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Should The Patriots Sign Brandon Spikes or Dane Fletcher?

By Marquez Brown

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Offseason workouts are underway and the Patriots need linebacker depth for the upcoming season. Top linebackers Jerod Mayo and Donta Hightower should be fine for the season but they both are coming off serious injuries. Bill Belichick has brought in some familiar faces in Brandon Spikes and Dane Fletcher to possibly provide some insurance incase those guys sustain some hiccups with their health throughout a long season. Both of these players are specialists;Spikes is one of the best run stopping linebackers in the league when given the opportunity to produce while Fletcher is a solid coverage linebacker. There is a chance Belichick could sign both of these guys to contracts once the free agent deadline for the 2015 season passes so their compensatory picks don’t get effected.

If Belichick is forced to chose between the two I personally hope he chooses Spikes. Nothing personal against Fletcher, but Spikes just brings an extra edge to the defense. Also now that Vince Wilfork is a Houston Texan the Patriots need to make sure his departure doesn’t leave a big hole in the middle of the defense. Spikes is a tough rough rider who has a nose for the football, a quality blitzer, and a force fumble waiting to happen. The main issue Spikes had in the past was his lack of speed to cover but, this time around we have Jamie Collins to hide his deficiencies. Spikes used to be the second best linebacker on the depth chart behind Mayo and if signed he would be the fourth. Thus making him a situational player and that’s exactly what the Patriots need him for. Let him play smash mouth football the first two downs then get him off the field. The Patriots have arguably the best linebacking core already and Spikes would only add to that.

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    • The Patriots have made significant additions to the front seven to make up for the major blows in the secondary. Signing Jabaal Sheard and drafting Malcom Brown were phenomenal decisions, so adding Spikes in the rotation will make the Patriots have a really nasty front seven. If Bill signs them both then I think it’s would be safe to say the the front seven would be complete because the linebacking core could rotate 5 deep and keep everyone fresh. A decision should come as soon as next week let’s keep our fingers crossed.

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