Weekend Wrap-Up

Hey guys. Unfortunately, I have some semblance of a life so I didn't really get much time to write any blogs, but I kept up on my twitter game for yallz. I went to camp today, but honestly, I had a shit view and learned more from the reporters that are right on top of the players.

-Ridley Impresses: Ridley has been getting most all of the first team reps for Brady and is on track to get most of the 34% of the snaps that BJGE left behind. I loved Ridley last year, and I think he can become a beast this year. The one disappointment in this whole development has been Vereen, who many had high hopes for this year. He has basically been splitting reps with undrafted rookie Brandon Bolden, which is not a great sign. This has led me to believe that there is a higher chance Bolden makes the team this year. I initially gave him a 25% chance to make the team, and it may be up to 50% at this time. I was hoping for a breakout season for Vereen and it looks like that may be another 2nd round miss for Belichick. The 2nd round has been very volatile for Belichick, with huge hits like Gronkowski, Chung, and Vollmer, and huge misses like Darius Butler, Chad Jackson, and Terrence Wheatley.

-Brandon Lloyd Looking Like a Game-Changer: The pickup of Lloyd was widely regarded as one of the best pickups of the offseason, and hasn't disappointed thus far in camp. He has hooked up on multiple deep TD passes with Tom Brady and the two have been seen in between reps working together. He has made some incredible catches in traffic, even tipping a ball nearly off the grass and back into his hands. He is going to be a nice outside threat to compliment the multitude of inside forces we have with Welker and Hernandez and Gronk and Co. His rapport with McDaniels (the new OC) in Denver and then St. Louis has shown as he seems to be quick to pick up the offense.

-1st Rounders Looking Good: Both Donta Hightower and Chandler Jones have been getting a solid amount of first team reps thus far in training camp. Hightower looks to be solid in the 4-3 as the strong side line backer. Basically, this is the linebacker that lines up opposite the TE, or whichever side has the most personell. He has also been starting to take some of Bobby Carpenter's reps in the sub package as one of the two or three linebackers (Mayo also figures to play most all of the snaps in sub) in there. He has potential to grab 75% plus of the snaps as a rookie, something we have really only seen out of Jerod Mayo in the Bill Belichick era. With Ninkovich not participating, Chandler Jones got most all of the first team reps and had some explosive plays. He came off the edge with a couple good moves, but was also stymied at times. He has been living up to the expectation of having a lot of potential, but still putting it all together.

-Offensive Line Issues: The offensive line situation is a little fluid right now. Sebastian Vollmer, the projected RT and 2010 2nd team All-Pro is still coming back from back injuries and has not participated thus far. Logan Makins, the All-Pro left guard, $51 million dollar man, is still recovering from off-season knee surgery and also hasn't participated. Then there is RG Brian Waters, who has yet to report to training camp. He was an Pro Bowler last year and has been an All-Pro earlier in his career, and many have speculated as to whether he is retiring or not. There has also been a train of though that he just merely is trying to save his body and does not want to come to camp. Once camp ends, he may end up coming in and reclaiming that starting spot, but no one quite knows yet. Dan Connelly has apparently been looking like the best lineman on the team, and I'm sure the Pats are happy about that given that they gave him a 3 year $9.7 million dollar contract. The true weak link here I think is Sebastian Vollmer, because the apparent swing tackle (the backup that can play both RT and LT in case of a few week injury) Marcus Cannon, has looked very bad. I have never been sold on him as a tackle and think he best projects to guard. If Vollmer comes back, then as long as we get one of the two of Waters or Mankins back, we can put Dan Koppen (starting Center since 2003) back at Center and then slide Connelly to whatever guard spot is needed. I think we should be good here, but the development of Nate Solder, along with the health of Mankins is crucial to keeping Tom Brady upright.