2. I think John Lynch is a natural for the Patriots. I also think there's a good back-story to this one-year, $1.5 million deal. I like how Lynch, unlike a lot of veterans, eschewed more money and more playing opportunity to go to New England. (The Jets cleared mucho cap room to make room for Lynch, then got jilted at the final hour by a guy who views his time in the game as short and wanted to go where he had the best chance to win.)
With the Patriots, I expect the 37-year-old Lynch to fill the kind of role Tank Williams was going to fill for New England before he went down for the year in training camp with a right knee injury. Lynch will be a kind of hybrid safety-linebacker who can play tight ends and slower receivers physically and cover well. How many plays a game? Fifteen, 20. The Patriots would probably sign for that right now, Lynch playing quality football for 15 snaps a game and staying healthy for 16 weeks. Or 19.
The back-story, to me, is what an honorable and well-respected player Lynch is ... and how interesting it is that of the three teams that pursued him most seriously when he left Denver, the Patriots had the worst offer in terms of money and playing opportunity. Lynch saw two things: the best chance to win a Super Bowl (his primary motivation in signing in New England, by far) and the chance to play for Bill Belichick, the kind of defensive innovator Lynch wanted to play for before he retired.
