-signing their own good

players.

I don't buy that for a moment. What the Pats fight is a reverse of the logic that made the potential signing of Randy Moss seem like a strong theoretical argument (ie that he has his money and now wants a ring).

We have a ton of guys who have their ring (rings in many cases) and now want insurance against potentially short careers in a game where the end is the next big hit away. And so guys walk, taking their big FA contracts with them. So Asante Samuel and Daniel Graham may go off and try to find long-term financial security if the Pats won't give them they what they feel they need.

Conversely it may actually be easier to go into perennially losing cities and find big free agent talent that will come to Foxborough and a winning organisation.

I appreciate that may not be the case with Adalius Thomas but it might well be with other guys.

It was for Rodney Harrison, for Corey Dillon and for Rosevelt Colvin. Why not for others? The Pats have demonstrated a willingness to pay well for the right player at the right position.

Post-season 2007 it might be that the right players are linebackers, safeties and corners. After all, BB has more or less shown he is distrusting of high profile high salary rookie linebackers, so the logical step is to pick up high class vets.

 

[mavfan2390]

Man if we could sign him or Nate Clements, that would be faaaantastic.

 

[RayClay]

Really hard to say what they will or won't do regarding linebackers. They don't want to draft them high and they're not likely to find another bargain like Vrabel.

This guy seems like what the doctor ordered, but i imagine it's going to cost.

Can't for the life of me see why they don't draft a top talent. An outside linebacker with this guys size (but in college) could be a pass rushing specialist while learning.

 

[stinkypete]

I can see it. Thomas is exactly what the Pats need heading into the next 4-5 years, a young all around OLB.

I see this next offseason being very similar to the one we had in 2003. With most of the young pieces in place, we shore up the D with a couple big moves and move picks for future considerations.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

Really hard to say what they will or won't do regarding linebackers. They don't want to draft them high and they're not likely to find another bargain like Vrabel.

It took me a minute to remember that Vrabel didn't have a $3M+ cap figure in 2001 and 2002.

Then again, as someone on Football Outsiders put it, "Mike Vrabel didn't become Mike Vrabel until he signed with the Patriots."

 

[Remix 6]

i love Thomas. Hes very versatile..played DE, OLB, Safety. Hes fast and athletic and he would be a great acquistion but the Ravens will def. resign him because hes very good and in his prime

 

[captain stone]

Can't for the life of me see why they don't draft a top talent. An outside linebacker with this guys size (but in college) could be a pass rushing specialist while learning.

Could you mean a talent who leads all rookies in sacks, and who is second overall in sacks behind the best DLman in football - Julius Peppers - and who is a 5th-round pick of the Bears, and whose name is Mark Anderson? He was a DE at Alabama, but his #s at the Combine suggested to me that he could make an eventual transition to 3-4 OLB. I may be flamed by some for saying this, but the Patriots should have drafted him with one of their 4th-round picks (I would have taken BC's Will Blackmon with the other pick, but that's not the point here).

The Pats have given their defense only 2 quality reinforcements via the draft in 3 years (Wilfork and Hobbs). Replenishing the back 8 must be Priority #1, and #2, this offseason.

 

[alamo]

The question is whether you want to win the "offseason championship", where your FA acquisitions generate a buzz, or whether you want to win the SB. There's no reason they absolutely have to be mutually exclusive, but I can't recall anyone winning the SB with high priced FA acquisitions being a a key part. (I feel the Pats' addition of Harrison was absolutely key but I wouldn't call him high priced).

You are fighting an uphill battle if you don't draft well. The Pats concentrated on offense in 06, which will pay off eventually I believe, but they absolutely have to draft well defensively in 07. All their planning and standards about not overpaying go to naught if they don't.

 

[njpatsfan]

BB goes for value in the draft. Last year, the run was on for defensive players - so he made a killing on O players. Seeing how most NFL teams are lemmings, I bet the run will be on O players, and we'll get some steals on D.

R

 

[PatsFanInVa]

Was thinking this last night, as I read about the media slobbering over Maroney... I thought to myself, wow, I KNEW he was a steal, best back of any other draft class, etc., EXACTLY at a time when everyone who wasn't New Orleans was writing him off as "not Reggie Bush..." Then I thought to myself, BANG, they DID get the real deal... then I thought to myself how everybody is talking about this being a RB-rich draft class. Like you say, we're set at RB, and we already HAVE our building project underway at WR (though never say never...)

And like you say, that might just mean a D-heavy draft... and another "wow, why didn't I think about that before?" moment.

God I get tired of those LOL.

PFnV

 

[drew4008]

Baltimore will probably resign him like they did Bart Scott, who is also having a very good year and someone we looked at getting when he his contract was up.