Kamerion Wimbley Makes Sense for Patriots, But Aggressive Market Could Drive Up Price - Jeff Howe - NESN.com
Wimbley might be the best pass rusher on the open market at this point, too. He's a natural defensive end who has played outside linebacker at times in his six-year career. The Browns took Wimbley with the 13th pick in the 2006 draft, and he spent four seasons in Cleveland before getting traded to the Raiders.
The Florida State product appears to be at his best when he's a pure rusher. He had a career-high 11 sacks as a rookie, but the Browns gave him more coverage responsibilities over the next three seasons, when he only accumulated a total of 15.5 sacks. Wimbley has gotten it back in gear with 16 sacks over the last two years in Oakland.
It would make sense for the Patriots to show interest in Wimbley, too, because of his knowledge of Romeo Crennel's defensive system. And as the Patriots appear to be toying with the idea of staying with a 4-3 base defense, Wimbley would be a natural at defensive end much like Mark Anderson and Andre Carter in 2011. Wimbley also has a pipeline to New England, as Linta has represented about a dozen Patriots in recent years, including quarterback Brian Hoyer, center Nick McDonald and former guard Joe Andruzzi.
The problem will be the money.
Howe thinks the teams that missed out on Mario Williams will likely set their sights on Wimbley now, which could drive up his price. He thinks someone may offer something like $40 million over five years, which the Pats would not be willing to do; however, if he can be signed for $25 million over four years then the Pats could pull the trigger.
