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In terms of a ranking, this is how I’d break down the linebackers:

Starters: Jerod Mayo (weakside), Brandon Spikes (middle), Dont’a Hightower (strongside)

Backups: Bobby Carpenter (weakside), Hightower (middle), Rob Ninkovich (strongside)

Sub: Mayo, Hightower, Carpenter, Tarpinian

Special teams: Niko Koutouvides, Tracy White

Others: Mike Rivera (potential middle/strong option), Aaron Lavarias

I find it interesting that Reiss has Hightower over Carpenter. Not that I disagree but this would be an interesting development for Hightower. I guess I’m just not sold yet that Hightower is ready to step in like that.

I remember reading not long ago that 4,000 people came out to watch Peyton Manning’s first practice in Denver. This was said to be unprecedented in Denver, and I can almost see why it happened. People wanted to come out and see actual physical proof that the Broncos now had a Hall of Fame quarterback and that, therefore, nobody in Denver had to argue about Tim Tebow anymore. Well, the Patriots laugh at your 4,000 people. They regularly put more than double that into their complex on a summer’s day and, since their football operation is now next to an upscale suburban shopping mall, you can come to Foxborough and watch your heroes lean on each other, buy some expensive lingerie, eat a massively overpriced burger that costs as much as the lingerie did, see a movie in a theater where you have your own waitperson, and drop by the Patriots Hall of Fame.