Is this the most athletic D during the BB regime?

[Double TE]

Elite Athletes:

- McCourty
- Talib
- Dennard
- Chandler Jones
- Ninko
- Collins
- Arrington

Thats 7 that could be on the field at one time...7 out of 11 defenders. Supported by hard hitting vet like Gregory, Dante Hightower (who has played awesome since Collins became a starter), Chris Jones and Siliga. The other 4 are not great athletes but just solid football players. I think at least athletically we match up very well with Denver's athletes...Thomasx2 and Decker.

Even the great early 2k teams didn't have as many:

Law
McGinnest
Seymour
Vrable

The rest were just good football players and good athletes but not great IMO like the current team is: Bruschi, Poole, Otis Smith, Rodney Harrison, Traylor, Ty Warren, Banta Cain, Randall Gay, Terrell Buckley.

 

[RayClay]

The premise is that Ninko and Arrington are elite athletes?

Also, the younger Wilfork might have been the best athlete given his position.

 

[Double TE]

I think Ninko is basically this team's version of Vrabel and he lined up on O and D in college. His sack totals are impressive and he can cover too. I think he is elite. Arrington IMO is all athelticism. Not a great football player but athletic enough to be a quality performer in the league.

 

[RayClay]

I think Ninko is basically this team's version of Vrabel and he lined up on O and D in college. His sack totals are impressive and he can cover too. I think he is elite. Arrington IMO is all athelticism. Not a great football player but athletic enough to be a quality performer in the league.

You started a thread about elite athletic players including those two and excluding the Wilfork of past teams. Outside of the fact that Jamie Collins is a freak athlete, was there really a point to this? No offense.

 

[Palm Beach Pats Fan]

Younger Vince
Law
McGinnest
Seymour
Vrabel
Rodney


all day every day

Talib, Collins, and Jones are great athletes but the rest are excellent football players but nothing amazing with a stopwatch, IMO.

Not that skills vs. a stopwatch mean ANYTHING, though.

I'd rather have Vince, Mayo, and a healthy Spikes (with his head on straight).

 

[Double TE]

You started a thread about elite athletic players including those two and excluding the Wilfork of past teams. Outside of the fact that Jamie Collins is a freak athlete, was there really a point to this? No offense.

Wilfork is pretty good too, agreed. Although his sack totals are not great. The point is that I think we could give Denver trouble with this highly athletic D in terms of their passing game. Pats are vulnerable to the run as the team is somewhat smaller w/o Wilfork and Kelly but maybe suited to play against teams that throw out fast athletic receivers as our players can match up and at the same time send Chandler Jones, Chris Jones and Ninko at Manning to pressure/sack. And perhaps force him to keep Julius Thomas in for blocking at times and unleashing Collins on him.

Thats all

 

[Nikolai]

Ehhh, I wouldn't be too hard on the OP. It's hard not to get excited about seeing athleticism and promise on the defensive side of the ball. It's been a little while.

 

[Ring 6]

Not sure I understand the definition being used for 'athlete', but....

It is really a shame that the D had so many injuries.

If we were fielding a D today of

Ninkovich-Wilfork-Siliga/Jones-Jones
Mayo-Hightower-Collins
Talib-Dennard(both at 100%)-McCourty-Gregory

we could arguably be making a SB run with as good a D as we have ever had.

I think the secondary compares favorably with any we have had and the front 7 is a discussion as well.

There is a lot of youth there as well. If we keep Talib, upgrade Gregory and add a bookend or Jones, this could become a dominant defense and stay there for quite a while.

 

[JackBauer]

We keep Talib, upgrade Gregory and add a bookend or Jones, this could become a dominant defense and stay there for quite a while.

I could see Harmon starting in lieu of Gregory next season.

 

[DarrylS]

Hopefully this is the end of picking up DB rejects off of the street....

 

[Ring 6]

Hopefully this is the end of picking up DB rejects off of the street....

What DB do we have who was a reject picked up off the streets?

 

[SebertJr]

I'm not gonna compare this to that...or any other thing, but I'll say this....it is nice to see a linebacker that can close... as opposed to chasing and only getting left in the dust.
Can't wait to see Mayo in with this group!!!

 

[VrabelMayeWin]

The premise is that Ninko and Arrington are elite athletes?

Ninkovich is, don't hold his skin color against him.

He had a bad 40 time at the combine. But the shorter the distance the better he is.

I bolded the ones Nink ties or beats Jones. Nink's Shuttle and 3 Cone are excellent for a DL.

Chandler Jones :

Height: 6053
Weight: 266
40 Yrd Dash: 4.77
20 Yrd Dash: 2.73
10 Yrd Dash: 1.66
225 Lb. Bench Reps: 22
Vertical Jump: 35
Broad Jump: 10'00"
20 Yrd Shuttle: 4.38
3-Cone Drill: 7.07

Ninkovich :

Height: 6031
Weight: 260
40 Yrd Dash: 4.91
20 Yrd Dash: 2.83
10 Yrd Dash: 1.66
225 Lb. Bench Reps: 23
Vertical Jump: 34 1/2
Broad Jump: 09'08"
20 Yrd Shuttle: 4.18
3-Cone Drill: 6.96

 

[RayClay]

Ninkovich is, don't hold his skin color against him.

He had a bad 40 time at the combine. But the shorter the distance the better he is.

I bolded the ones Nink ties or beats Jones. Nink's Shuttle and 3 Cone are excellent for a DL.

Chandler Jones :

Height: 6053
Weight: 266
40 Yrd Dash: 4.77
20 Yrd Dash: 2.73
10 Yrd Dash: 1.66
225 Lb. Bench Reps: 22
Vertical Jump: 35
Broad Jump: 10'00"
20 Yrd Shuttle: 4.38
3-Cone Drill: 7.07

Ninkovich :

Height: 6031
Weight: 260
40 Yrd Dash: 4.91
20 Yrd Dash: 2.83
10 Yrd Dash: 1.66
225 Lb. Bench Reps: 23
Vertical Jump: 34 1/2
Broad Jump: 09'08"
20 Yrd Shuttle: 4.18
3-Cone Drill: 6.96

We've had fine athletes on most teams. I don't think the present team stands out and anyway, it's about good football players, of which Nink is one.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

I could see Harmon starting in lieu of Gregory next season.

OTOH, there's this:

Steve Gregory of Patriots putting football smarts to good use - Sports - The Boston Globe

 

[Ring 6]

Ninkovich is, don't hold his skin color against him.

He had a bad 40 time at the combine. But the shorter the distance the better he is.

I bolded the ones Nink ties or beats Jones. Nink's Shuttle and 3 Cone are excellent for a DL.

Chandler Jones :

Height: 6053
Weight: 266
40 Yrd Dash: 4.77
20 Yrd Dash: 2.73
10 Yrd Dash: 1.66
225 Lb. Bench Reps: 22
Vertical Jump: 35
Broad Jump: 10'00"
20 Yrd Shuttle: 4.38
3-Cone Drill: 7.07

Ninkovich :

Height: 6031
Weight: 260
40 Yrd Dash: 4.91
20 Yrd Dash: 2.83
10 Yrd Dash: 1.66
225 Lb. Bench Reps: 23
Vertical Jump: 34 1/2
Broad Jump: 09'08"
20 Yrd Shuttle: 4.18
3-Cone Drill: 6.96

Come on. If you cant see the difference in raw athletic ability between Chandler Jones and Rob Ninkovich after watching one quarter of them on the same field, don't know what criteria you could possibly be using.

 

[JackBauer]

OTOH, there's this:

Steve Gregory of Patriots putting football smarts to good use - Sports - The Boston Globe

Don't the Patriots save a fair bit of money if they jettison him after the season?

 

[VrabelMayeWin]

Come on. If you cant see the difference in raw athletic ability between Chandler Jones and Rob Ninkovich after watching one quarter of them on the same field, don't know what criteria you could possibly be using.

I'm just saying not to discount Ninkovich's quick athleticism. It was something that was brought up way back when we signed him not to overlook him.

 

[brdmaverick]

Ok, here is something that could possibly save this thread....I think another way of analyzing what the poster is saying is.....put together a starting defense by choosing any player from any this year OR a championship season (note the player and the season)

A single player can not be used multiple times (ie, you can't say your starting CBs are 2001 Ty Law and 2003 Ty Law)

 

[brdmaverick]

This is the starting D I would put together.....

DL - '04 Vince Wilfork, '03 Richard Seymour, '13 C.Jones, '03 T.Washington

LB - '04 Bruschi, '03 Vrabel, '01 McGinest

CB - '01 T.Law, '13 Talib

S - '03 R.Harrison, '13 McCourty


I had a hard time leaving out Asante Samuel.