Report: Derrick Burgess is Considering Retirement

Crable failed his physical, and the Pats decided to cut him because he wasn’t fit, (and they needed a roster spot for the McCourty signing, perhaps?). If and when he gets fit, they can always bring him back as a Free Agent.

I don’t think he’s signed with anyone. And he was very productive on the raiders front 4.

Can’t wait to see how some of these guys look in the preseason though

his heart probably isn’t in it anymore

Decent player, good contract, but far from a guy I was expecting big things out of

That was a bonus laced deal if I recall correctly.

Well… BB has him in MLB drills next to Mayo, so as unlikely as it may be, I can still see BB use Guyton on the outside a bit, and have spikes in the middle.

I’d think he’d have a similar role to Banta-Cain, Burgess and Ninkovich – part-time 3-4 OLB (he’s new to it, so he’ll be included slowly), part-time Nickel 4-3 DE, and he’s likely to contribute in Special Teams, too.

If he really shines at 3-4 OLB, he could well earn a starting berth and get a lot of reps there. However, he’s a college 4-3 DE conversion job, so his development is likely to be slow – he’s new to pass-coverage concepts and some edge-setting ideas are different.

I’d expect him to get an opportunity fairly early at DE on the 40-front in Nickel sets – it’s fairly similar to what he was doing in college, and if he shines as a pass-rusher his reps at DE will increase. He’s unlikely to have all the pass-rushing skills necessary for an NFL player yet, but with the thin nature of the Pats 3-4 OLB/4-3 DE corps, he’ll probably get opportunities anyway.

It’d certainly allow Cunningham to feel more comfortable early on, so it’s always a possibility.

but I truly think that the guy who was mostly responsible for that play was actually Ray Rice (and the Ravens O-line). They got a set of good blocks, and once Rice is open, he’s gone. Meriweather was out of position a little, but if Rice hadn’t got such a good set of blocks Meriweather would probably have had enough time to recover.

Some teams will just start off that little bit too slowly – even in Superbowls you occasionally get a TD on the first play (that’s you, Devin Hester). It just happens occasionally.

have 3 down lineman, with 4 LBs, is not only more versatile in terms of blitzing and coverage schemes, but also because you can disguise many plays. In a 4-3, you are limited to just basically having only 4 DL to rush the passer, while the MLB will try and cover the middle of the field, and the OLBs covering(or looking over) the right side and left side of the field.

This is just my opinion on the schemes, because the raiders run a 4-3, and I’ve never really been a fan of it.

Judging from our personal however, I think we will be seeing more 4-3 and other schemes that are not plain 3-4 this season, than most.

Meriweather was drifting towards centerfield, where you’d expect an Ed Reed to be, and then cheated up a little when he read ‘run’. He was unsighted for long enough for Rice to bounce around the outside a little and get some separation.

not a bb guy