There is no way Elandon Roberts is on the bubble. He stepped right in and made many big plays. If you go back and look at it if he did not make that tackle on Freeman in the Super Bowl he might have gone all the way.
It seems to me that the difference here is that I make every effort to avoid viewing things as either black or white. Every player on the roster has his great points and his deficiencies. The Pat schemes and rotations have been very successful in optimizing each player's great points while limiting exposure of his deficiencies.
Roberts has his deficiencies as well as great strengths. Big plays only demonstrate the great strengths. It's all the other "little" plays where deficiencies most often show up.
Roberts may well make significant progress in improving his deficiencies over the next five months. But he may not. There's also a possibility, slim as it may seem right now, that he regresses. It's not as if that hasn't happened to 2nd-year Pats players ever before.
The point is that we don't
know. At least,
I don't know because I seem to lack the crystal ball that others appear to possess.
Also, for me, being "on the bubble" isn't purely a black-or-white thing. There are degrees - and context. Given the context of the
current LB roster, it does seem unlikely that Roberts fails to make the 53 (unless he regresses).
However, the purpose of the off-season (FA and the draft) is to attempt to make personnel upgrades. And I don't know all of what that will include yet. It's not inconceivable to be that, if Roberts doesn't progress, he may lose significant defensive snaps to someone else who's not yet on the roster (or even to someone who already is).
The bottom line for me is that years of deep-diving into the off-season roster-building process has taught me that "locks" and guarantees aren't nearly as extensive as most fans believe.
