Fan Fanatic Sports Staff
Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots are known for bold moves and surprises in the NFL, and that is exactly what they did this morning by trading former All Pro Richard Seymour to the lowly Oakland Raiders. Adam Schefter is reporting the Patriots will get a 2011 first rounder in return for the defensive lineman. Seymour used to be known as one of the best defensive lineman in the game, but his production has slipped the past few years. Actually you can look at his production dropping right about the time he signed a big deal prior to the 2006 season.
There are many football "experts" that will tell you his production has slipped because of the defensive scheme the Patriots run. They'll say the Patriots are asking Seymour to do different things than just rush the passer. While there is some truth to those statements, you can also use the eyeball test. When he is in a pass rush situation, he has not produced. I do have to say that I am very surprised this deal was done, and if you look around the NFL, many others are surprised as well. Bill must be very happy with depth and potential of the remaining defensive lineman for him to make this trade. They still have Vince Wilfork, Jarvis Green, Ty Warren, Ron Brace, Myron Pryor and Mike Wright. Add in Derrick Burgess and you still have a pretty good, deep line. It had looked like the Patriots were going to run a good amount of 4-3 this season because of the depth on the line and lack of depth of the linebackers. I still think the Patriots will run the 4-3 and have a very good d-line, but an already shaky defense just got a bit worse for the 2009-10 season.
What will this mean going forward? Now that the Pats don't need to resign Seymour after the year, they can work on keeping the likes of Vince Wilfork and Logan Mankins. Both are very good, young players who deserve a nice pay raise and should stay on the team. There are no excuses now for not signing both of these players and anyone else up for renewal. The New England Patriots are now in line to have the 1st overall pick in 2011 draft. Wow! Can you imagine the Patriots having the top pick, or top 5 at worst, in what could be the first season without a salary cap?
Overall, I think this is a good trade for the New England Patriots organization. While it will hurt them this season on the field, it provides payroll and roster flexibility in the long run. After all, "In Bill We Trust".
