No one asked me, but I’m wondering if his AAV may be in the middle of your projected range? I’m guessing something around 6.5m a year, and I’m thinking that may be priced out of our range. Hopefully not, because I think he could be a nice addition, but I think we’re going to see a healthier HT, KVN, the return of Rivers, + a higher round draft pick. I’m also hoping that M.Flowers could be retained, as well as maybe Harrison as a depth option.
Yes, I’m collecting LBs.
No shame, there, at this point. The more, the merrier for the 90-man roster!
For the 53-man, I'd guess that the LB count ends up around 6, depending on how much legitimate OLB/DE versatility they have among the edge players. But that 6 seems likely to include at least three, maybe four, who can play ILB/MLB (bonus if they can handle some OLB, too).
In 2017, they started with HT, KVN, Harris and Roberts. HT and KVN have the ILB/OLB versatility thing. Harris seemed pretty much limited to ILB/MLB, and Roberts seemed like would have been limited to ILB/MLB (as a reserve) if everything else hadn't gone to s**t.
Langi, who was healthy to begin the season, seems like he might have ended up being a deep-reserve OLB/ILB trainee while paying his rookie dues on ST. Alas.
Anyway, if the Pats actually do manage to steal PB away from the Bills on an extended contract (3-4 years), I'd guess they'd view him as a lock for (primarily) an ILB/MLB role, replacing Harris (or replacing what they perhaps
hoped Harris
could be if/when HT was injured), and moving Roberts back to ILB/MLB reserve.
That could project the 53-man LB group as:
... Brown - ILB/MLB (maybe some occasional OLB, extensive ST history)
... Roberts - ILB/MLB (reserve, not much ST work)
... KVN - OLB/ILB (more ST work than Roberts)
... HT - OLB/ILB (DE)
[
NOTE: I really don't expect McClellin to return.]
Plus (roles undetermined, as of now):
... Langi (6015/251) - same size as PB, actually
... Rivers (6041/248)
... Lee (6032/260) - "DE" who played quite a bit at OLB in his six games
[
NOTE: I'm counting Grissom and Grigsby only as ST/ELE-reserve.
"ELE" = Extinction Level Event.]
Unsigned, but close at hand:
... M. Flowers (6025/245) - OLB (proven ST chops)
... Harrison (6000/245) - OLB (DE)
So, signing Brown could clarify the direction/positional focus heading into the Draft quite a bit, and perhaps the intended developmental tracks for Rivers and Langi, as well.
On the DE side of the "OLB thing", most likely:
- Lee ... because he did some in 2017, regardless whether he was consistently successful or not
- Trey Flowers ... probably gets as much "OLB" work as HT gets for "DE" work
- Grissom (ELE-reserve)
- Keionta Davis (6030/271) - unknown
- Caleb Kidder (6044/269) - unknown
[
NOTE: I'm not seeing Wise as doing much "OLB" type work (yet).]
