Mike the Brit said:
Thanks for the nice post, Urgent.
I have a question about Inside Linebackers in the 3-4. Seems to me that one of the most important features in the transformation of our defense last season when Tedy Bruschi came back was his pass defense -- till then, we'd been getting killed by pass catching Tight Ends.
The season before, we'd been rotating Bruschi, Johnson, Phifer, with Phifer as the more coverage-oriented ILB. There's been a lot of discussion about the difficulty of replacing TJ but less about replacing Phifer. When Tedy came back, he referred to the way that his role at ILB was different from what it had been in previous seasons.
Does anyone have any views about the different roles the Pats have their ILBs take on and how they will be filled? Seems to me that, once one figures in the coverage duties, it becomes a lot more difficult to take some gifted but undersized pass-rushing D-Lineman and just turn him into a line-backer.
There are four aspects of a Pats' ILB to consider: coverage, run stopping, play calling, field tactician. Bruschi became the standard for ILB with his ability to excell at all four; TJ was good or better at three; Phifer was decent or better at the physical, less so, but not incompetent for the mental.
We now have the Vrabel conversion underway, he's on track to surpass Tedy in all aspects. BB's challenge will be to weigh the merits of using Vrabel's mind more, by keeping him inside, or using him to replace Willie and putting someone else alongside Tedy.
Options:
TBC at ROLB: He's got the pass rush and run stopping tool set and he's done an apprenticeship. His coverage skills will need work, but he could be ready to replace Willie. Because of his perceived coverage limitations, I don't see him inside, but he should be adequate monitoring RBs in the flat and shallow zones like Willie did.
Claridge at ROLB: This hasn't gotten much consideration, but he's played both ILB and OLB in a 3-4. He is TBC's primary competition for starter if you leave Vrabel inside. Using him outside first allows him to adjust to the speed of the game with fewer demands on him. His rehab and his work with the training staff should have him in the 255-265 lb range he'll need. Like TBC, his primary coverage responsibility will be a RB in the flat or a shallow zone, a better match for his reported coverage skills.
Beisel at ROLB: If he gets back to his college weight, Monty is another candidate who has had success off the edge in college and might benefit from a slower development track.
Claridge and Beisel are currently the ILB depth with Alexander who has been struggling to get past the Practice Squad. Beisel was being used in more coverage roles late in the season, and may be in development for Phifer's old role. This would also give him more time to learn and improve, but he should weigh-in around 250-255 which is lighter then he played in college, but adequate for the OLB role if he was needed.
Given our current roster, TBC would seem to have the edge for ROLB, leaving Vrabel inside where his intelligence will do the most good. That would leave Beisel and Claridge as primary back-ups for 'both' ILB and OLB and allow BB/SP to view the draft for depth/STs/future potential.
Drafting from that premise, players like Manny Lawson, Chris Gocong, Mark Anderson, and Mike Kudla offer greater upside to players like Chad Greenway and Bobby Carpenter because they bring greater athletic talent and more experience with trench warfare to the field, comparable to Colvin, Bruschi, Vrabel, and McGinest. Gocong and Kudla also reportedly have the football smarts for an ILB transition - Lawson and Gocong both showed the nose for the ball (in their All -Star Games) that makes Bruschi and Vrabel so effective. As I've posted in the Draft forum, there are other players running into the late rounds who offer similar gifts, viewing the Pats LB corps from this premise also allows you to miss on these first day talents and still get someone like TBC or Claridge later.
Having been forced to think this through in this reply, I vote for keeping Vrabel and his field tactician capabilities inside where they will develop and cause opponents no end of frustration.
Of course there is another route we could take, Hochstein is a former High School LB, we could always draft additional O-linemen and convert him to TJ's run stuffer role.
