12:00 PM Sun, Feb 11, 2007 | Permalink
By Shalise Manza Young  Email this author | Email this entry |
Hey all --
While Bill Belichick not-so-subtly expressed his "joy" at having to coach the AFC team in the Pro Bowl after New England's loss to Indianapolis three weeks ago, there was at least one side effect to the coach being in Honolulu: the chance to schmooze pending free agents.
(As an aside, coach looked quite natty in his island threads, no?)
Chief among the players the Pats would be interested in is Ravens linebacker Adalius Thomas. A 29-year old seventh-year pro, Thomas had 83 tackles (64 solo), 11 sacks and an interception with Baltimore last season -- in a 3-4 system.
And it would appear that Thomas took a liking to Belichick last week:
"I never really met Belichick before, and you always hear about how he's a mean guy," Thomas told the Associated Press. "But it's real interesting to see how he reacts with different players, how he gets comfortable over here. He's actually a really nice guy. I was surprised."
Free agency begins in less than three weeks. Stay tuned...
shalise
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I'm positive this guy will be here next season but I don't see him getting 11 sacks but I'm sure that his presence will allow Colvin to get 12 maybe 14
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Forget about the sacks, what the Pats need more is someone to set the edge on running plays. That doesn't seem to be a strength of Colvin or Banta-Cain.
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Where do you put Vrabel? Inside? He's an outside backer and that is where he excels. We need inside linebackers! If you are going to open the checkbook for an outside linebacker, how about Lance Briggs? He is younger. Inside linebacker, running back, safety, wide receiver this year. Thats assuming they franchise Assante.
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W/ the Pats, Thomas could play inside. He did a little bit of everything on the Baltimore defense and can do the same here. Hopefully, w/ Vrabel they'll be interchangeable inside-outside backers that'll give the Pats more flexibility than they've ever had in that backer corps, especially if the Pats add a couple of young backers and bring back Seau and/or Banta-Cain.
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