ESPN: Meriweather 8th best safety in NFL

This one should spark some debate! ESPN’s writers ranked the top 10 safeties in the NFL and Meriweather came out at 8th. The numbers are a bit deceiving because he didn’t even get a vote from 3 of the 8 writers, and Mike Sando’s 5th ranking really helped his stock a lot.

Meriweather has slowly developed into one of the most polarizing players for Patriots fans. At times he delivers crushing hits that border on or cross into the illegal territory. Really his problem is just inconsistency, which was evident by his silde down the depth chart in early 2010 for “freelancing”. And of course the off-field stuff like the shooting incident that he was at least present for in early 2011.

It’s hard to say how last season and this offseason are going to effect how the Patriots view Meriweather. Can he ever develop consistency and learn to always play within the system? No one will argue that when he’s doing that he’s a very, very good safety.

However, just coming off his second Pro Bowl and with only one year left on his deal at a manageable cap number it might be the right time to get some value out of Meriweather. Especially if they believe that he’ll walk in 2012 and that Ras-I Dowling shows enough to prove he’s the future at Free Safety.

James Sanders is a solid insurance plan if the Pats decide to move Meriweather, otherwise let’s hope playing in a contract year will force him to consistently play up to his potential.