Today on WEEI Ian Rapoport of the Boston Herald reported that in his conversations with NFL personnel people he learned that the Patriots only have about 12 players considered to be quality starters. He later tweeted that he was surprised by this number and later confirmed it with some others down at the Senior Bowl.
So who are the Pats 12 quality starters? Our best guess:
- Brady
- Wilfork
- Mayo
- Koppen
- Vollmer
- McCourty
- Chung
- Welker
- Gronkowski
- Branch
- Hernandez
- Meriweather
This of course doesn’t include players who are free agents this year (Mankins, Light) nor players who were injured last year (Bodden, Ty Warren). So assuming returns from injury/re-signings the number could be as high as 16 before looking outside the organization.
I also consider players like Brandon Spikes and Jermaine Cunningham as guys who could make the leap in their second year. Green-Ellis also has to be on the bubble after a 1000-yard season, he might even be in that top 12 at the expense of our two time pro bowler Brandon Meriweather. But for other guys like TBC, Ninkovich, and Sanders they’re probably never getting any better than they are right now, so they have to be looked at as replaceable.
It’s hard not to say that a big part of this is all the trading down the Patriots have done over the years, maximizing quantity but losing out on quality. This is why there are rumblings that the Pats will acquire a lot of talent this offseason, whether it’s by trading UP for once or signing/re-signing quality free agents.