What do you see for these younger developmental players in 2014 and beyond?

[Brady6]

Agree with both RayClay and Brady6 on the points each are making.

Brady6, you named a number of good to solid players who could all help the Pats, no doubt. You are more likely to develop an edge rusher, however, as your list suggests (Wake, Allen, etc).

For those big War Daddies in the middle, however, you almost always need to spend Cadillac money to get yourself one. There simply aren't a lot of Cadillac frames lying around cheap that you can build in to a reasonable facsimile. Many nice Buicks have been acquired this way, but the Red Bryant types are very rare. The best DL of the Belichick era by far was the Seymour-Wilfork-Warren days, all taken in the first round. They spent Cadillac money and thus had a garage full of them.

My hope is that Armstead gets a clean bill of health---lots of bad luck for that kid, and he appears to work hard---and he becomes the exception to the rule. Obviously he was a big time talent who the Patriots acquired via a fortunate set of circumstances (for the team, obviously not Armstead). Even if he were to be healthy and become a force, I'd still like to see them add another body early. I think the more good players we can put on the DL the better, and it would certainly benefit Chandler Jones to play alongside another dominant player, which I think he is on the way to consistently being.

I think you make excellent points; it’s going to be tough to ever replace a player like Wilfork. Looking across the NFL you only see a few players that combine the size and athletic ability, that’s a rare breed so I think the best case is that we can restructure Wilfork and get 2 more solid years out him and in the meantime see if we can find a true heir apparent in the draft.

Chris Jones is a very good player and I think he would really excel if he was in a 3Tech role next to a player like Wilfork who could 2-gap and leave Jones 1on1 with the guard. Vellano I am not as sure about but he works hard and he is always on the football.

If I can just say I know you don’t post a ton in here but when you do I always appreciate what you have to say and think you’re an excellent poster that I look forward to hearing from.

 

[RayClay]

I never said that they could replace Wilfork; I think outside of Ngata and Poe you’d have a hard time finding any player in the NFL capable of doing the things Vince Wilfork can do on the football field.

Agreed. However, most teams have at least one dominant DT with a fearsome combination of height, mass athletic ability etc that allows the defense to buid around them. We had three in our middle championship years, subbing Washington for Wilfork early.

I als agree we need to retain wilfork, but the reality is, we don't know how effective he'll be as rehabbing and just age could catch up with him.

The other problem is, of course, that we don't have the type of draft pick to pick among the elite at this position, so some combination od moving up in the draft or getting lucky (Wilfork was a ridiculous bargain, for instance) will have to occur.

One under appreciated talent of BB is he (hopefully) doesn't try to make a player fit the need. In other words, if he sees 3 impact DTs in a draft and they're gone, he doesn't try to convince himself that #4 is almost as good when he isn't. Better to trade down and get two in the third round, increasing your chances of getting lucky. An under appreciated aspect of draft strategy.