Patriots’ Training Camp

This year’s crew of happy campers converge on Foxboro this week for a grueling month of two-a-days and other assorted preparations for the upcoming season. We’ll look at all of the teams in the NFL later on, but first we’ll scrutinize the home team in some detail. The pundits have placed the Patriots atop the meaningless “power rankings” before the preseason has commenced, yet even an untrained eye can spot a number of issues that need to be addressed during this most important time of year.

The first question involves the health of one T. Brady, Esq. If he has made a complete recovery from last year’s devastating knee injury then the offense ought to fall into place quite nicely. The offense has no shortage of weapons on the ground or in the air with the likes of Welker, Moss and three tight ends. Fred Taylor ought to fill the “Corey Dillon” role but this is an important camp for Lawrence Maroney, who is coming off of a serious shoulder injury. If he continues to “pussyfoot” his way through holes rather than hitting them with conviction then someone else will take his place. Kevin Faulk returns and will continue to be a valuable contributor as a swing back and on third down packages. The offensive line is in pretty good shape. The team shored up the depth of the line during the draft and it remains to be seen if second-round pick Sebastian Vollmer is able to get significant playing time this year.

Things on the defensive side of the ball are less settled. Vince Wilfork is unhappy with his contract status but has elected to come to camp and Ty Warren has started camp on the PUP list. The rest of the returning interior linemen (Seymour, et al.) appear to be in good shape and ready to go. ILB also appears to be in good shape with Mayo, Bruschi and Lenon. However, the lack of depth at OLB is a big problem. Vrabel was traded away before the draft, leaving only Adalius Thomas, Pierre Woods, Tully Banta Cain and Shawn Crable (PUP) to play the position. Outside of Thomas, there’s not a ton of talent there, and as constituted, is a gaping hole on defense. The backfield is slightly better, Free agents Shawn Springs and Leigh Bodden have been brought in to solidify what was a major area of weakness last year. Rodney Harrison retired; the mercurial Ellis Hobbs was traded to Philly and, thank goodness (to paraphrase Nixon) we won’t have Deltha O’Neal to kick around any more. Last year’s rookies (Wilhite, Wheatley and Slater) all earned valuable experience though it was painful to watch at times. This year, the team inversted heavily in the secondary at the draft, selecting Darius Butler and Patrick Chung on the second round. It is expected that one or two of these first and second year players steps up to make a big contribution. The player most fans are watching is Brandon Meriweather. It’s time for him to become a dominant safety.

There are a lot of questions to be answered in camp, and we’ll just have to watch and wait to see how things shake out.

This Year's Campers:

QB: 1) Tom Brady; 2) Kevin O'Connell; 3) Matt Gutierrez; 4) Brian Hoyer; 5) Julian Edelman*

RB: 1) Kevin Faulk; 2) Fred Taylor; 3) Sammy Morris; 4) Laurence Maroney; 5) BenJarvus Green-Ellis; 6) Eric Kettani

WR: 1) Randy Moss; 2) Wes Welker; 3) Joey Galloway; 4) Greg Lewis; 5) Brandon Tate (injured); 6) Sam Aiken; 7) Julian Edelman; 8) Robert Ortiz; 9) Terrence Nunn; 10) Tyree Barnes; 11) Shun White

TE: 1)Benjamin Watson; 2) Chris Baker; 3) Alex Smith; 4) David Thomas; 5) Tyson DeVree

Tackles: 1) Matt Light; 2) Nick Kaczur; 3) Sebastian Vollmer; 4) Mark LeVoir; 5) Ryan O'Callaghan; 6) Wesley Britt; 7) Jemail Porter.

Guards: 1) Logan Mankins; 2) Stephen Neal; 3) Rich Ohrnberger; 4) Russ Hochstein; 5) George Bussey; 6) Billy Yates; 7) Dan Connolly; 8) Ryan Wendell.
Center: 1) Dan Koppen; 2) Al Johnson.

Defensive Ends: 1) Richard Seymour; 2) Ty Warren; 3) Jarvis Green; 4) Mike Wright (also an option at nose); 5) Le Kevin Smith; 6) Myron Pryor (possible option at nose tackle); 7) Darryl Richard; 8) Steve Williams.

Nose tackles: 1) Vince Wilfork; 2) Ron Brace; 3) Titus Adams.

Inside LB: 1) Jerod Mayo; 2) Tedy Bruschi; 3) Gary Guyton; 4) Paris Lenon; 5) Eric Alexander; 6) Tank Williams; 7) Vinny Ciurciu; 8) Tyrone McKenzie (injured).

Outside LB: 1) Adalius Thomas; 2) Pierre Woods; 3) Shawn Crable; 4) Vince Redd; 5) Tully Banta-Cain

CB: 1) Shawn Springs; 2) Leigh Bodden; 3) Jonathan Wilhite; 4) Terrence Wheatley; 5) Darius Butler; 6) Mike Richardson; 7) Jamar Love

S: 1) Brandon Meriweather; 2) James Sanders; 3) Patrick Chung; 4) Matthew Slater; 5) Brandon McGowan; 6) Ray Ventrone; 7) Antwain Spann