Some comments on the comments:
1. Never heard of Casillas before tonight. So initially my first reaction was "meh". However after reading more about him on this thread, my expectations have risen somewhat.
2. In today's NFL you cannot have too much speed, and according to reports, this kid excells at speed.
3. At little cost we acquired a player who can play special teams, fast enough to cover a move TE, and get to the QB fast on a blitz.
4. Expecting to play without CJones, a guy like Casillas become a potential blitz threat because, like we saw last week, Patricia is going to have to create pressure from schemes as much as individual effort. Speed and quickness can be very useful when blitzing off the edge or coming late on a delayed blitz.
5. TE's have feasted so far, so his potential to cover TE's could free up the much bigger Collins to blitz.
6. Mark Barron is a perfect exemplar of the "right player in the wrong era" syndrome. Being a strong safety is a dying position in a pass happy league. Their snaps are slowly being taken by cover safeties and/or those new-fangled hybrid LB/S types that are becoming all the rage.
7. Bottom Line, this trade was a more of a typical bottom of the roster move BB makes all the time, except it cost us a mere 12-15 slots on the 3rd day of the draft. If someone said the trade was for Justin Tuck, I might have been excited. Instead this seems like a nice bottom of the roster pick up with some upside potential and very little risk. After reading more about the kid, I like it marginally more than I did when I first read about it. Something to discuss for a day or two and move on to more important subjects
Very good thoughts, Ken. A few comments:
1. I followed Casillas when he was at Wisconsin and when he first came out, and was quite high on him. He was considered a possible safety conversion, like Wes Woodyard. Not someone that the Pats would have considered in 2009 as a LB given our style of defense at the time, but someone who was interesting as a possible big safety. William Moore from Missouri (6' 221#, 4.49 40, 6.81 3C, 37" VJ) came out that year and ended up going to the Falcons in the 2nd round; Casillas was someone who had similar size and speed who was on the radar as a possible safety conversion. He fit nicely into New Orleans' 4-3 scheme.
2. Casillas as a speedy cover LB or LB/S gives us another player who can match up against TEs. That allows the Pats to be more creative with Jamie Collins, instead of always needing to use him in coverage. Collins, Casillas and Akeem Ayers all have solid coverage ability.
3. If we are playing the game predominantly in sub, then Casillas fits nicely as a nickel LB/S. Add Ebner in as a dime LB/S, and you have some ability to match up without completely selling out the ability to defend the run.
4. I confess that I haven't followed Casillas closely the past few years, so I don't know if he still has his speed and coverage ability. But I assume BB has a lot of info on him from Schiano and Revis.
5. I agree with your Mark Barron comment. He was a high draft pick and a big name, and a lot of people were high on him, but I think that he has been too much of a liability in coverage. We don't need another of those. Ultimately, I think that BB decided that he wasn't enough of an upgrade over Pat Chung to warrant a trade.
I'm certainly not expecting huge things from Casillas until I see more. But I think it's a nice low-key move which could work out. If not, the cost is low.
