New England Patriots Links 6/23/10 - Can Kaczur Be Mankins?

Erik Scalavino answers a frequent question about the Mankins situation from the PFW mailbag.

Does [Nick] Kaczur have the ability, in your opinion(s), to step up and fill Mankins' role on the team? Have to say I agree with Erik that he won't be able to mend things with the Pats. He's no off-the-cuff talker like Ty Law – if he says he wants out, I believe he won't settle for less then a trade. How will the team move on at the LG position?
Kristen

Good question, Kristen. We’ve seen Kaczur play both tackle spots in his New England career, to varying degrees of effectiveness. And in a few practices this spring, he’s stepped in on a rotational basis at left guard. It’s difficult to gauge with any certainty how good he’ll be based simply on his work in a handful of no-pads workouts. However, I think he has enough of the necessary tools to do an adequate job there. He’s fairly mobile for a guy his size, plus I believe he has the football smarts to handle the change of responsibilities. I’ll be very curious to see how this transition plays out during training camp and the preseason.

If it fails, the Patriots will probably turn to one of their backup lineman, with Dan Connolly having the advantage at this point, in my estimation. He certainly has the skills to play any interior line position and gained valuable playing experience last season. We know he can move around in space, too, having lined up as a fullback and blocking tight end in various short-yardage packages a year ago. Rich Ohrnberger and rookie Ted Larsen will get their chances to impress, too. So, while the team will certainly miss having a Pro Bowler on the o-line, I don’t think they’ll suffer too much without Mankins.

TEAM TALK

• Ask PFW: First of summer edition.
• Patriots Today - 'Write On' Scholarship contest. (2.28 min. video)

LOCAL LINKS

• Shalise Manza Young notes Jerod Mayo was picked for Sporting News Magazine's under-25 all-pro team.
• Mike Reiss finds that in all the Patriots drafts under Bill Belichick, running back is tied for the fewest number of picks (not including specialists).
• Mark Farinella remembers when the 1985 throwback jerseys were new.
• Mike Reiss answers his weekly reader mailbag, full of questions about Mankins and more.
• Matt Noonan offers a list of Boston athletes who requested, demanded or pushed to be traded by their behavior.
• Paul Kenyon catches up with Bryan Morry, executive director of the Hall at Patriot Place.

NATIONAL NEWS

• Tim Graham (ESPN) Big Question: Most dubious AFC East call?
• A.J. Perez (NFL Fanhouse) World anti-doping agency helping NFL beef up testing.
• Tim Graham (ESPN) All AFC East squads make under-25 roster.
• Sporting News 25 under 25: SN's list of best young athletes.
• Peter Schrager (Fox Sports) NFL's top 100 players of 2010: Nos. 61-80.  Vince Wilfork at 76 and Jerod Mayo at 72.  (Bob Sanders at 61?)
  
• Matt Bowen (Nat'l Football Post) Porter's Super Bowl INT: Breaking down Porter's pick of Manning on chalkboard and video.
• Tim Graham (ESPN) Analysts: Fins best offseason, Bills worst.
• Adam Schein (Fox Sports) NFL rookie revelations from mini-camp.
• Tim Graham (ESPN) World Cup whistles shrill compared to NFL.
• Toni Monkovic (NY Times) Revisiting the Pat Tillman story, and McChrystal's role.