There really has been no offseason this year. Between the off-the-field controversies and OTAs being spread out, the Pats have been in the new constantly since winning the Super Bowl. Some of that is good, some of it obviously is not.
The important thing is not to read too much into OTAs, like who’s playing where, who looks good, etc. This is a teaching phase. Guys are getting reps all over the place, sometimes they’re not even on the field. So I’m not pencilling anything in anywhere just yet.
With that in mind here are some things that I think are significant from the last few weeks of open access to OTAs.
– With Spikes getting cut, Mayo/Hightower and Fletcher all out, and Collins in and out of practice, the linebacking crew has some real issues right now. Getting healthy there, at least with Collins and Fletcher, is a big priority in the next seven weeks until camp opens.
– I was surprised by the release of Tim Wright. Really thought he could blossom with a full offseason in the playbook, but it appears he did not. Despite Chandler’s size, I do think he’s a little more of an “F” tight end and between him, Fred Davis and AJ Derby, the Pats had enough depth there to move on from Wright. I thought Wright’s lack of action in the post season was more due to the game-planning, but I guess it was more of an overall referendum.
– Everyone is so curious about how the running back situation will play out and I wish I had a crystal ball, but it’s going to be all about competition and injuries. For early down carries I think we’ll see a rotation between Blount and Gray with Gaffney being the wild card. Remember there’s no Blount in Week 1, so that could be a good chance to audition both Gaffney and Gray.
– As for the passing down back, James White’s size does concern me a bit, he’ll have to be Kevin Faulk-like with pass blocking and reliability to nail down the job. However Cadet has really good size and that would be an exciting new twist in the backfield. Mike Reiss thinks we shouldn’t dismiss Dion Lewis, but we’ll have to see how the journeyman looks in live action.
– The Brady-Gronk-Chandler trio have been seen working off by themselves plenty of times in OTAs, reminiscent of past private sessions with Brady-Gronk-Revis last year or Brady-Moss a while back. This new tight end duo has incredible size and should be quite the force in the red zone. Teams planning on focusing primarily on Gronk in the red zone are in for a surprise.
– The general sentiment out there seems to be that Brady’s appeal will convince the commissioner to reduce his suspension to two games, then it will be up to Brady whether he wants to take that or drag the fight out into possibly training camp. Let’s face it, Goodell won’t absolve Brady completely. It’s more likely (and certainly possible) he’ll uphold all four games.
So the question is, if Brady never implicitly said, nor implied he wanted the balls deflated to an illegal level, should he accept any punishment? I have a hard time believing he will if he truly never expected and was aware of anything nefarious going on with the balls before games.
Still, the time frame and attention this will continue to draw will go into August at least if Brady continues to fight the NFL on it and I think it’s a safe bet that if it goes to an independent arbitrator he’ll win. So I hope Brady ignores the distraction it may cause and fights down to the wire, because really it will be his lawyers doing the heavy lifting. All Brady and the Pats have to do is not answer the questions they’ll be asked every media session after every practice.