Entering FA, NE decided that it needs to punish teams that play nickel

rabidfireweasel · Mar 14, 2026

Looking at the additions, it seems clear that whether they add a top wr or not, Vrabel decided that he needs to be able to physically punish team that go nickel, especially late in the season. Drake Maye was also - whether injury, weather, scheme, or some combination of the above - not as effective.

I believe part of why them moved on from Diggs is that they felt like they couldn’t get enough blocking out of him.
Doubs may reduce value on passing plays, but increases value on running plays. They can have physical WRs on almost every play, and AVT and Gilliam are straight up maulers and Hill brings an incredible combination of determination and joy to blocking that allows him to dominate despite a lack of prototypical size.

It looks like Vrabel want to keep Maye right about that 25-28 passing attempts per game, physically dominate the other team, and trust his defense - where they added a bigtime playmaker at safety. There aren’t a ton of three-time first team all pro’s at any particular moment in the league. I am eager for the draft! I think they still need more roster strength and should go BPA for the first few rounds- with some small added adjustment for similar ranked players at a position of need. If a good player drops, like Christian Gonzalez did, I hope we just draft him.

How do you see the identity of the team as we shift to FA wave two and the draft? What are you hoping for?

p8ryts · Mar 15, 2026

rabidfireweasel said:
Looking the additions, it seems clear that whether they add a top wr or not, Vrabel decided that he needs to be able to physically punish team that go nickel, especially late in the season. Drake Maye was also, whether injury, weather, scheme, or some combination of the above- not as effective.

I believe part of why them moved on from Diggs is that they felt like they couldn’t get enough blocking out of him.
Doubs may reduce vale on passing plays, but increases value on running plays. They can have physical WRs on almost every play, and AVT and Gilliam are straight up maulers and Hill brings an incredible combination of determination and joy to blocking that allows him to dominate despite a lack of prototypical size.

It looks like Vrabel want to keep Maye right about that 25-28 passing attempts per game, physically dominate the other team, and trust his defense- where they added a bigtime playmaker at safety. There aren’t a ton of three time first team all pro’s at any particular moment in the league. I am eager for the draft! I think they still need more roster strength and should go BPA for the first few rounds- with some small added adjustment for similar ranked players at a position of need. If a good player drops, like Christian Gonzalez did, I hope we just draft him.

How do you see the identity of the team as we shift to FA wave two and the draft? What are you hoping for?

What you said.

Ring 6 · Mar 15, 2026

If you want to “punish teams that play nickel” you don’t put a fb and a 2nd TE on the field who aren’t receiving threats at all. That takes them out of nickel and leaves you with only 2 legitimate guys they have to defend.

There is no way out base offense is going to be 22 personnel. We have one of the top few QBs in the NFL, we aren’t turning the clock back to the 70s.
The running game will be used to leverage the passing game, to pick up 3rd and short and to pop some explosive plays when defenses lighten the box. We don’t lighten the box by having a TE and FB who don’t have receiving skills and a RB in the I be 3 of our 5 eligible receivers.

rabidfireweasel · Mar 15, 2026

If you search really hard Andy, you can watch this game known as the Super Bowl. In that game, Seattle played base nickel and dared us to run. We could not.

In the game before that, against Denver, Denver played a lot of nickel and dime. NE, outside of Maye, could not run and they could not pass.

Lamar Jackson early in his career and Matthew Stafford last year, threw heavily out of 3 TE sets, hunting weaknesses in the defense, and running again and again until the opposing D went heavier. So, we can agree to disagree. That is what the board is for.

Hugepatsfan · Mar 15, 2026

Andy is right. A blocking TE and FB are not players designed to punish teams in nickel. Those profiles of players take defenses out of nickel and put them in base defense.

Lamar Jackson and other teams may have had success throwing out of 3 TE sets, but the point of that isn’t punishing teams out of nickel. It’s to get them in base defense because you think throwing with your heavier packages against base defense is more advantageous than throwing with your lighter skill position packages against nickel. It’s designed to avoid nickel altogether, not punish it. Teams don’t play nickel against heavy packages unless those heavy players are unique talents as receivers, which Hill and Gilliam are not.

Ring 6 · Mar 15, 2026

rabidfireweasel said:
If you search really hard Andy, you can watch this game known as the Super Bowl. In that game, Seattle played base nickel and dared us to run. We could not.

In the game before that, against Denver, Denver played a lot of nickel and dime. NE, outside of Maye, could not run and they could not pass.

Lamar Jackson early in his career and Matthew Stafford last year, threw heavily out of 3 TE sets, hunting weaknesses in the defense, and running again and again until the opposing D went heavier. So, we can agree to disagree. That is what the board is for.

If you try really hard you can watch the NFL and recognize that nickel IS base defense now.
If we came out with a FB and a TE who isn’t a receiver they would get out of nickel because you don’t defend 22 personnel and 1 wr with nickel.

Again, if you put a 3TE offense on the field you don’t have to run for the defense to change personnel they do it right away. You don’t run a 3TE offense to attack nickel because no one will play nickel against it, ever.

If you want to attack nickel you have to start by putting personnel on the field that will cause the defense to put a nickel package out there.

Sure it’s fine to disagree, but it’s also good to learn something.

We can’t agree to disagree that you attack nickel by using personnel that no team would defend with nickel, or that “look this team played nickel that’s different” because every team plays nickel base unless you put personnel out that doesn’t call for it.

DaBruinz · Mar 15, 2026

Adding Gilliam and Hill is designed to punish teams that use smaller LBs. Whether it's in a Nickel package or 7 man front. Many teams have moved away from the "Ted Johnson / Dont'a Hightower" type MLB to a Lavonte David / Robert Spillane type MLB. These smaller LB rely more on speed and technique than on Power.

Ring 6 · Mar 15, 2026

DaBruinz said:
Adding Gilliam and Hill is designed to punish teams that use smaller LBs. Whether it's in a Nickel package or 7 man front. Many teams have moved away from the "Ted Johnson / Dont'a Hightower" type MLB to a Lavonte David / Robert Spillane type MLB. These smaller LB rely more on speed and technique than on Power.

Not really. Adding them was designed to have a real fb on the small percentage of plays we use one and to get a guy to compete for Hoopers role, this one being more of a smallish blocker than a receiver.
These were marginal moves not scheme changing ones.

Urgent · Mar 15, 2026

rabidfireweasel said:
Looking at the additions, it seems clear that whether they add a top wr or not, Vrabel decided that he needs to be able to physically punish team that go nickel, especially late in the season. Drake Maye was also - whether injury, weather, scheme, or some combination of the above - not as effective.

I believe part of why them moved on from Diggs is that they felt like they couldn’t get enough blocking out of him.
Doubs may reduce value on passing plays, but increases value on running plays. They can have physical WRs on almost every play, and AVT and Gilliam are straight up maulers and Hill brings an incredible combination of determination and joy to blocking that allows him to dominate despite a lack of prototypical size.

It looks like Vrabel want to keep Maye right about that 25-28 passing attempts per game, physically dominate the other team, and trust his defense - where they added a bigtime playmaker at safety. There aren’t a ton of three-time first team all pro’s at any particular moment in the league. I am eager for the draft! I think they still need more roster strength and should go BPA for the first few rounds- with some small added adjustment for similar ranked players at a position of need. If a good player drops, like Christian Gonzalez did, I hope we just draft him.

How do you see the identity of the team as we shift to FA wave two and the draft? What are you hoping for?

Really interesting analysis.
I think the premise makes some sense. I don’t agree with the superlatives.

Rabid describes AVT as a “straight up mauler.” He may be the only one.
Most reviews are similar to Evan Lazar who writes “he’s more of an athletic blocker than he is a true road grader.”

Film Review: Breaking Down Reported Additions Romeo Doubs and Alijah Vera-Tucker's Fit in the Patriots Offense

AVT had terrific athletic scores at the combine but he’s not huge.

Similarly, PFF gave Julian Hill its worst TE blocking score of 34. I’m not going to argue that PFF is dogma. But it’s an interesting analysis by people who do that for a living. Maybe he’s average. But it makes the argument that the Pats got an elite blocker more challenging.

But that doesn’t make the premise itself wrong. The Patriots got better in short yardage rushing. AVT should be a better run blocker at guard than Wilson. But through athleticism. Gilliam will be a better natural fullback than Westover or Tonga. It’s possible Wilson could be a better blocker at center than Bradbury - again through athleticism. Hopefully a second year Campbell is also a better blocker. I think Rabid is right that Doubs will be a better blocker than Diggs.

The Patriots used a lot of heavy formations last year, and passed occasionally from that. I think we’ll continue to see that.

Entering FA, NE decided that it needs to punish teams that play nickel

rabidfireweasel

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rabidfireweasel

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