Ouch. It appears that OLB Shawn Crable has signed with the New York Jets, adding plenty of years in the Patriots system to the Jets roster. Crable had been on the Patriots roster for a couple years, but his time with the team had been marred with injuries. This past week, after the Pittsburgh Steelers game, Crable was released due to his lack of versatility on defense and on special teams. Crable was primarily used as a pass rusher, but was ineffective against the run and was not a great special teams player.
The Jets add themselves a potentially dangerous player. Their coach Rex Ryan is great with creating packages that play to his players' strengths and Crable, despite his injuries, had plenty of potential. He's an athletic player, even if he's not especially strong. I believe that Ryan will be able to use Crable on a variety of plays to generate pressure up the interior on delays or blitzes. Crable has the speed to reach the quarterback, but he needs to be in a position where a tackle can't push him outside. By sending Crable up the middle in the A or B gaps, he should be more able to reach the quarterback.
The Patriots had replaced Crable with former Patriot OLB Pierre Woods. Woods is more solid against the run than Crable and is a stud special teams player. While Woods isn't that great in coverage, he can provide a solid compliment to fellow OLB Rob Ninkovich at the LOLB spot, playing across from Tully Banta-Cain or Jermaine Cunningham. Woods has found his ceiling, so the Patriots know what to expect from him, and he should definitely be used on run defense downs. Facing the Colts, who like to use dump passes and screens to their running backs, Woods will provide a solid player to trace whoever is given the ball.