I just thought there were a number of reasons that Neal could be expendable:
1) Neals has been injury-prone in the last few seasons;
2) Neal is one of the oldest on the O-line at a time that Hoodie is obviously making a concerted effort to make the O-line younger (three rookie O-linemen selected in the 2009 draft);
3) Neal’s contract is up;
4) The Pats already re-signed Kazcur for a multi-year, starting tackle money deal;
5) Vollmer is a better RT than Kazcur, so Kazcur would be an expensive bench-warmer;
6) Kazcur apparently has experience playing at guard, so could slide in one spot.

All of this leads me to believe that Neal’s the odd man out – he’s on the downslide of his career, he’s injury prone and he has a replacement young buck who has a long-term contract on starting tackle pay-rates. Neal might have forced himself back into the lineup with amazing play or whatever, but he’s been ‘merely’ solid. In other words, he’s replaceable.

It might be cold-blooded, but if Hoodie can let Troy Brown and Willie McGinest slide into free agency or trade away Mike Vrabel and Richard Seymour away, he can certainly let an aging and injured Steven Neal go, too.

at least not in the first week back. I’d imagine they’d give him a series or two to get him back into the lineup and feeling back at home, and then yank him – he won’t be match-fit yet, and he probably won’t produce because of it. This is still a must-win game, so that alone would keep Maroney on the field considering his hot streak and growing confidence.