Mike Dussault

Good question, and something to think about, but here’s what we’ve seen so far in terms of positions.

Arrington: has started outside and inside, inside the better fit.

Dennard: has only played outside. Stocky, perhaps not short-area quick enough to play inside?

Dowling: best fit is outside, though played a bit of fill-in at Money, aka Dime Linebacker.

So when you piece those three together, neither Dennard or Ras-I are really ideal in the slot. At least they haven’t tried Dennard there, he might be okay.

Hard to say how it will all play out, but Arrington will be a big piece, whether he’s only playing slot, or playing outside in base, then shifting inside in the sub. But for Dowling or Dennard to put Arrington to slot-only they’d really have to look outstanding.

So yeah, Dowling vs. Dennard is a tight competition, and really anything is possible. I think Logan Ryan will play into it as well, though he could really be the second-best slot guy on the whole team.

Overall, it’s a good group with their strength being outside, so it worries me a bit, especially if Arrington gets dinged. They’ve gotten murdered in the middle of the field the last couple years (see Cole on Bolden in the AFCCG), and I hope they can make strides in that area this year.

Shhhh! No one is supposed to bring up the fact that the defense returned every major impact player (depending on how you grade Kyle Love and Brandon Deaderick, I gave them an “upgradeable” status earlier this offseason) and added two solid vets in Kelly and Wilson.

As I wrote in my B/R piece today, the Pats have had two main problems: defending the middle of the field against the pass, and having the offense go cold in the playoffs. That’s really it. People can talk about the pass rush, the lack of a deep threat, etc., but it’s really just that simple. So, I think they have definitely taken steps to address the problem on defense with Kelly (better interior disruption from the base defense) and Wilson (should provide impact in middle of field), along with the development of the others.

As for the linebackers I think this is Dont’a Hightower’s year to break out. Mayo had the best season of his career last year, he’ll need to really elevate his pass defense if he wants to improve on that.