The Patriot Act

Safety secured for Patriots

By Brent | July 19th, 2008

When we look at different positions on the Patriots defense, one area that will be stronger in 2008 is the safety position.

Rodney Harrison returns with one year left on his contract, but is healthy and able to start from the first day. James Sanders started at free safety in 2007 and had a solid performance, but may be challenged for a starting spot in training camp by Brandon Meriweather.

Meriweather should be concentrating on his role at safety rather then cornerback and safety as he did last season in his rookie year. If he does well in training camp he may be starting come opening day. Definitely starting mid-way through the season.

Veteran Tank Williams joins the roster at safety and has practiced as an additional linebacker in special situations. Although Williams may not be the same type of player as Harrison, I look forward to see how he is used by new coach Dom Capers.

Special teams player Ray Ventrone may get a chance to break the roster and find time rotating in the line-up, but this may be his last year of opportunity with the Patriots.

Undrafted rookie Mark Dillard is also trying to make the roster, but he may be lucky to make the practice squad.

I see Capers and even Harrison challenging the other players to step up and play a more physical game in coverage and moving up in the box to help make tackles and blitz more often.

So why is safety a strength in 2008?

The only real loss from 2007, was Eugene Wilson. Wilson was a known starter and fell out of favor due to too many missed plays as well as injuries. He finished the season rotating into different packages or not playing at all.

Wilson was a bit of an enigma, as he played well his first season having converted from cornerback to safety and replaced Lawyer Milloy to start the season next to Harrison. Wilson helped the Patriots win a Super Bowl that same year.

Since then Wilson has lacked the confidence, leadership and health worth giving him a contract extension. Wilson is now playing cornerback for the Bucs.

IN BILL WE TRUST!!

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 19th, 2008 at 7:12 am and is filed under Ray Ventrone, AFC East, Dom Capers, Dean Pees, Safety, Boston Sports, Brandon Meriweather, New England Sports, New England, James Sanders, Tank Williams, New England Patriots, Patriots Organization, Patriots Roster, Patriot Nation Blogs, Defensive Backs, Patriots Preseason, Rodney Harrison, Robert Kraft, Bill Belichick, MVN. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.