A few of you have asked why the Patriots would even want Ballard, seeing that they already have two excellent tight ends in Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez. Well, the Patriots play two tight ends on nearly every offensive snap; last year, Gronkowski and Hernandez each played more than 1,000 offensive plays. You can’t count on them to stay healthy, and New England needs a solid third tight end (and maybe a fourth) to play all the schemes in its playbook. And if New England signs Ballard for the third-year tender price of $640,000, that means it will have paid $1.17 million, total, for 2012 and 2013 to employ a good tight end in the hope he can help next season. Maybe he can’t. But the gamble seems worth it for a guy who made so many big catches for the Giants in the last two months of the season last year.
https://www.patspropaganda.com/a-few-of-you-have-asked-why-the-patriots-would/
Since everyone is sharing their favorite LaDanian Tomlinson memories today…
https://www.patspropaganda.com/since-everyone-is-sharing-their-favorite-ladanian/
I’m told that Mankins is expected to begin training camp on the PUP list (which was expected) and there is every reason to believe he will come off the PUP list before the end of training camp and be ready for the Patriots’ opener against the Titans. His progress was termed as “awesome.”
https://www.patspropaganda.com/im-told-that-mankins-is-expected-to-begin/
What we learned this spring: 2012 Patriots starting to come into focus – WEEI | Christopher Price
What we learned this spring: 2012 Patriots starting to come into focus – WEEI | Christopher Price
Interesting stuff here, but the one I’m most excited about:
Dont’a Hightower will be the first rookie to make a real impact. This is not to say there weren’t positive moments for the rest of the rookie class, particularly Jake Bequette and Chandler Jones. But Hightower flashed fairly consistently over the course of the spring, working at multiple positions and looking very secure while doing so. It’s early, but our bet is that the linebacker out of Alabama will be the most impactful Patriots rookie in 2012.
It’s ‘backers to the future – BostonHerald.com
It’s ‘backers to the future – BostonHerald.com
The defensive rebuild has been one of the biggest motivating factors for this blog, and one of the most surprising observations since 2007 has been how few picks have gone to linebackers compared to how many have gone to DBs. It looks like the tide finally turned in 2012’s draft with the addition of three potential linebacker-types in Chandler Jones, Dont’a Hightower and Jake Bequette.
Of course comparing defensive personnel is a little different these days than it was back in the Super Bol dynasty years. But the most important thing is those teams feature a core of defenders who played together for many years.
“Hightower, you don’t know yet what he is, or how they’re going to use him,” Millen said in a recent phone interview with the Herald. “It’s still Christmas (morning) up there for them. They’re still unwrapping the package to see what their new toy does. They’ll figure that out and Bill will figure that out as it goes. And you also have Chandler Jones, and seeing how to use him, and that kind of figures into it, too.”
Bill Belichick wasn’t the only coach in the division to use practice jerseys as a coaching tool. In the Jets’ final minicamp practice, Rex Ryan replaced the green jerseys with white numbers usually worn by the defense and had defenders wearing black jerseys instead. Ryan said black jerseys will be awarded throughout the season to position groups that perform the best in the prior practice. This is similar to what the Patriots have done with their practice players of the week.
https://www.patspropaganda.com/bill-belichick-wasnt-the-only-coach-in-the/