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The physical differences between Chandler and Hernandez are obvious – about six inches and 30 pounds. While Chandler isn’t the blocker Gronk is, despite his size, but he’s still going to be more effective than Hernandez was.

You won’t have the same versatility they had with Hernandez, who even took running back snaps and was deadly in the open field, but in the red zone it’s literally a monumental task to cover two tight ends who are over 6′6″ and that’s assuming they aren’t running at you to block.

Simply, I think the Gronk/Chandler combo will be the more physical one, with a better threat of having both block in the running game. So that should give the Patriots a little better time dictating matchups, because with Hernandez you didn’t necessarily have to respect him as a blocker because he was the same size as most of your linebackers.

Chandler might not be a devastating blocker, but he’ll have a size advantage over just about anyone you try to put in his way.

I can’t even imagine how much more of a story it would be if it were the Patriots who were caught doing that. The funny thing is that it certainly seems like something the Patriots would totally do, doesn’t it? And Belichick’s connection to Tony LaRussa and the Cardinals only makes it more funny. But yeah, the mob would certainly be calling for a significant Belichick suspension, no question about it.

Interesting breakdown and I think we might be able to throw Matthew Wells into this mix as well. This position is important in robber coverages, as we saw last year with Patrick Chung doing some great damage against the run. Then there’s the “Money” sub linebacker position but as long as Mayo/Collins are healthy I don’t really see that being the necessary role that it once was when linebackers weren’t as athletic as they have to be today.

So to be honest, I don’t really get it. The trend is clear though, reaching on these guys in the early rounds when every pundit out there had them ranked significantly lower.

The easiest answer I think might just be that it’s an unending search for a strong safety who is just as good in the box as he is on the back end. That’s ideally what you want in today’s NFL and if you have two of them that never have to come off the field it would be the goal.

This is why the safety competition and reps will be so interesting to watch unfold. Richards is really the wild card. Most agree he should bump Tavon off the roster, but what how will he impact Chung/Harmon and how will the evolving secondary have a trickle-down effect on who’s playing the safety spots in certain situations?