Pats Sign DL Andre Carter

[spacecrime]

Chad Jackson and Bethel Johnson come to mind. They did not last long. I don't think BB is in the mood to wait around this year. In his mind, I think he feels he has to win now, maybe at the expense of a couple of developmental guys. That's what it feels like to me right now.

Bethel wasn't released before his third season. I doubt BB is in a win now mode. If that were true, first of all he wouldn't have traded for first and second round picks in next year's draft, and he'd be mortgaging the future for top $$ pickups, not signing guys to vet minimum contracts.

BB signs vets every year. This year with the 90-man roster, he can sign 10 more.

 

[DaBruinz]

Odom is a good pick up. I wish the Pats would have taken a closer look at him, assuming they didn't.

Odom would be a good pick-up if the Jets were playing in the 4-3. Odom isn't very good as a 3-4 OLB.

 

[spacecrime]

Unless Carter adds about 50lbs, I don't see what the signing of Carter has to do with Haynesworth working out or not.

Agree, except it is closer to 150 lbs than 50 lbs. Carter weighs about 250.

 

[patchick]

Bethel Johnson was with the Pats for more than 3 years.

Chad Jackson and Kevin O'Connell are the only picks from the top 4 rounds who have been cut with less than 3 seasons under their belts.

Top 4 rounds? Not nearly. Tyrone Mckenzie, Dexter Reid, Guss Scott, Cedric Cobbs, Garett Mills, Kareem Brown?

Edit: And Ohrnberger, though he was re-signed.

 

[DaBruinz]

Reis makes it sound as if Cunningham isn't where he should be. So maybe this is a shot across the bow.

Yes, because everyone knows that Mike Reiss makes the personnel decisions for the Patriots and not Bill Belichick.

As I stated in the Cunningham thread. I love Reiss, but when it comes to actual evaluation, he's horrible. So are Bedard, Gaspar, and Curran. The only one who is semi-decent is Rodak.

Cunningham started off the first 8 practices doing fairly well. It's only be the last few where he's had some issues. Yet you got the mediots exaggerating it into "Cunningham's having issues" and "Cunningham didn't do enough in the off-season". BTW, people missed Bruschi weighing in and saying that Cunningham was doing very well and had added some moves... I'll take Bruschi's opinion over the mediots any day..

 

[JerseyDevil26]

Top 4 rounds? Not nearly. Tyrone Mckenzie, Dexter Reid, Guss Scott, Cedric Cobbs, Garett Mills, Kareem Brown?

Edit: And Ohrnberger, though he was re-signed.

Ugh the never ending Mckenzie saga. That was brutal.

 

[DaBruinz]

Cunningham made one play the whole of last year and people are making him out to be the next best thing. Manning threw many picks last year, i guess all the guys who caused those picks are all current or future all-pros. Cunningham got significant playing time last year because he was better than TBC and nincovich(sp), lets don't make him out to be something special. We can improve at the DE or OLB position, nobody on our team is special.

Wow. You didn't watch any Patriot Football last year, did you. You couldn't have to be making the claim that Cunningham only made one play the whole of last year.

Clearly you are a troll.. So BEGONE to the ignore list.

 

[spacecrime]

There are so many possible interpretations for the reason that BB has brought in 3 veteran DLmen in the last 2 days. Individually they make sense, but when put together, we will certainly not lack for speculation opportunities over the next 3 weeks.

However I find some of the comments about Cunningham having to fear for his job, and needs to prove himself THIS season or ELSE, positively preposterous, idiotic, stupid and any other pejorative adjective you can think of.

This kid never played 3-4 OLB in college. He didn't have a training camp his rookie year. Yet he started early on in the season, played significant snaps throughout the season, and got better as the season went on. THEN after not having the benefit of any organized activities, gets hammered for not looking great in the FIRST week of TC? A week, BTW, where they had only 4-5 sessions in Pads.

Damned it guys. Lets put this in a little historical perspective. Mike Vrabel in his first FOUR years with the Steelers managed a whopping SIX sacks. Good thing none of you guys were passing judgement on HIS early years, or he'd now be at least the DC at OSU, not a rookie LB coach. Tedy Bruschi had 8 sacks HIS first 2 years while he made the adjustment from DL to LB, but during the next FOUR years, AFTER he made the transition to full time LB,(98-01) he managed just SEVEN.

Really if you TRULY think you can judge the kind of player Cunningham is right now based on his body to work to date, THEN you indict yourself as some one who REALLY doesn't have a clue as to what goes into developing and OLB in the NFL. NO clue at ALL.

I don't know how Cunningham's career is going to evolve....good or bad. However I DO think his first year was a positive start. What he eventually ends up being, we won't start to know until at LEAST the end of the 2013 season

Whew, a voice of reason.

 

[captain stone]

pass rushers???.....slowly I turned....step by step..inch by inch....and I:enranged::violent:

Niagra Falls...

 

[Sciz]

I take complete credit for calling this, except that I would've been happy with either Ellis or Carter. Now, the pass rush could easily be a strength

 

[Off The Grid]

11 sacks in 2009..

Let me be #427 to say: AWESOME Sig!! :rocker:

It kicks as on MULTIPLE levels.

 

[LetsGoPats36]

Weren't there people a couple days ago saying we didn't need to make a few DL signings? lol...

Hopefully Carter finds his game as a 4-3 end. If we can scrap up 10 sacks between Anderson, Carter and Ellis I'll be happy with the signings.

 

[Off The Grid]

Could be, but I don't think so. BB signed Haynesworth to play on the inside with Vince. He's loading up on DE's to find the best outside guys.

Don't look now, but I think this does not bode well for Cunningham.

He's not having a good camp and I wouldn't be shocked to see him gunned.

I hope you're enjoying that Crack.

 

[Off The Grid]

well, a bunch of DL are gonna get cut. it has to be...and if we are moving to a more 4/3 type look, i would think deaderick, love

Possibly.

But don't call me "love."

 

[Off The Grid]

Why have I never heard of him until now???

Honestly, some of you cats make it VERY hard not to get banned.

 

[italia44]

Possibly.

But don't call me "love."

....or "Shirley"

 

[Fencer]

The difference between Burgess, Anderson and Carter though is that Carter HAS played 34 OLB. And he wasn't all that bad. Granted having him out there limits us a bit. He would almost always have to be the 4th rusher, which eliminates the effect BB likes of not identifying which OLB will be the 4th but we have done that before, specifically with Willie Mac.
Given the lack of studly OLBs on the roster, I think Carter can easily be part of that rotation.

As BB said, Lawrence Taylor used to rush a lot of the time too.

Perhaps BB sees a big difference between guys who rush 80-90% of the time and guys who rush 100%. I can think of a couple of reasons why he might:

• Makes the offense's reads harder.
• Let's the usual rusher say "Boy, those are a LOT of blockers in my way. Maybe I'll just go cover somebody and let them twiddle their thumbs." That could be a useful element of an overall scheme ...

 

[Fencer]

Chad Jackson and Kevin O'Connell are the only picks from the top 4 rounds who have been cut with less than 3 seasons under their belts.

I think that's overstated. Brock Williams. And a safety Gus somebody or other? And that TE the Vikings picked up? And one or the other RB?

But some of that was injury-related.

 

[DarrylS]

On paper sounds like a good pick, increases the whole ability to rotate and confuse the other teams offense..

Of course Mike Florio, another pats hater, makes a snide comment.

Taking a page from their rivals in the AFC East, the New England Patriots have scuttled the whole “build through the draft” mentality that won three Super Bowls in four years, opting instead to round up a bunch of big-name free agents who are much closer to the end of their careers than the beginning.

Guess, somehow, he missed all the draft picks that did well last year and the number that look good this year..

 

[livinginthe past]

This looks like an excellent signing.

This team spends alot of time in sub formations due to the effectiveness of its offense, I see Carter seeing alot of time at DE in a 4 man front (whether its 4-3, 4-2 or whatever).

The things that excites me is the 11 sacks 2 seasons ago when he last played on a 4 man front.

If we factor in the potential production with the natural improvement our younger guys on D will show - then we have the makings of a unit that can dominate games.