New England Patriots News: Are There Any Good Free Agents Left?
By Cyrus Geller
The top free agents are all gone, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t any quality players left out there. That is where we begin today’s dose of Patriots news…
Our very own Hal Bent dives into this issue.
"Jahri Evans is a six time Pro Bowl and four time All-Pro guard. Eugene Monroe was a top-ten draft pick and is an elite pass blocker. With the offensive line still the weakest link after injuries ravaged the position and cost the team another Super Bowl last season (seriously, could anyone have slowed down Von Miller last postseason?), these two veterans should be squarely in the sights of the New England Patriots."
I like the idea of at least taking a look at Eugene Monroe, simply because keeping Tom Brady upright is the most important key every week for this team. Sebastian Vollmer and Nate Solder form a solid duo on the edge right now, but if either of them goes down, Marcus Cannon is likely the next man up to protect Brady.
As we saw last season, Cannon at tackle generally doesn’t end well for Brady or the Pats. He is the main reason New England didn’t advance to Super Bowl 50 last year, so while Monroe certainly won’t be great, I don’t think he could be any worse than Cannon was in 2015.
Next up, we have NFL Spin Zone’s Stephen Forsha discussing the top five most important players on this team heading into 2016 (excluding the obvious number one choice of Tom Brady).
Forsha has Gronk as the most important, followed by Martellus Bennett, Jamie Collins, Logan Ryan and Julan Edelman.
I agree with his first pick, but the rest are a bit puzzling to me. While Bennett will certainly help elevate this offense to an even greater level, he shouldn’t even be in the top five in my opinion.
Edelman should be second behind Gronkowski, then I would go Dont’a Hightower, a tie between Collins and Devin McCourty, then Nate Solder or Sebastian Vollmer. Hightower, Collins and D-Mac are the lifeblood of this defense, and I already went through the importance of keeping Vollmer and Solder healthy on the edge.