Will Pats draft a safety?

by The Qwan on Jan 26, 2011 1:55 PM EST

We all know BB does what he wants on draft day and will trade up or down to get "value". We cant predict what he will actually do come draft day. That being said, I think that what we all (myself included) are saying is that the team needs O-line, D-line, and pass rush help from the top of the this years draft. However, BB will analyze and review the game footage and come up with his own assessments. I have a sneaking suspicion that BB will take a safety in the first 2 rounds.

Meriweather is a ding dong, but very talented athletically, and that makes up for his up and down free-lancing style. Pat Chung cant cover anyone. Chung got beaten numerous times while playing in the slot. Sanders is solid, but not a standout. We have a couple of interesting players in J Page and the guy from the Broncos. Meriweather and Chung are both young, and I have faith that Chung will improve with age and experience, but Ive never thought of Meriweather as a Patriots type of player, and hes certainly not a probowl caliber safety either.

BB craves versatility out of his safeties and there isnt one among them that can do everything BB wants. BB also utilizes defensive packages with 3 safeties.

Now this isnt a deep draft for safeties, but if a safety that BB covets is available when we pick, dont be surprised if we take him.

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I personally don't like our safeties

but there has to be some reason that Belichick keeps playing Meriweather even though he is an idiot.

by pats4life on Jan 26, 2011 3:28 PM EST reply actions

He's one of the most talented safeties in the league

If his brain and work ethic ever caught up with his talent, he’d be Ed Reed. That’s why Belichick keeps playing him — if he ever gets it together for any coach, he’ll do it for Belichick.

That said, I don’t trust him ever to get it together. If Belichick finds a safety he likes, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Meriweather traded for a draft pick.

by RSNexile on Jan 26, 2011 3:43 PM EST up reply actions

glad you added that last part

because I’ve been waiting on Meriweather for too long in football terms

by pats4life on Jan 26, 2011 5:14 PM EST up reply actions

Meriweather

Has the tools but never puts it all together. He was selected to the probowl last year and then this year in training camp he admitted that he was trying to do some different things. Different things? How bout you just do what the coaches tell you to do. I think Meriweather is a moron. We can definitely upgrade him at some point.

by The Qwan on Jan 26, 2011 8:26 PM EST up reply actions

Yeah.

I feel like Meriweather would get everything together for Rex Ryan. Just a gross feeling.

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by Richard Hill on Jan 27, 2011 9:09 AM EST up reply actions

Shawn Crable didn't

and neither did Kevin O’Connell. I do agree though that would be a disasta. But there’s no way he ends up over there. Belichick realized this year Maroney wasn’t going to get it together and his ass got shipped to Denver..I could see a harder working guy that maybe doesn’t have the physical gifts Meriweather has but studies film and works on his fundamentals gets the starting role.

by CoachSR on Jan 27, 2011 12:01 PM EST up reply actions

Like... James Sanders?

"Perhaps it was the Noid who should have avoided me." Mayor Adam West

by insertscreenname on Jan 27, 2011 12:15 PM EST up reply actions

I like Sanders

He won’t be a huge playmaker but he’s not going to give up the big play either.

by CoachSR on Jan 27, 2011 12:41 PM EST up reply actions

He's perfect as the backup.

I could see a harder working guy that maybe doesn’t have the physical gifts Meriweather has but studies film and works on his fundamentals gets the starting role.

Yep, that’s Sanders.

"Perhaps it was the Noid who should have avoided me." Mayor Adam West

by insertscreenname on Jan 27, 2011 12:53 PM EST up reply actions

This wouldn't appear to be a very strong draft for safeties though...

… I think…

Just trying to keep up.

by Mellon on Jan 26, 2011 4:29 PM EST reply actions

True

But if there was a safety that BB liked and was a good “value”, then BB would select him.

by The Qwan on Jan 26, 2011 8:23 PM EST up reply actions

Give us Ahmad Black!

He is the perfect fit:
-Florida guy
-Senior
-lead the team in tackles and plays on all 4 special teams units
- team captain

Urban my also said that he is the hardest working football player he has ever coached and that “now that I don’t coach him I can call him one of my best friends”

by mexi on Jan 26, 2011 11:45 PM EST reply actions

i agree Ahmad Black is a good choice.

by elmer12 on Jan 26, 2011 11:46 PM EST up reply actions

Black's 5'9.

He’s not going to ever be a cover safety. He’s basically a smaller Pat Chung.

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by Richard Hill on Jan 27, 2011 9:09 AM EST up reply actions

Exactly

He would take over chungs roll when we play with 3 safties on the field.
Thats his skill set 3rd down safety/nickel corner.

He lead the team in tackles in the SEC and had 11 career interceptions.
He can play

by mexi on Jan 28, 2011 2:35 PM EST up reply actions

Hmm.

He is a very good cover corner and is a very good SS for UF. He might not be strong enough to play S at the NFL level, but he will be able to cover. If he is too small to play S you can put him at the nickel corner spot. I’m not so sure how you think he can’t cover.

-Pulse of the Maggots P.o.t.M. The "pm striker king"- WZB
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On the trade down and grab Pouncey bandwagon.

by PotM on Jan 28, 2011 4:34 PM EST up reply actions

I agree

He is a cover safety, and I really think he can play safety at the nfl level. If you watched him at florida he was not afraid to hit people

by mexi on Jan 29, 2011 3:17 AM EST up reply actions

I see him as more of a FS at the next level, because he's not going to be an in the box safety.

I think he will be able to learn the FS position, though. He’s fast enough, quick enough and very agile.

-Pulse of the Maggots P.o.t.M. The "pm striker king"- WZB
Leader of the "All these QBs suck and aren't worth trading up for" bandwagon
On the trade down and grab Pouncey bandwagon.

by PotM on Jan 29, 2011 9:54 AM EST up reply actions

If he is there in round three

by mexi on Jan 27, 2011 12:13 AM EST reply actions

He's to small

Ahmad Black is 5 9 and 185

by jroc8484 on Jan 27, 2011 9:10 AM EST reply actions

Chung

is a true in the box Strong Safety. He’s like Rodney Harrison. Most Strong Safeties are the ones that bring the lumber and stop the run. That’s what Chung does. The ‘cover’ safety is a Free Safety usually. We need a ‘true’ Free Safety. Meriweather probably could be that guy if he put it together, but I just don’t trust him.

by cmdpsu15 on Jan 27, 2011 9:16 AM EST reply actions

That this question needs be asked

is a testimony to the failures of the team’s drafting.

BB sucks.

by BabeParilli on Jan 27, 2011 10:30 AM EST reply actions

Really ?

All teams whiff on half or more of their picks. The draft is a crapshoot. I think the Pats compare pretty favorably to the rest of the NFL. Look at least years draft.

1 Devin McCourty 27 CB Rutgers Pro Bowler
2 Rob Gronkowski 42 TE Arizona 10 TDs
2b Jermaine Cunningham 53 DE Florida Starting OLB
2c Brandon Spikes 62 MLB Florida Quality Contributor
3 Taylor Price 90 WR Ohio University Redshirt Year, looks promising
4 Aaron Hernandez 113 TE Florida Excellent Reciever until hip injury
5 Zoltan Mesko Quality Punter

We even got a rotational DLineman in the 7th with Deaderick.

That’s a good draft.

by UtopianAverage on Jan 27, 2011 11:23 AM EST up reply actions

If

the 3 years before that were that good we would have many less problems.

Though I’m not about to break into a standing O for a draft that featured TWO TEs and a punter when we needed a pass rusher.

With 4 picks in the first two rounds one would think need could have been better addressed.

BB sucks.

by BabeParilli on Jan 28, 2011 3:31 PM EST up reply actions

So which pass-rusher were they going to draft in 2010 instead of Gronkowski, exactly?

Sergio Kindle? Zero games played, zero stats? Uh. No.
Jerry Hughes? A handful of games and 3 tackles? Uh. No.
Alex Carrington? 1 total tackle. Uh. No.
Jason Worilds? 4 tackles and a sack. No.
Daniel Te’o-Nesheim? Zero tackles. No.
Everson Griffin? 8 total tackles. No.
Corey Wootton? 1 tackle, 1 sack. No.
Thaddeus Gibson? 3 tackles. No.
EJ Wilson? 1 tackle. No.
Ricky Sapp? Hell no.

The only one you could consider taking was Carlos Dunlap, and at 6’6" and 280lbs, he’s clearly more a 4-3 DE than a 3-4 OLB. He’s also low-effort – he got 9.5 sacks, which is impressive, but he only got 24 total tackles, which definitely isn’t. He’s better with his hand down and he was an equal talent to Cunningham coming out of the same football program.

Cunningham had 34 tackles, 1 sack, 2 forced fumbles, 1 fumble recovered, forced 3 interceptions, at least until he hit the rookie wall and picked up some injuries around week 12 and slowed down.

Token southern hemisphere guy - 14,688km from Foxboro. That's 9128 miles, for you heathens.
Contributing Writer at PatsPulpit

by Comedic.Sans on Jan 28, 2011 5:04 PM EST up reply actions

More needs than just a rusher.

Actually I saw a number of mocks showing us taking Dunlap.

Clearly, 2010 was a better draft than some of the few preceding it. I think we can agree on that.

It seems this coming draft is much more loaded with pass rushers than the last.

BB sucks.

by BabeParilli on Jan 29, 2011 11:44 AM EST up reply actions

Yep

The last few drafts had very few 3-4-type guys – 2010 had only two true 3-4 NTs (Dan Williams and Terrence Cody); only two guys who looked like they could play 3-4 DE to a high level immediately (Suh and Odrick), etc.

The 2009 draft pool was similar – two D-linemen who looked 3-4 ready (BJ Raji and Ron Brace) and two OLBs who might fit a 3-4 (Clay Matthews and Brian Orakpo). Maybin and Jackson look like flops, and even Matthews and Orakpo aren’t entirely well-rounded players like DeMarcus Ware.

The 2010 draft pool, by contrast, looks stacked full of 3-4 players – there’s a dozen 6’5", ~300lb DEs, and another dozen 6’5", 250lb+ OLB types. And there’s also no good TEs in this draft, compared to 2010 which clearly had a couple.

You can only take what the draft pool gives you, and the last few years really had a lack of 3-4 DE and 3-4 OLB talent.

Token southern hemisphere guy - 14,688km from Foxboro. That's 9128 miles, for you heathens.
Contributing Writer at PatsPulpit

by Comedic.Sans on Jan 29, 2011 5:00 PM EST up reply actions

Between 2005-2008, yes.

I think they made some really poor character choices in Maroney and Meriweather. They drafted talented guys who lacked the football-first, team-first mentality necessary to really succeed in the league. I also think they stopped drafting guys with high “football IQ,” for a while. However, all signs point to a return to emphasizing character and intelligence when making draft selections. Nobody can say, for sure, what accounted for the seeming blip in effectiveness of the Pats draft strategy, but my theory is that Pioli put more emphasis on talent/numbers. As his star rose in the organization, we saw Belichick’s character/intelligence considerations weaken. As soon as he left, the Pats seemed to snap back to their old ways.

by nbradley07 on Jan 27, 2011 1:52 PM EST up reply actions

Those draft classes weren't all that great, too

Remember, those were the years the Colts drafted… great… players like Tony Ugoh and Anthony Gonzalez; the years the Steelers drafted Bryant McFadden, Anthony “Mr Guarantee” Smith, and Limas Sweed; the Jets drafted Vernon Gholston…

Lot of workout warriors, not so much football nous.

Token southern hemisphere guy - 14,688km from Foxboro. That's 9128 miles, for you heathens.
Contributing Writer at PatsPulpit

by Comedic.Sans on Jan 27, 2011 4:28 PM EST up reply actions

Look at the 2006 Rams Draft Class

What a trainwreck…

"Are you joking? Star Trek V is the standard against which all badness is measured!" Raj Koothrappali from The Big Bang Theory

by OBrienSchofieldismyHero on Jan 27, 2011 6:08 PM EST up reply actions

Excellent Point

Did Meriweather or Maroney ever seem like Patriots type of players? Nope…they seemed like athletic nitwits who werent cerebral enough for the system that BB runs. They have oodles of talent and athleticism, but no instincts. Maroney would dance behind the line and miss running lanes, and Meriweather takes the worst angles to the ball.

by The Qwan on Jan 28, 2011 5:00 PM EST up reply actions

I would like the Patriots to take a safety, but later on in the draft.

I am sick of Meriweather’s boneheaded mistakes. Dumbass personal fouls? Check. Nearly killing McCourty, his own teammate? Check. Bad tackling angles? Check.

"Are you joking? Star Trek V is the standard against which all badness is measured!" Raj Koothrappali from The Big Bang Theory

by OBrienSchofieldismyHero on Jan 27, 2011 12:48 PM EST reply actions 1 recs

Would love Jaiquawn Jarret.

3rd round safety prospect. 6-0 196 lbs.

Profile: http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/draft/players/1243265

video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WU8xZ7uVvv4

I’ll take 11 players with heart on the field over 11 guys with just talent. Talent is fleeting, it goes away over time. Heart is what drives you to be better. To push yourself beyond what you think your capabilities are. To show us that when you strive, all things are possible.- SMP

formerly patriotguy2 ;)

by Jack'sAxe on Jan 29, 2011 12:49 PM EST reply actions