Patriots Continue Meeting with Draft Hopefuls

Today it was announced that the Patriots have met with the following players, either at the Senior Bowl or at the NFL Combine:

Jamar Adams – S, Michigan (KFFL is reporting that the meeting the two parties had at the combine went well)

James Silva – S, Boston College (talked at the East-West game)

Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie – CB, Tennessee State

Aqib Talib - CB, Kansas

As you can see, there was an emphasis on defensive backs today. The two units that need the most help are the linebacking corps and the secondary. While most people are anticipating that the Patriots will draft a linebacker with their number seven draft pick, it would not be surprising to see them address the secondary with their first round pick.

With Asante Samuel likely gone, the team will definitely be thin in the secondary. Ideally, New England will be looking for someone who can play the middle of the field as well as on the corners. If the Patriots do not sign a defensive back in free agency, the team will go into camp with Ellis Hobbes, Randall Gay, Brandon Merriweather, Rodney Harrison, Eugene Wilson, and James Sanders as the primary contributors in the defensive backfield.

That is a shaky core. Harrison is slowing down and has had injury problems, Wilson looked down right terrible this past season, Hobbes and Gay are solid CB’s, but they are not #1 material. The Patriots will need to address the secondary either in the draft or free agency, and, with the lack of quality corners on the market, I am going to say that spend their second or third rounder on a DB.

That being said, if Belichick and his crew feel as if the linebackers are stable enough, they may very well use that number seven pick on a defensive back. I doubt it, but it wouldn’t shock me if they did.

My Take on Belichick and ‘Spygate’

Up to this point, I feel like everyone except me has posted an opinion regarding Spygate, so I am just going to get it over with and let the world know what I think.

The Patriots cheated (remember, I am a huge Patriots fan).

I will not try and justify why the Patriots did it or try and reason why it is OK for them to tape from the sidelines. However, I will take a look at why Belichick may have done it, how he was able to get away with it for so long, and just how much of an effect these tapes actually had on the games themselves.

Before I start, I want to make one thing clear: Bill Belichick did not misinterpret anything. I don’t care what you think about him, this is an intelligent man that knows the game of football. He is not one to misinterpret a rulebook. He knew very well what he was doing, and, now, he is paying the consequences.

If he knew what he was doing, why would he take the chance? I think it is important to consider why Belichick would use illegal taping methods.  We all know that this man is obsessive. He is consumed by his work and trying to win the Super Bowl. When most teams would be content with making it to their conference championship game, Belichick, after the 2006 loss to Indianapolis, went out and gave his roster (particularly the offensive side) a major overhaul, bringing in more big names in one off-season than he has done in his entire career.

So, it is actually not hard to see why Belichick broke the rules. He wants every little edge that he can get. Taping the opponents signals is a way to gain a slight advantage, so, he does it. He is always looking for a way to gain the upper hand, and he apparently thought that this way was worth the risk. It seems like it to, as he was able to do it for what appears to be about seven years. Now it’s coming back to bite him. We won’t know whether or not it was ‘worth the risk’ until the investigation is closed, but I have a hunch that, despite the public scrutiny, Belichick is not regretting anything that he has done up to this point.

Now that I have ranted on about how Belichick is looking to get the upper hand, it is important to look at just how much of an effect these tapes may have had on the outcome of these games.

In short, I do not believe that the tapes were such an advantage that they were a primary reason that the Patriots have enjoyed this success these past few years. However, I will acknowledge that they would give the Pats a slight edge. Anyone who has played football understands that game film is an important part of preparing for game day. However, they also know that, the amount of film has little to do with the games’ outcome. You can have all the knowledge you want, but if you can’t execute your plays and get your own technique right, you could have the opposing teams’ playbook and you wouldn’t win the game.

It all comes down to execution on game day, and the Patriots have, for the most part been fundamentally sound and done their jobs. Could these tapes been responsible for a few of these wins these past several years? Sure, but they in no way are responsible for the overall success that New England has had.

I think that is the big reason that many people keep wondering why the Patriots are being beaten so badly over this topic. It may not have been a major tool for them, but it is still against the rules. That is why I get sick when some Pats fans get defensive and claim that, since every other team does it, the Patriots should be exonerated. I may be a fan of the Patriots, but, more importantly, I am a fan of the game of football, so I believe that the Pats should be punished and I am just waiting for everything to come out so that we can truly understand the impact that this scandal may have had on the past seven to eight years.

Another aspect of this whole Spygate thing that I am very interested in is, how far back does it go? I know that there have been numerous rumors flying around about who the Patriots taped, but, so far, other than the New York Jets game this past season and a few others in the past, no one has produced any concrete evidence. I have a feeling that that will change of the course of the coming months, but we will have to wait and see. Belichick has acknowledged that they have been taping teams since 2000, so I am confident that there are a fair number of games that have been recorded illegally, but I will wait to see proof before coming to any concrete conclusions.

I have struggled with this next question for awhile, but I think that I have come to an answer: How come Belichick got away with illegal taping for so long?

My answer is this: Different commissioners.

Paul Tagliabue was a very good commissioner who did many great things for the NFL. However, I don’t believe that disciplining those who broke the rules was one of his strong suites. Why do you think the NFL has so many criminals and rule-breakers associated with the league right now? Tagliabue was lenient when it came to dolling out punishment, so players and coaches felt like they could get away with it.

In steps Roger Goodell, a fresh face at the head of the league. With him, he brought a promise to clean up the NFL and turn into a widely respected role model for all other professional sports leagues to model themselves after.

It didn’t take him long to get started. He suspended Chris Henry, the Bengals wide receiver, eight games. He suspended Tank Johnson four games. Pacman Jones of the Tennessee Titans has yet to be reinstated into the league after he was suspended before last season even began. Michael Vick is out indefinitely. In short, Goodell has brought the hammer down. Hard. Many of the disciplinary cases that he has dealt with saw rulings before these players were even convicted of their charges by the police (Tank Johnson is a good example). Through swift, strict discipline, he is trying to bring the league into a new era where discipline cases and arrests of NFL players are considered the exception rather than the norm.

So, what does this have to do with Spygate? Well, I believe that the NFL had at least some knowledge that the Patriots were doing something fishy long before they were finally caught in Week 1 of the 2007 season. However, I don’t think that Tagliabue had the guts to try and take down the most successful franchise that the league has had in the past decade. They may not have the history that many other teams around the league have, but, in today’s NFL, Robert Kraft and the Patriots are a powerful organization. Tagliabue and the other NFL brass did not want to upset the new dynasty of the NFL.

With this new league hierarchy, they aren’t afraid of sticking it to anybody. They came out and punished the team. Now, with more evidence starting to leak out, I expect that, if other major violations are eventually proved, the league will issue more punishment. In fact, I expect that they would. I hope they do if Matt Walsh can prove that the Patriots taped the Rams Super Bowl XXXVI walkthrough. Only then can we consider this to be a closed case.

I may sound like I am contradicting myself, saying that I am a Pats fan and that I hope that the league slaps more punishment onto the team, but, as I said earlier, I am first and foremost a fan of the game of football. If protecting the integrity of my favorite sport means punishing my favorite team, then so be it. I just want this all to come out in the open  so that we can truly see what is going on, and then start over. No more cameras, no more Spygate, no more anything other than straight up football.

Samuel to Philly?

Reports out of Philadelphia are suggesting that the Eagles may be taking a look at free agent cornerback Asante Samuel. Supposedly, the team was considering making a run at Seattle corner Marcus Trufant, but the Seahawks slapped him with the franchise tag. The other high-end corner, Oakland’s Nnamdi Asomugha, was also hit with the tag, making Samuel the lone elite corner on the open market.

This means that there will likely be some high-stakes bidding for his services, which also means that Samuel may get what he wants; a 10-year contract worth about $100 million (about $30 million guaranteed). The Eagles would certainly have to shell out a pretty penny to acquire Samuel, and indications are that the Philadelphia brass just may be willing to do that.

If any team is going to pay that amount to snag a defensive back in free agency, there is a good chance that it will be the Eagles. Their secondary is aging, especially when you look at safety Brian Dawkins and the injury-riddled veteran Lito Sheppard. Both have had injury concerns over the past couple seasons, and they are certainly not in their prime anymore.

However, a player of Samuel’s caliber can change any secondary from mediocre to good in a heartbeat. His sixteen picks over the past two seasons are an indication of that, and he also is solid in coverage. He may not be Champ Bailey or Al Harris when it comes to man coverage, but there aren’t that mant true shutdown corners in the league anymore. Samuel is a solid corner who is intelligent and, for the most part, takes risks that pay off.

But does he deserve the $100 million? The one concern is that he is a system player, succeeding in the Bill Belichick defense that is tailored to his strengths. That is how Belichick drafts anyway. He goes for players that are good fit for his system, not the best overall athlete. That factor certainly comes into play here. Samuel has never played for another team. He has never worked in another system. Bill Belichick drafted Samuel because the corner is a good fit for the Patriots’ defensive scheme. All teams, including the Philadelphia Eagles, should be wary of this fact when they consider throwing this kind of money around.

That being said, Samuel is still a corner that will have success, just maybe not at the level he has been playing at the past two seasons. He can certainly raise the level of Philly’s secondary, but they would be cautious when committing this kind of contract to one player.