No need to worry about linebacking group

Photo via newenglandsportsjournal.com

Much has been made about this brand new Patriots’ defense. From the returns of Vince and Mayo, to the drafting of Mr. robotic knees Easley, to the NFL stopping signing of Darrelle Fucking Revis. Sorry, I’ve been unable to say Revis’ name without mentioning his middle name. Ask any Patriots’ fan and the first thing you can bet they mention is Revis Island coming to Foxboro. And who can blame us? Talib was great and all but he had a knack for disappearing at all the wrong moments. And not to mention him ditching town to join Darth Welker out in Denver. So, he’s now dead to me.

The defense has been already chalked up as a top 5 in the NFL and many expect them to challenge the great Legion of Boom for best defense out there. Couple that with the greatest QB of all time and I’m thinking championship.

But I digress.

What makes this defense so exciting is it’s depth. It is unlike almost another defense in the league simply because of the number of capable starters you can rotate through at any given time.

On the D-line you have Chandler Jones, Rob Ninkovich, Vince Wilfork, Tommy Kelly, Dominique Easley, Will Smith (yea forgot we had this guy), and not to mention all those DTs that took Vince and Kelly’s spot when they went down.

In the secondary - the achilles heal of the Patriots for as long as I can remember - you have Darrelle Revis, Brandon Browner, Devin McCourty, Alfonzo Dennard, Logan Ryan, Kyle Arrington (only if he stays in the slot), Duron Harmon, along with Wilson, Chung and Ebner. Any team’s fourth best receiver is going up against the likes of Logan Ryan or Kyle Arrington. That is how deep this secondary is.

But for all the love the secondary and D-line have received, the linebacking core has been relatively untouched, and this might scare some fans. We saw what happened once Mayo got injured, teams had free reign in the middle of the field. Hightower was getting spun around like a top and Spikes single handedly played himself into Buffalo. Yea, that bad.

We did see the emergence of Jamie Collins, who looks to be quite the dynamic linebacker, especially in coverage, so that was good.

But that still seems to be the possible weak point in an otherwise terrifying defense. But don’t be so quick to jump to conclusions. The Patriots haven’t made the splashiest moves when it came to the linebackers but that is simply because they have their starters lined up and they brought in backup this time.

For starters, I’m guessing Jerod Mayo will return to the middle of the defense. He is the captain of that D and is by far one of the best tacklers in the NFL. His experience and leadership will shine in the middle of the defense. Collins has already displayed his ability to drop into coverage and I would expect exactly that from him in his second season. This allows Hightower to do what he does best: rush the quarterback. Just imagine him rushing from the right side with Jones. Who do you block? You can’t stop both players and if you do, then you have to worry about Nink on the other side, or Vince or Easley in the middle. Watching this defense is going to be like looking at fine art. And Belichick will be the painter.

But the talent doesn’t stop there. Patriots made a relatively quiet, but extremely brilliant move in signing linebacker James Anderson who played for the Bears last year and had 100 plus tackles. Steve Beauharnais came out of OTAs with enough gold stars to make any mother proud. If Chris White and Darius Fleming can develop into strong role players, depth worries could quickly become a distant memory.

While the names don’t wow you, when have you ever been wowed by Patriots role players? Dane Fletcher wasn’t wow worthy. Logan Ryan at the beginning of last year wasn’t wow worthy. The Patriots just get players that can play, and you can bet these linebackers can play.

Obviously after the injury debacle that was last season, depth is on the top of everyone’s mind. Naturally. Our secondary has depth filled with names we know and love. Our linebackers don’t have that luxury. We may not know their names, but they can certainly play and there is no reason for fans to be worried about the linebacker position heading into next year.

The Patriots have a plan and even if they don’t, they for once will have enough pieces surrounding the linebackers that they can cover up any holes that may emerge.

- Pete Rogers
@ftcsports
@petahrahgas