Late to the party, but a couple of thoughts
1. IIRC in at least one year Brooks plays a lot of regular season snaps at S and SC for the Ravens before getting hurt. Lets not discount the possibility that he is a worthwhile depth piece in case of injuries.
2. Over the last several years the Pats have been EXTRAORDINARILY lucky with injuries as it pertains to the safety position. You can probably count on one hand the number of games the combination of Harmon, DMac, and Chung have missed in that period. Unfortunately you can't build your team assuming that that will continue indefinitely, thus the additions of Brooks and Obi....to start.
3. I never look at signings like this as an "end result". These are just additions to the NINETY man roster for TC. All these so called "low level" signings are guys who are going to have make the team. How many times have we speculated about the roles some FA was going to play only to see that player not even on the roster in September.
4. But I'll do it anyway. On the low end of expectations, Brooks is a solid ST's asset. He has great speed and can play a LOT of roles across the special team's universe. At the upper levels of expectation, he COULD be a dependable back up at both the FS and SC positions.
On that basis, it seems like a good signing to me.
