Mike Dussault

This will be one of the big questions of the offseason and it will be an interesting one. 

Mayo is an excellent captain and leader, and his dedication to football and Belichick’s appreciation of what he brings to the field has been clear…

BUT…

Hightower looks like a capable replacement as play-caller as Mayo is coming off his second-straight injury-shortened season. Mayo has speed and intangibles, but has never been a pivotal playmaker.

Boiled down to the pure financials of it, Mayo’s cap hits are $10.6 million and $10.4 million the next two seasons. That’s a lot and given the history of the Patriots, it makes him a prime target for restructure. 

Mayo seems like the kind of guy who would understand that. He just saw it happen last year with Wilfork. 

It’s been pretty defined. Chung is the starting strong safety and plays primarily in the box, but they will drop him in Cover-2 occasionally. He’s had a fairly solid year in coverage, but struggles against big tight ends. Still, he’s been much better in his second stint in New England.

On passing downs they’ll pull Chung for Harmon who has better range on the back end. Sometimes they’ll even play all three of them.

McCourty has done just about everything this year. Usually, he’s the free safety playing Cover-1, but he will come up and man cover tight ends sometimes. He’ll even occasionally blitz.

Tavon Wilson is behind Chung at the strong safety spot, but has picked up some spot duty throughout the season. Not as much as his rookie year in 2012, but definitely more that 2013.

Appreciate the insight into this year’s draft class, I don’t touch that stuff until the Pats season is over, so it’s interesting to hear it’s deep on tackles. I’m still fine re-signing Solder, but they have some protection now.

I think they take one or two guards this year regardless of how free agency plays out. Even if it’s a guy like Halapio who gets cut, at least they’re trying to round out their depth.

Unfortunately I just don’t think he’s gotten his explosion back and I think that’s why they backed off on playing him so much. The separated shoulder probably didn’t help either.

There were definitely some standout moments for Easley, but anytime you draft a guy coming off a major injury there’s some element of risk. Everyone who tears an ACL says you’re not back to yourself until you’re have a full season under your belt.

I still love Easley and think there’s a role for him to play going forward. If we have to wait until next year so be it. But the solid play of Chris Jones/Siliga and Branch to some extent has lessened how much the Pats need Easley this year.

I wouldn’t IR him, just give him a couple weeks off and see where we’re at. You never know if you might need a pass rush or when he might suddenly start feeling a lot better.

Amendola’s dead money if he’s cut falls from $6.8 million this year to $3.6 million next year. That’s still a significant number but his cap hit does go up another million so it’s very possible they’ll cut him or try to rework.

Dobson’s still on his rookie deal and never really got a full offseason so there’s no reason to do anything with him. Give him a chance to compete in 2015 but his spot is definitely not assured. If I were him I’d be living in Foxboro all offseason.

Regardless of those guys I don’t see WR as a huge need next offseason because I like LaFell/Edelman as the starters. They can fill in around them, likely with a slot guy to replace Amendola. I’d like to see Tyms back as well, so along with Dobson you have good depth of size guys.

Maybe a mid-range free agent or middle round draft pick, but I wouldn’t expect fireworks.

My off-the-cuff needs will be to lock down Revis/McCourty, upgrade Chung with an in-the-box safety who can cover better, figure out the RB situation with Ridley/Vereen hitting free agency and then really focus on the offensive line and defensive ends.