I sure hope so! There’s not much he can really do other than bump up Tommy Kelly’s play time (hopefully he can handle it) and try to figure out the best way to use Vellano/Smith and Francis/Forston, if they have enough potential to get the call up from the practice squad.
There’s no way to sugarcoat how tough losing Wilfork is, but the Pats have overcome big injuries before and it’s part of football. So now there’s an opportunity for someone to rise and maybe carve out a role as a building block for the future.
The unfortunate thing is that I’ve been so attracted to defensive tackles in the draft the last three seasons. Giving Wilfork help and building a future replacement should’ve been more of a priority as I see it. Now they did sign Armond Armstead, no one could’ve predicted how that got complicated, and they signed Kelly, so they didn’t completely ignore the spot.
Big Vince couldn’t keep the same pace they’d established for him over the last three seasons and it was clearly just a matter of time before he started to decline or got injured. I’m not sure which is more desirable.
Now there’s no avoiding it, the defensive rebuild must focus on the interior defensive line this offseason, no matter what else happens. It’s really the last chapter to be written of the rebuild from the dynasty defense. All the other positions have young playmakers.
