Patriot position battles: Cornerback

By Os Davis  |   Wednesday, June 04, 2008  |  Comments( 4 )

New England Patriots
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For all the hullabaloo about the New England Patriots’ linebacker corps, the biggest question marks on the roster are clearly at cornerback. Though the shuffling about in the secondary has been a hallmark of this decade’s Pats teams (if you listen closely, you can hear the cries emanating from Boston way: “Come back, Ty Law – all is forgiven!”), the defending AFC champs took their most serious hits in the area this offseason.

Gone is Asante Samuel, who ascended through the ranks producing many a gray hair on New England fans’ heads along the way. Gone is young Randall Gay, who might have been the heir apparent after blooming in 2007. And just to make matters worse for the general pass defense, gone is Eugene Wilson, the former No. 36 overall pick who should have been a Patriot for life. D’oh, d’oh and triple d’oh!

Well, at least that old expression cliché “It's anybody's job” is the literal truth for the New England cornerback ranks. After figuring Ellis Hobbs for a spot, who’s left? A quick look at the prospective roster-fillers.

The old guard: Fernando Bryant, Lewis Sanders, Jason Webster; incidentally, doesn’t this sound like a trio of names generated for your 2017 San Juan Piranhas in Madden?

In calculating the 2008 Patriots depth chart this early in, you can rest assured that Bryant will stick around. Bryant put in his career year last year for the Detroit Lions in his ninth season, adding 76 tackles, 14 passes defensed and two interceptions. The Patriots were fortunate to land this vet from the free-agent bargain bin.

Sanders was culled from the Seattle Seahawks formally at the beginning of the offseason, but was essentially slowly phased out of regular playing time through the second half of 2007. The man has some skills, but his career record is spotty with injuries; Sanders seems likely to be called out for dime packages next season and not much else.

Bill Belichick’s reputation for spinning gold from the average will be tested with the likes of Webster. Once deemed a “high-priced flop on defense” – a bit of a harsh assessment there, eh? – Webster formerly boasted a promising career with the San Francisco 49ers. After 42 consecutive starts and 48 appearances in the regular season, Webster was injured in the final week of the 2002 season and simply hasn’t been the same since. In the five subsequent seasons with the 49ers, Falcons and Bills, he appeared in only 39 games, 15 of which were in 2005.

Perhaps not a job for Belichick, then, but rather the Pats’ medical staff. If Webster can simply avoid the injury bug, the talented man is already in pole position for Comeback of the Year. Or maybe the Decade.

The draft gambles: Terrence Wheatley, Jonathan Wilhite. So you need three years to determine the success of a given draft class? To paraphrase the immortal B.A. Baracus for no good reason, the Patriots “ain’t got no team for that jibber-jabber.” Currently classified by the general punditry (hey, count yours truly among them) as an underwhelming bunch, Wheatley and Wilhite are going to be counted on to prove otherwise.

Belichick & Co. expended the 62nd overall draft selection on Wheatley, a bit of surprise for much of the common wisdom that had the former Colorado Buffalo going in the third or fourth round. Since then, however, Boston has quickly rallied ‘round the speedy all-around athlete. “Speed Kills” Wheatley could bag the starting spot and is playing the PR game well in publicly touting the virtues of offseason training for stamina’s sake. And Wheatley serves as further evidence of Belichick’s belief that one can never have too many special teamers; Wheatley went for 919 yards on 37 kickoff returns for the Buffaloes in his senior year.

Wilhite went to the Pats at No. 129 overall, a choice the team’s official newspaper live blogger didn’t dig too much. So ranted the live blogger: “If you have an Auburn game on tape from last year, pop it in and you will most likely see a receiver beating Wilhite like a drum.” Apparently, much will depend on Wilhite’s performance in training camp; luckily for him, his Auburn education was focused on zone defenses akin to the Pats’ and his smaller size (5-foot-9, 185 pounds) won’t be considered a minus on a team that favors speed.

The long shots: Mike Richardson, Antwain Spann. Of this pair, Richardson seems vaguely viable. Richardson, a sixth-round pick in 2007 out of Notre Dame, had a decent preseason last year but broke his thumb and was placed on IR before the regular season; he starts 2008 again at the bottom of the pile, but you've gotta like his chances of him sticking around this year more than, say, Webster’s. Richardson should at least be on the practice squad come August.

Spann, on the other hand, is a bit of a hanger-on for the Patriots, bouncing back and forth between practice and regular squads the last two seasons; figure him to stick with the organization for one more, um, span at least.

Battling for position throughout the year at RealFootball365.com
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About Os Davis

Os Davis has taken a twisted route to get to RealFootball365.com in his nearly 17 years in professional writing, working in any number of capacities in the sportswriting, news reporting and film criticism worlds. In print media, Os has served as editor at a few publications, including Albuquerque's...
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CommentsComments: 4  |  Sign Up  View all comments
No.1
Roz		04:26 PM
06/04/2008
Hmm. Some potential holes in the Patriots. How they could let they could let Samuel, Gay and Wilson loose is beyond me. Seems...
No.2
shamrock02		06:47 PM
06/04/2008
Bill Belllichick goes through this every year, and every year he spins some majic to shore up holes in his defense. He's the...
No.3
randymoss2929		07:30 PM
06/04/2008
just like what shamrock02 said bill bellichick does this every year and look what happens he always uses what he has got i mean...
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