I was a guy who always felt that Matt Light would have excelled at LG, however for the Pats he was MORE valuable as a solid LT than an exceptional LG. That's the thing. All this talk about moving Campbell is simply stupid for THIS year at least. Lomu is coming into the league with a defined role to fill. He is NOT a finished product. He lacks functional strength and experience to excel immediately as an LT or even a RT in his rookie year. He DOES have a chance to excel as the swing T since he has the POTENTIAL to become an outstanding OT in a year or two.
I keep pointing out that rookies make mistakes and have big hurdles to overcome in their first year. Why waste a full year of experience that Campbell accrued only to see similar mistakes be made by the LAST OT taken in the first round, not the first. It would be detrimental for the team to put Lomu at LT this year and move Will to LG (a position he has never played) It Makes NO sense. What do you do with ATV. It is not your best use of your existing talent. You want to revisit NEXT season, be my guest, but for THIS season. Will Campbell should be our LT.
The correct strategy is to give Campbell a full season to see if he has improved his game and gained from his experiences of last season. Rookies do NOT end up being the same players they were as rookies. There IS value in the snaps they took over their first years, and they often improve, sometimes a lot, sometimes a little. Don't throw that away on the false whim that Lomu is a better LT than Will Campbell without ever putting on pads as a Patriot.
Agree completely Ken. And as far as the tackles go I really don't care who ends up playing on which side, but the talk of moving Campbell to Guard because his fingers aren't long enough is maximum stupidity. With the exception of a few 1st ballot HOF tackles every rookie tackle has ups and downs, and even most of Campbell's critics from the draft ended up admitting in a nea culpa thread that Campbell was playing well before his injury last season.
Overall, and not limited to Patsfsnsvor football I think there is impatience among sports fans, as well as society in general with allowing players and people to develop into what they can be. It's instant results or " THEY SUCK, GET RID IF THEM!!!" And we see that in spades on this site. And it isn't just player development where this is true, it's most obvious in the game threads, where people are shrieking about how much everyone sucks 5 minutes into the 1st quarter of the 1st game. It's brutal, and I have no patience or tolerance for it, which is why I never partake in game discussions, because imo that's where the assholes truly reign. But unfortunately it's true if life in general, immediate results or else.
If the Patriots are going to have long term success the most important factors in that are choosing the right people/players and developing them into the best players they can become. That takes a good deal of time for most of these kids, and even if fans can't handle that the team and coaches have to be willing to withstand the pressure from them and continue working with them to get them to that point. Vrabel has said it took him 4 years to even start becoming the player he wanted to be, and the Steelers couldn't see it, but fortunately Belichick did and gave him the ppportunities as he earned more and more of them.
For the Patriots it's not just Campbell and Lomu who need to really develop , it's most of this team, from Maye to Crownover. Maye has already taken big steps in his development, but still has work to do to get him to where both he and they want him to get to. And while some here will pull their remaining hairs and and scream and shout any time he makes a mistake, the good bet is that he will ultimately be a consistent top QB in this league for years to come. And given time many of their young player can and will turn out to be good contributors for them. And imo the development of the 25' draft class, as well as Maye's continued development will be the biggest factors in their success or failure this coming season. If most of them continue to improve they will be a top contender, if they don't they could fail to make the playoffs.
I believe they got it right on most of their young players, and the experiences of last season, as well as a full offseason will result in much better play this year. That, paired with the additions in free agency and some of this years draft picks will result in a much better team. It's unlikely that their record will be better, but they are facing a much tougher schedule, and will hold up well against it, make the playoffs, and be a tougher team to knock out than last years was, despite their Super Bowl appearance. I'm not going to wish the good weather away, as that's a short season in Maine, but I am looking forward to seeing how much they have improved when the season does get here.
