State of the Position is a new weekly Foxboro Blog feature that will examine the post-draft status of each position and take a look at what needs still need to be filled before the season opens up.

Today we will examine the linebackers.

It seems like the same old story: Who will put pressure on the passer?

Ever since the Super Bowl loss to the Giants, the Patriots’ linebackers have taken a significant step back in both talent and production.

Bill Belichick broke his trend of passing on linebackers in round one by selecting Jerod Mayo in 2008.

All he’s done since then is earn Rookie of the Year honors and All-Pro status last season.

In 2010 he took two Florida linebackers: Jermaine Cunningham and Brandon Spikes. Both players contributed early on, with Spikes stepping in as an effective run stuffer.

Cunningham put pressure on the quarterback, but clearly has to finish better.

However, both players look like they will fill two starting spots in this linebacker corps for years to come.

Beyond Cunningham and Spikes, a 2010 undrafted free agent proved to be better than his draft status would indicate.

Former Montana State defensive end Dane Fletcher showed playmaking ability as a subpackage linebacker, recording 23 tackles, two sacks, a forced fumble and an interception in limited duty.

With Mayo, Spikes, Fletcher and Gary Guyton filling out the depth chart, the inside linebacker spot is a strong point for this young defense.

All four players are still maturing and can contribute in specific roles as Guyton and Fletcher are better suited for passing downs while Spikes is a two-down beast.

However, the real problem still remains at outside linebacker.

Last year, Tully Banta-Cain entered the season as one starter after posting double-digit sacks in 2009. Apparently someone forgot to remind him that over half of those came against the Buffalo Bills’ pathetic offensive line.

By season’s end, Banta-Cain was no longer starting as journeyman Rob Ninkovich earned more playing time.

Like Fletcher, Ninkovich is a hard worker who made some big plays, highlighted by his two-interception effort against the Dolphins.

While he may not have great upside, I think Ninkovich definitely has the ability to be an effective player in a rotation.

Beyond Ninkovich and Cunningham, the other options are underwhelming at best.

Eric Moore made an impact in limited duty after being signed as a free agent, but there are questions about his ability to hold up over a 16-game season.

Sixth-round pick Markell Carter has some physical ability, but he will quickly realize the jump in competition from Arkansas State and the NFL is drastic.

Overall, without a proven pass rusher, this group is below average.

State of the Position Grade: Inside Linebacker: B+    Outside Linebacker: C-

 

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Each week during the season I do a "Foxboro Blog Top 12" post, which is basically a mini power rankings for the best twelve teams in the league.  Many people have asked by I do a Top 12 instead of all 32 teams and there's actually a few reasons.  For starters, ranking 32 teams takes a lot of time, so I wanted to cut things down a bit and focus on the best teams.  Twelve teams make the playoffs each year, so that seemed like a good number.  Plus, this is a Patriots blog and #12 happens to be the number of our franchise quarterback.  Twelve just seemed like a good number to go with all around. 

In continuing with the Top 12 tradition, I've decided to fill the void of the off-season by doing a running countdown of my Top 12 plays from the 2010 season.  I used both my memory as well as multiple highlight reels to come up with this list.  Since there's very little else to talk about with the league firmly entrenched in a lock-out/litigation, I'm going to milk this concept for all it's worth and churn out twelve posts as we count down these plays.  Today, we'll start with #12.

So why does this play make the cut?  Well, for starters, it's a long bomb in the snow, which is both extremely cool and extremely difficult to pull off.  However, if you take note of the clock, you'll remember that this Brady-to-Branch connection took place in the final seconds of the first half.  Already leading 27-0, Brady and the Pats showed no signs of taking their foot off the gas and continued to motor until the clock struck 0:00. 

 

Around the NFL is a weekly feature on Foxboro Blog offering an irreverent (and sometimes humorous) look at some of the top news stories from the NFL. Read at your own risk!

• The league cancelled its rookie symposium this year as a result of the lockout. Without proper education on issues such as women, finances, media relations and crime, I shudder to think what could happen to these upstanding young men in the future. We could be creating an entire draft class of Brandon Marshalls.
• Speaking of criminals, Ray Lewis went on ESPN last weekend to warn of an increase in crime if the NFL lockout wipes out the season. You can follow the logic here. “Hey, what do you want to do on Sunday since we can’t watch the Ravens?” “I got an idea, let’s go rob a bank!” Thankfully, not everyone thinks like Ray Lewis. Otherwise we’d have a lot more stabbings.
• Chad Ochocinco may take up snake wrangling. He is quickly becoming the NFL’s answer to the Discovery Channel’s Mike Rowe. Has he officially entered the phase in his career where no story involving him, no matter how absurd it sounds on its face, could be dismissed as unbelievable? Could you believe a story that he had a coke binge with three hookers on the balcony of a hotel and launched the bell boy to the concrete below? If I told you he was going to get gender reassignment surgery, would you dismiss it out of hand?
• Albert Haynesworth’s road rage trial was delayed until next week. You really have the question what reason this guy has to be angry in the first place. If I was getting paid $100 million to occasionally play football in sub packages when the mood strikes me, you couldn’t erase my smile if you shit on my jeep on the freeway.
• Peyton Manning underwent neck surgery this week. No surprise really. Holding up that enormous forehead must put a lot of strain on the top of the spine.
• The NFL issued new guidelines this week to deter dangerous, flagrant hits. Naturally, Steelers LB James Harrison expressed his frustrations that the NFL will no longer allow him to remove his helmet and wield it as a weapon to maim opposing players fifteen seconds after the whistle. Of course, state and federal law didn’t prevent him from beating up the mother of his child in similar fashion, so I doubt he’ll let these pesky new league regulations get in his way.
• Since the Foxboro Blog family recently added a Bears fan as a contributor, I couldn’t pass this story up. Chicago rookie LB J.T. Thomas took an eighth grade special needs girl to her prom. The stupid boys at her school wouldn’t take her, so J.T. stepped up to the plate and asked to be her date. You have to admire that sort of caring and compassion from a pro athlete.
• Word on the street is Mark Sanchez wanted to take her too, but he had already committed to taking another girl to prom that same night. She was probably better off with J.T. since Sanchez’s intentions were probably not nearly as noble.

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 Once again it's time for our weekly Q&A Session.  Up this week is Brian Bund from Buffalo Wins.

1. A lot of people pre-draft had the Bills selecting OLB Von Miller out of Teas A&M. So, what were your thoughts when DE Marcell Dareus fell into their lap?

The interesting aspect of the pre-draft buildup is how much things changed over the course of a couple months.  Back in January it was pretty much a given that Andrew Luck, Da’quan Bowers and Nick Fairley were going in the top 3 picks.  We all saw how that turned out.  As the draft process headed through March and into April, more analysts predicted that Von Miller from Texas A&M would end up on the Bills.  It wasn’t until that last week that it was introduced that Denver would take him ahead of the Bills, meaning Marcell Dareus would be available.  With all things considered I think the Bills are extremely lucky to have gotten Dareus.  He’s going to match up well on the defensive line with Kyle Williams and is versatile enough to play in a 3 or 4-man front while taking up multiple blockers.  He did not put up the huge sack numbers like Miller, but after a season of possessing the league’s worst rush defense it was an obvious need.  After two Buddy Nix drafts it is easy to see what his goals were for the team.  They spent a majority of their early round picks getting bigger and more physical on the front seven.  If last year’s picks Alex Carrington and Torrell Troup can continue to improve, the defensive line rotation could end up being a surprising position of strength.

2. What do you think of Aaron Williams? Can he make an impact in the secondary right away with his first round talent?

Many people looked at the corner as a position of limited need for the Bills, but the truth of the matter is there was a lot of uncertainty about how the secondary would look heading into 2011.  Terrence McGee has been dealing with injuries, Drayton Florence is a free agent and Leodis McKelvin has struggled to find his consistency. Depending on what the Bills do with bringing back Drayton Florence and Terrence McGee’s health, I would expect Aaron Williams to definitely have every opportunity to see significant playing time as a rookie. I would at least expect him to get some opportunities on passing downs in the nickel or dime packages.  He’s a big corner at 6’0” and 204lbs so his size may allow the Bills to try and address their inability to cover the tight end position effectively as well.  He’s not your total ball hawk cornerback (4 career INTs), but again reinforces the notion of getting more physical against the run.  Mel Kiper said he graded Williams the highest rated tackling cornerback he’s seen in years. I would definitely expect to see him make an impact this season and Bills fans love corners that can come up and tackle (Antoine Winfield especially).

 

Let's start off with a great read that was posted on ESPNBoston.com the other day.  As we mentioned last week, Tedy Bruschi was climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro along with some wounded veterans.  Here, he details the final steps of his climb.  It's definitely an inspiring piece from a Patriots legend.  I encourage you all to check it out if you haven't done so.

Also, the NY Daily News is reporting that the Jets may have interest in Rany Moss.  This has been a story on the back burner for quite a while, and one we touched on here at Foxboro Blog a few months ago in a round table.  However, this is the first time I've seen it featured as a legit story in a major publication, so I thought it was worth noting.  The Foxboro Blog staff's consensus take is that Moss to the Jets doesn't concern us much.  It likely means that they were unable to sign Santonio Holmes or Braylon Edwards, which is a plus.  Also, Moss in a volatile locker room like the Jets' is just a recipe for disaster.  I don't see it ending well for Gang Green.

And finally, in other news, the NFL Lockout continues... Awesome. 

That's it for today!

State of the Position is a new weekly Foxboro Blog feature that will examine the post-draft status of each position and take a look at what needs still need to be filled before the season opens up.

Today we will examine the tight ends.

Entering the 2010 season, the Patriots tight end position was in a total transition.

After letting Ben Watson depart as a free agent, the Pats selected two of the top-rated tight ends in the draft: Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez.

The rewards were immediate.

Gronkowski emerged as a legitimate Rookie of the Year candidate and Hernandez was a matchup nightmare.

After missing his junior year at Arizona with a severe back injury, Gronk proved all the doubters wrong and led the team with 10 touchdowns while providing a physical presence as an in-line blocker.

The 6-foot-6, 265-pounder is already one of the top-five complete tight ends and will only improve with experience.

Hernandez, one of three Florida Gators drafted by the Pats in 2010, was great in the first half of the season, racking up 34 catches and 436 yards. However, a hip injury prevented him from making a big impact the rest of the way.

The two youngsters had a great role model to look up to in veteran Alge Crumpler. The former Pro Bowler was one of the team’s leaders and a devastating blocker in the run game. While he is long in the tooth, he is a stabilizing presence for the team’s young trio of tight ends.

The fourth tight end on the roster, and perhaps Crumpler’s replacement is rookie Lee Smith.

Like Gronk, Smith has tremendous size at 6-foot-6, 269 pounds, and was regarded as the best blocking tight end in the 2011 class.

I expect Smith to make the roster and carve out a role in short yardage and goal line packages.

Overall, tight end might have been the team’s biggest strength last year, and it has only gotten better with the addition of Smith.

Crumpler will probably finish out his career next season, but Smith will be a more than capable replacement as Hernandez and Gronk form a potentially unstoppable pass-catching tandem.

State of the Position Grade: A

 

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What is your view of Belichick the coach vs. Belichick the drafter/talent evaluator?

Stephen:  As a coach, Belichick is second to none. His ability to implement a specific game plan each week is unquestionably effective and his best asset. While the defense hasn't played to the standards of the early dynasty days, that is due to a lack of talent rather than coaching in my opinion. Belichick still showed he can turn nothing into something when the Pats' young defense grew up last year and was very effective during the second half of the season.

As a talent evaluator, I think Belichick's resume is good, but not great. He had some great early drafts, selecting stars like Richard Seymour, Vince Wilfork and Asante Samuel and some really good players like Dan Koppen, Ty Warren, Matt Light. However, over the past four or five years, his moves have been questionable. He did pick up Pro Bowl players in Devin McCourty, Jerod Mayo and Brandon Meriweather, but he has had a number of high-round busts like Terrence Wheatley, Shawn Crable and Kevin O'Connell. Sometimes I think he can over-analyze and needs to be more flexible with his draft strategy, but when the team has double-digit victories every year, it's hard to complain.

 

Around the NFL is a weekly feature on Foxboro Blog offering an irreverent (and sometimes humorous) look at some of the top news stories from the NFL. Read at your own risk.

• Lockout lunacy abounds! I am baffled why players and owners keep making apocalyptic predictions and wildly inaccurate statements about the other side. It's obvious that the public does not sympathize with either side. This week's Idiot of the Week is Giants co-owner John Mara, who wrote a lengthy article on the Giants team website warning about life in the NFL if the players get their way -- small-market teams being unable to compete, stars making all the money while role-players beg for quarters in the street, the end of the NFL draft and other "chaos." I suppose we can just ignore the fact that the players would accept a deal, today, that gives them the exact same provisions of the old CBA. You know, the one that included a salary cap, revenue sharing, a draft and all the other things Mara thinks will disappear if the players prevail. This little essay did nothing short of make Mara look like a jackass. It's like he fired his publicist and replaced him with Baghdad Bob.
• At least one owner is confident that there will be football in 2011. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones remarked that he didn't spend $1.2 billion to let his new stadium be empty this fall. Obviously, he just built a $1.2 billion stadium so he could dictate exactly how much he would pay the professionals to play in it. To his credit, that idea makes much more financial sense than an empty stadium.
• Republican Congressman Paul Ryan earned a few eye rolls and groans for his attempt at football humor this week in Chicago. "I'm here to talk about the economy today -- about the need to get four quarters of strong, consistent performance. That wasn't another Jay Cutler joke, I swear. It could be, but it's not." In the realm of general smack talk, I'd give that one a 4. In the realm of smack talk by a politician, I'd award it a solid 8. I'm sure what he really wanted to say is "Even Nancy Pelosi has more balls than Jay Cutler. Trust me, I've seen 'em." That would have been a 10 on both counts in my book.
• Rather than cutting salaries for team employees during the lockout, the Raiders have hatched a plan to allow all employees to keep their full salary if they are able to sell at least 10 percent of their annual salary in ticket sales each month. The employees who cannot carry their weight in ticket sales will be forced to participate in Gladiator-style duels for the amusement of Al Davis in order to save their jobs. You’d think they would have addressed that issue in their collective bargaining agreement. NFL players, take note.
• Chad Ochocinco lasted 1.5 seconds on the bull. Not much of an effort, but he at least eclipsed the time anybody has spent watching his reality show.
• Hines Ward danced his way into the DWTS Finals after nearly killing his dancing partner in practice the week before. It’s rarely newsworthy when a Steelers player inflicts serious harm on a defenseless woman, but in this case, it is newsworthy because he didn’t do it intentionally.

Once again, it's time for our weekly Q&A session with a blogger.  Continuing our trend of interviewing supporters of the Patriots' AFC East Rivals, we've interviewed Jon Presser from JetsReport.com. 

1. Let's start with your 1st round pick. What do you make of Muhammad Wilkerson? Pats fans wanted him, but how does he fit Rex Ryan's defense?

I love the Wilkerson pick. He seems like a versatile piece for the future of our defensive line, as he's able to pretty much play anywhere on the defensive line. I believe Rex will use him as a 3-4 end on most downs, but move him inside at times, similar to how the Ravens use Haloti Ngata. Wilkerson and third-round pick Kenrick Ellis, who is a true nose tackle, will allow the Jets to get pressure on the quarterback from the inside out, in the absence of a pure pass rushing OLB/DE threat.

2. One of the picks I found interesting for the Jets was taking Bilal Powell, the RB from Louisville. Can he eventually become the top back in Sanchez' s offense or is that Shonn Greene's to lose?

It was an interesting pick for sure. Not many people saw it coming. Each year, Rex gets one pick that he asks general manger Mike Tannenbaum for, and it appears Powell was his guy. Last year it was "the Terminator" John Conner, a fourth-round pick who will start at fullback this season. I think the Jets plan this year is to give Greene more carries, but mix in all three of their other backs as well, including second-year back Joe McKnight.

Essentially Greene and Powell are the "Thunder" and LaDainian Tomlinson and McKnight are the "Lightning." The Jets like having a bruiser back like Greene healthy and productive in January, so it would not surprise me to see Powell getting decent carries if he picks up the offense   quickly and can prove to be a good pass blocker, something Greene still struggles with. It'll be very interesting to see how the Jets rotate their backs, but it appears Greene will get the first crack at being the starter.

 

State of the Position is a new weekly Foxboro Blog feature that will examine the post-draft status of each position and take a look at what needs still need to be filled before the season opens up.

Today we will examine the defensive line.

When the Patriots were at their best, they had a dominating front seven.

These days, that is not the case.

In Bill Belichick’s 3-4 defense, the defensive line is key to stopping the run and tying up blockers to allow the linebackers to make plays.

During the early part of the decade, Belichick invested three first-round picks on the d-line.

The results speak for themselves.

Richard Seymour was a perennial All-Pro defensive end who set the standard for five-technique play, Ty Warren is an underrated Pro-Bowl caliber 3-4 end, and Vince Wilfork is among the top nose tackles in the league.

While those players built the foundation of a strong front-three, today’s roster doesn’t feature the same type of talent or production.

At nose tackle, Wilfork continues to be the team’s most important player. He plays with great power, technique and has good agility for a player his size. He also showed his versatility by lining up at defensive end last season when the team’s depth was tested.

However, the situation gets murky at defensive end. no comments