In this edition of the New England Patriots Weekly Post the topic is Vince Wilfork, and the odds of his staying in Foxboro. If asked this same question 2 weeks ago I'd guess the odds would be pretty good, but I no longer feel that way. Sine then Vince Wilfork has turned into Mo Vaughn just prior to his departure a dozen years ago, and that's not a good thing. First he started talking about how the franchise tag would be a "slap in the face", then an ex-teammate (Asante Samuel) tried to tell him that the Patriots don't care about him. Finally, and this is the real "Mo factor", he began talking to the media about how much he's "always wanted" to play for specific other teams. In Vaughn's case it was just about every team in the majors, in Wilfork's case it was the Dolphins and Buccaneers. At the end of the day Mo Vaughn signed with the Angels for big bucks and left Boston, and I now wont be a bit surprised (I'm sorry to say) if Vince Wilfork follows suit this year......Also this week: Questions about the CBA? Click here.....Wes Welker to undergo surgery this week.....should Tim Tebow be on the Pats radar?.....these and any other issues involving our favorite football team are open for discussion right here!.....
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8 comments:
I'm pretty annoyed by the "slap in the face" comment. How is the franchise tag a slap in the face? If it's a slap in the face, the hand slapping him is the union that he's a part of that agreed to these terms. If they didn't want NFL teams to take advantage of it why have it in the CBA?
My prediction is that a sign & trade is the only possible outcome here. I just don't see the Pats giving money to Wilfork that they were not willing to give so many others....especially guys like Samuel and Seymour that I personally consider more valuable.
Belichick to go with no defensive coordinator? Seems odd to me...mostly because nobody else has no offensive or defensive coordinator except for the Pats. O'Brien is the "offensive coordinator" in a sense because he runs the offensive meetings. Who will lead the defensive meetings? Belichick?
Welker's surgery deemed a success, though I've never heard any surgery deemed anything else immediately afterward.
Yeah, this sounds bad. It will really be a bad backfire (to go with all of our other woes) if we end up losing Wilfork AND Seymour.
Michael Felger from 98.5 has been begging for the Pats to draft Tebow. Personally I don't dislike the idea, but only if they have a legit plan to shore up their other holes. Clearly the Pats have major needs at:
*Wide Receiver
*Tight End
*Guard (if Mankins leaves)
*Defensive End
*Outside & Inside Linebacker
*Cornerback (especially if Bodden leaves)
That is 7 positions that I think we have legit needs at that will need to be addressed this off season. If we can address 4 of them via trade or free agency I have no problems using the 3rd 2nd round pick on Tebow if they have a legit plan on how to use him....which I assume will not be the standard backup QB.
I think its high time the Pats start paying some players to stick around. The system of creating better than average players and letting them go worked for awhile. But its not working anymore!
Think its time to switch the base defense style, the current system no longer confuses teams. Go with a base 4-3, its easier to find big guys to plug the middle than it is to find all around athletic LBs.
As for the no coordinators..I think its a lil crazy, but BB will be the one taking all the blame for issues with play calling. Personally Kraft needs to step and tell BB that he needs to have help he's not supposed to run the show himself.
as for Tebow.. if he does end up in New England i doubt it will be at the QB position at all.. Maybe TE/FB.
I've been trying to get back to posting more. Glad to see the site still running. Going to Puerto Rico for a few weeks. I'll give a surfing report when i get back.
Gmac, gotta agree with pretty much everything you wrote.
One thing weird about Wilfork is that he said the franchise tag meant that the Pats thought he was an average player. Isn't the franchise tag the opposite of a franchise player?
Also, DK I thought I read that there were several head coaches that were coordinators including the Ryan and Payton.
One other thing about the Pats D is that it seemed to be a weak poin this year, but they finished 5th in points allowed. Was it that they had no big plays, or that they let up big plays at bad times? What caused them to seem so weak when statistically they weren't?
We can still get Peppers and make him into a linebacker!
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