Do We Need 6 Corners? Are We Set For Now?

[mgteich]

I feel like Marcus could really thrive as the slot CB where he's best suited.. I expect him to miss time at some point during the season.. so if we could have a good slot/ depth guy would be great. We have great size at outside CB.. gonzo, Davis ,Austin, dial, bolden are all 6'1

If only all it took was height to be a good corner.

If someone is injured, there is no reason to believe that we will be able to rely on Dial or Bolden.

 

[Real fan 02]

If only all it took was height to be a good corner.

If someone is injured, there is no reason to believe that we will be able to rely on Dial or Bolden.

Understand that. I was referring to the fact that we have guys with good size on the outside.. dial and Bolden are what they are.. special teams/depth guys.

 

[mgteich]

Understand that. I was referring to the fact that we have guys with good size on the outside.. dial and Bolden are what they are.. special teams/depth guys.

I am fine with Gonzo, Davis, Jones, and then Austin as the primary backup both inside and as nickel.

I am fine with Dial and Bolden competing for a ST spot and being the emergency #6 CB.
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I would note that the 5th CB often needs to get reps because of the inevitable injuries. IMO, we don't have the 5th CB. Given that both Davis and Jones have had injury issues and we will continue to risk the health of Jones as a PR, we do need a 5th CB that we can rely on.
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I do believe that Vrabel can sign this corner. If so, CB will move way down as a draft priority.

 

[Ring 6]

I do think we are set for now, although there may be a BPA CB in the draft at some point that causes them to grab him. Seems like a solid group: a young shut down, a solid #2 veteran, a solid veteran slot, and a handful of young talented athletes from which they need one to emerge as a good CB. Given how weak some of the other positional groupings are, I doubt this is a priority.

We are set with cb1-4 but that’s not enough. 3 cbs are starters and the 4th will see significant time. We are 1 injury away from significant time for terrible player.

 

[Wozzy]

If your defensive front is dominant you can play Troy Brown or Julian Edelman at nickel CB and get by.

We can wring our hands all we want, assuming they extend Marcus Jones they currently have a great group of CB’s. They can add a body or two at the end of the depth chart to increase overall talent and competition.

 

[Ring 6]

If your defensive front is dominant you can play Troy Brown or Julian Edelman at nickel CB and get by.

We can wring our hands all we want, assuming they extend Marcus Jones they currently have a great group of CB’s. They can add a body or two at the end of the depth chart to increase overall talent and competition.

Great roster building plan. Maybe we will be so good rushing the passer we don’t need corners so let’s just slack on corners.

 

[Wozzy]

Great roster building plan. Maybe we will be so good rushing the passer we don’t need corners so let’s just slack on corners.

Are Christian Gonzalez, Carlton Davis and Marcus Jones any good?

 

[Ring 6]

Are Christian Gonzalez, Carlton Davis and Marcus Jones any good?

Do we need more than 3 corners?

 

[Wozzy]

Do we need more than 3 corners?

Miles Battle is a good young athletic prospect with length, Alex Austin is just an okay athlete but a very good technician, Dial is a decent sized boundary corner with a lot of experience in the SEC and some snaps on last years dumpster fire, Bolden is a massive guy who might be better suited on special teams.

Add some depth to these ^ guys, you can do that at the end of the draft and in UDFA where the Pats found solid players in the past like Jon Jones, Malcolm Butler and JC Jackson. No need to reach unless you think you can get a future starter earlier.

 

[Ring 6]

Miles Battle is a good young athletic prospect with length, Alex Austin is just an okay athlete but a very good technician, Dial is a decent sized boundary corner with a lot of experience in the SEC and some snaps on last years dumpster fire, Bolden is a massive guy who might be better suited on special teams.

Add some depth to these ^ guys, you can do that at the end of the draft and in UDFA where the Pats found solid players in the past like Jon Jones, Malcolm Butler and JC Jackson. No need to reach unless you think you can get a future starter earlier.

Alex Austin was so highly regarded he was a 7th round pick who got cut. His next team played him 5 snaps and cut him. He landed here and was forced to play exactly because of our lack of depth. He has 450 career snakes.
Battle is an udfa who played 18 snaps on a game we were trying to lose, again because we had no depth.
Dial stinks.


That’s our depth and it is awful. These guys should be competing flrcthff ed 53rd spot but first corner off the bench. We have over 40 million of effective cap space. Sign a damn veteran.
Those late round picks and USAF’s don’t provide a lot of help as rookies.

Just sign a damn veteran. There are many out there who can play.

 

[Hugepatsfan]

Alex Austin was so highly regarded he was a 7th round pick who got cut. His next team played him 5 snaps and cut him. He landed here and was forced to play exactly because of our lack of depth. He has 450 career snakes.
Battle is an udfa who played 18 snaps on a game we were trying to lose, again because we had no depth.
Dial stinks.


That’s our depth and it is awful. These guys should be competing flrcthff ed 53rd spot but first corner off the bench. We have over 40 million of effective cap space. Sign a damn veteran.
Those late round picks and USAF’s don’t provide a lot of help as rookies.

Just sign a damn veteran. There are many out there who can play.

Harsh but true on Austin/Dial/Battle. My only minor point of contention would be that your post comes off very set in stone and closing the book on them, not sure if that's the intention. They'd hardly be the first or last players to go from where they are now to solid contributors. But let them earn that vs. penciling them into key depth roles.

I'm curious though... earlier you said we're set at CB 1-4. Who's #4? Gonzo/Davis/Jones are top 3? Are you counting Bolden as #4? I'd put him in the same group as above.

There seem to be a fair number of decent CBs left in the FA market. We're past the point of mega deals so with our cap we should be able to add someone who's competent enough as a #4 CB. We're also at the point of the FA market though where guys probably want to see how the draft shakes out before they choose a destination. I'm sure some vet would have to sign here for a modest 1 year deal only to see Hunter fall to us and we decide to play him at CB.

Still, Davis has injury concerns and Jones has been dinged up a good amount. It's definitely a position we could stand to add depth at.

 

[Wozzy]

Alex Austin was so highly regarded he was a 7th round pick who got cut. His next team played him 5 snaps and cut him. He landed here and was forced to play exactly because of our lack of depth. He has 450 career snakes.
Battle is an udfa who played 18 snaps on a game we were trying to lose, again because we had no depth.
Dial stinks.


That’s our depth and it is awful. These guys should be competing flrcthff ed 53rd spot but first corner off the bench. We have over 40 million of effective cap space. Sign a damn veteran.
Those late round picks and USAF’s don’t provide a lot of help as rookies.

Just sign a damn veteran. There are many out there who can play.

UDFA’s and late round picks… like I said, you just described Malcolm Butler, Jon Jones and JC Jackson… those guys have pro bowls and All Pro nods on their resume. Battle looked good to me for a kid.

Find some athletic CB’s later in the draft and in UDFA, add them to the competition, no need to reach. You can always find average sized guys, it’s the big massive talented guys who are harder to find. God makes fewer of them.

They should look to get younger here not older.

 

[mgteich]

If your defensive front is dominant you can play Troy Brown or Julian Edelman at nickel CB and get by.

We can wring our hands all we want, assuming they extend Marcus Jones they currently have a great group of CB’s. They can add a body or two at the end of the depth chart to increase overall talent and competition.

ROFL

 

[mgteich]

UDFA’s and late round picks… like I said, you just described Malcolm Butler, Jon Jones and JC Jackson… those guys have pro bowls and All Pro nods on their resume. Battle looked good to me for a kid.

Find some athletic CB’s later in the draft and in UDFA, add them to the competition, no need to reach. You can always find average sized guys, it’s the big massive talented guys who are harder to find. God makes fewer of them.

They should look to get younger here not older.

Sure, there won't be any problem getting a couple of 7th rounders and UDFA's to be com competently play CB for us in 2025. ROFL
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The reality is that we carry 6 corners.
GONZO
two starters with past injury issues
Austin
Dial
Bolden

You think that we are fine and can find 6th and 7th rounders who might upgrade this group. That attitude takes a special kind of faith in the ability of Wolf to find corners for Vrabel to approve.

 

[Wozzy]

ROFL

Who is Rolf?

 

[Wozzy]

You think that we are fine and can find 6th and 7th rounders who might upgrade this group. That attitude takes a special kind of faith in the ability of Wolf to find corners for Vrabel to approve.

Considering we have found pro bowl caliber UDFA CB’s before multiple times… yeah.

 

[TheRainMaker]

Should the Pats restart the tradition of 2nd round DB’s?

 

[patfanken]

If your defensive front is dominant you can play Troy Brown or Julian Edelman at nickel CB and get by.

We can wring our hands all we want, assuming they extend Marcus Jones they currently have a great group of CB’s. They can add a body or two at the end of the depth chart to increase overall talent and competition.

This state of the CB room leads me to believe that if Hunter somehow falls to us. he would come in primarily at WR.

I think the best utilization of Hunter would be full time WR and designated man coverage CB on a game specific defense. I think it is possible to handle his 2 way abilities that way. Work full time at WR and then on defense only work on his man techniques. Then the staff can designate a WR he latches on to when he is in. Each week a different guy. That way he only has to practice on set of techniques and study one guy.

 

[Wozzy]

This state of the CB room leads me to believe that if Hunter somehow falls to us. he would come in primarily at WR.

I think the best utilization of Hunter would be full time WR and designated man coverage CB on a game specific defense. I think it is possible to handle his 2 way abilities that way. Work full time at WR and then on defense only work on his man techniques. Then the staff can designate a WR he latches on to when he is in. Each week a different guy. That way he only has to practice on set of techniques and study one guy.

Yeah, I think WR is already a given. The contracts they’re receiving is absurd. Also they can always stick him out there on defense in man coverage and say “cover 84.”

It would be nice to have him and Marcus Jones and have both of them be two way tools to play with.

 

[Ring 6]

Harsh but true on Austin/Dial/Battle. My only minor point of contention would be that your post comes off very set in stone and closing the book on them, not sure if that's the intention. They'd hardly be the first or last players to go from where they are now to solid contributors. But let them earn that vs. penciling them into key depth roles.

I'm curious though... earlier you said we're set at CB 1-4. Who's #4? Gonzo/Davis/Jones are top 3? Are you counting Bolden as #4? I'd put him in the same group as above.

There seem to be a fair number of decent CBs left in the FA market. We're past the point of mega deals so with our cap we should be able to add someone who's competent enough as a #4 CB. We're also at the point of the FA market though where guys probably want to see how the draft shakes out before they choose a destination. I'm sure some vet would have to sign here for a modest 1 year deal only to see Hunter fall to us and we decide to play him at CB.

Still, Davis has injury concerns and Jones has been dinged up a good amount. It's definitely a position we could stand to add depth at.

Glad you responded as you did. My post isn’t closing the book on them.
I am saying you can’t count on them. Players like that should be not projected to make the roster but competing to beat out what appears to be a more qualified player by improving.
I count Austin as cb4. But that’s even more reason to need a reliable cb5

Ideally you are looking at a guy as a FA who competes with Austin for 4 and the guys here plus draft choices or UDFA to fight it out for cb6.
5-6 long shot fighting for cb 6 is a very different situation than having 3 long shots and needing 2 of them as cb5 and cb6