Gary Guyton

Bill Belichick loves him some linebackers, but without a single high priced free agent among them, this is largely an unproven group, drafted by Belichick or pulled from the NFL free agency scrap heap.

I am excited about this young group, because there will be a lot of opportunities. The group:

Tully Banta-Cain: Now the eldest statesmen of the Patriots linebacking corps after spending 2007 and 2008 in San Francisco. TBC had 10 sacks last year, and was generally the Patriots best player on defense, along with Vince Wilfork. Expect him to continue as a 3-down contributor, who would benefit from additional pressure across from him.

Jerod Mayo: The young captain of the defense whose play was limited my a sprained MCL in the first game of 2009. Look for Mayo to play the Will (Weak Inside Linebacker) where he should continue to use his speed and instincts to only get better.

Gary Guyton: Guyton got a lot of experience in many different positions in 2009, and along with Brandon Meriweather played the highest number of snaps of anyone on the Pats defense. He looks to be his best in coverage, but still has some versatility to play OLB when the Pats go to their 4-3 defense.

Rob Ninkovich: Ninkovich has kicked around the league for a few years, but did enough in 2009 to earn him a contract extension. The Pats must like him, and he does look somewhat like a Vrabel clone (#50 aside). If he can prove sturdy against the run he could be the starting LOLB against Cincinnati.

Pierre Woods: Woods got some time in the base defense in 2009, and was largely invisible. Looks like Pierre is what he is, a solid special teams player. And that’s fine.

Shawn Crable: Year three of crazy legs is about to begin. I have to say, I’m a big “look” guy and based on Crable’s look I really want him to be good. He’s got a lot of length and speed, here’s hoping it will finally translate to a unique OLB.

Tyrone McKenzie: McKenzie gets a lot of love for the dude that he is, and how hard he works. He was productive in every defense he’s ever played in. But figuring out the Mayo-Guyton-Spikes-McKenzie rotation seems impossible at this point. But he’s played lot of LB positions in lots of defenses so who knows what BB could come up with.

Brandon Spikes: Seems like everyone in Patriots Nation loved the Spikes pick and he should really bring a Ted Johnson-esque presence, along with leadership, that has been missing. Spikes can relieve Guyton from heavy run stopping responsibility at SILB (Mike), and allow Mayo to WILB (Will).

Jermaine Cunningham: Hard to expect much out of a rookie DE-OLB conversion project, but if Cunningham can just start as a sub-package rusher he should be able to contribute right away. And if he gets snaps at OLB on early downs it’s icing on the cake.