Adalius Thomas Takes Majority of Snaps Inside (1 Viewer)

[Sigmund Bloom]

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After Randy Moss, the most interesting player to watch yesterday had to be Adalius Thomas during the club’s passing camp, which was held on the grass fields behind Gillette Stadium.

The linebacker, who was the Pats’ big-ticket free agent signing, caught everyone’s attention. The former Baltimore Ravens Pro Bowler was all over the field, showing off his trademark versatility.

He played both inside and outside linebacker, settled at the line of scrimmage with his hand down as a pass-rusher, and also dropped back into coverage.

Mostly, however, he took a majority of snaps at inside linebacker, which if this plays out to be the norm, would allow Mike Vrabel to return to playing on the outside. When Thomas played inside, Tedy Bruschi [stats] was alongside, with Vrabel and Rosevelt Colvin at the edges.

 

[Jene Bramel]

ORLY?????

Very interesting. Have to wonder if still will continue or if it's just Belichick getting everyone ready to play everywhere they possibly could. Very nice upside as a ILB on rushing downs and a rushing OLB (likely) on passing downs.

 

[Workhorse]

I'm not terribly surprised. He has the bulk to play inside to stop the run and the Pats already have an excellent 3-4 edge rushing LB in Roosevelt Colvin. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see Thomas lineup inside as much as outside. Belichick will move him all over the field to create defensive mismatches.

I see this Pats defense being very difficult to game plan against this year.

 

[PatsWillWin]

I think because of his and Vrabel's versatility, he could be switched around from play to play.

Although it is true that Vrabel is better on the outside than he is on the inside.

Interesting development.

 

[BigSteelThrill]

Colvin and Vrabel to stay in their positions makes sense.

So AT has to find a home at RILB or LILB. Good stuff.

 

[Jene Bramel]

Colvin and Vrabel to stay in their positions makes sense.So AT has to find a home at RILB or LILB. Good stuff.

Vrabel has plenty of experience inside. Thomas has none. Thomas is a better pass rusher than Vrabel IMO. I think they both could handle either position, but I still think it's surprising that Thomas would see more snaps inside than Vrabel.

 

[ATC1]

Colvin and Vrabel to stay in their positions makes sense.So AT has to find a home at RILB or LILB. Good stuff.

Vrabel has plenty of experience inside. Thomas has none. Thomas is a better pass rusher than Vrabel IMO. I think they both could handle either position, but I still think it's surprising that Thomas would see more snaps inside than Vrabel.

I agree. I was getting Vrabel as a sleeper in my leagues because I thought he would be moved to the inside. Having A. Thomas play on the inside seems like a waste of his strong suit, but it's Beilcheck. He probably knows a smige bit more on how to run a defense than me.

 

[BigSteelThrill]

Colvin and Vrabel to stay in their positions makes sense.So AT has to find a home at RILB or LILB. Good stuff.

Vrabel has plenty of experience inside. Thomas has none. Thomas is a better pass rusher than Vrabel IMO. I think they both could handle either position, but I still think it's surprising that Thomas would see more snaps inside than Vrabel.

While I agree... sometimes you "dont fix what isnt broke". And Vrabel and Colvin on the outside are dialed in.If AT shows he can be a stud inside, then they will be rocking.

 

[Jene Bramel]

Colvin and Vrabel to stay in their positions makes sense.So AT has to find a home at RILB or LILB. Good stuff.

Vrabel has plenty of experience inside. Thomas has none. Thomas is a better pass rusher than Vrabel IMO. I think they both could handle either position, but I still think it's surprising that Thomas would see more snaps inside than Vrabel.

While I agree... sometimes you "dont fix what isnt broke". And Vrabel and Colvin on the outside are dialed in.If AT shows he can be a stud inside, then they will be rocking.

I'm really not trying to be argumentative here, but, for clarification's sake, Mike Vrabel played the majority of his snaps inside last year with Bruschi, then Seau out with injury in the 3-4 and WLB in the 4-3. So, I wouldn't say that Vrabel is dialed in on the outside in the 3-4.Will be interesting if Belichick decides Thomas is a better fit inside, no doubt.

 

[BigSteelThrill]

Colvin and Vrabel to stay in their positions makes sense.So AT has to find a home at RILB or LILB. Good stuff.

Vrabel has plenty of experience inside. Thomas has none. Thomas is a better pass rusher than Vrabel IMO. I think they both could handle either position, but I still think it's surprising that Thomas would see more snaps inside than Vrabel.

While I agree... sometimes you "dont fix what isnt broke". And Vrabel and Colvin on the outside are dialed in.If AT shows he can be a stud inside, then they will be rocking.

I'm really not trying to be argumentative here, but, for clarification's sake, Mike Vrabel played the majority of his snaps inside last year with Bruschi, then Seau out with injury in the 3-4 and WLB in the 4-3. So, I wouldn't say that Vrabel is dialed in on the outside in the 3-4.Will be interesting if Belichick decides Thomas is a better fit inside, no doubt.

Yes he is dialed in. Just because one season he didnt play a majority of snaps there doesnt discount what he has accomplished in his years in New England. Circumstances dictated his role last year. With AT being as good as he is (not just a heady older player like Bruschi/Seau) Vrabel can go back to being a anchor in his natural position. AT has played all over the map, so hopefully he will handle the ILB just fine, if not excel.

 

[lions327]

I think Belichick will have them lining up so many different ways that it will be tough to say who is an ILB and who is an OLB. They have a ton of flexibility, and Vrabel and Thomas both can play all over the place.

 

[jgb95]

:(

 

[Aaron Rudnicki]

It's an interesting situation, but I still think we'll see Vrabel inside and Thomas outside. Thomas is bigger, quicker, a better pass rusher, and a better athlete so it makes more sense to use him at OLB to me. Vrabel is no slouch at OLB either, but I have a feeling this might just be another situation where Belichick wants his players to be capable of playing multiple positions so he's giving Thomas added work inside to get him more comfortable inside.

 

[jgb95]

I just think that the reason BB is playing AT inside right now is he's played OLB and has that knowledge so the change won't be that tough to the NE way. He just wants to get AT's feet wet at ILB so when he tells him to go inside he'll be comfortable from Game 1!

Just my take

 

[Pick]

Yay to having both!

 

[PIK95]

Colvin and Vrabel to stay in their positions makes sense.So AT has to find a home at RILB or LILB. Good stuff.

Vrabel has plenty of experience inside. Thomas has none. Thomas is a better pass rusher than Vrabel IMO. I think they both could handle either position, but I still think it's surprising that Thomas would see more snaps inside than Vrabel.

While I agree... sometimes you "dont fix what isnt broke". And Vrabel and Colvin on the outside are dialed in.If AT shows he can be a stud inside, then they will be rocking.

I'm really not trying to be argumentative here, but, for clarification's sake, Mike Vrabel played the majority of his snaps inside last year with Bruschi, then Seau out with injury in the 3-4 and WLB in the 4-3. So, I wouldn't say that Vrabel is dialed in on the outside in the 3-4.Will be interesting if Belichick decides Thomas is a better fit inside, no doubt.

Yes he is dialed in. Just because one season he didnt play a majority of snaps there doesnt discount what he has accomplished in his years in New England. Circumstances dictated his role last year. With AT being as good as he is (not just a heady older player like Bruschi/Seau) Vrabel can go back to being a anchor in his natural position. AT has played all over the map, so hopefully he will handle the ILB just fine, if not excel.

He has actually played inside more over the last COUPLE of seasons. Vrabel will be inside mostly again IMO. :(

 

[Jene Bramel]

Some more detail this week on Thomas moving inside.

Boston Herald

Thomas takes the Mike

By Albert Breer/ MetroWest Daily News

Wednesday, June 6, 2007 - Updated: 05:44 AM EST

FOXBORO - The idea behind signing Adalius Thomas to a monster deal in March was to improve the entire Patriots defense.

But the players happiest about his arrival are probably fellow linebackers Tedy Bruschi and Mike Vrabel.

The last two years, Bruschi has played the “Mike” linebacker position, a strong-side inside spot that Ted Johnson used to inhabit. For much of that time, Vrabel was moved from his more natural spot on the edge to the “Jack” slot, Bruschi’s old weak-side inside position.

That changed yesterday, when Thomas, perhaps the most flexible piece in the team’s revamped arsenal, was most often manning the Mike, allowing Vrabel to go back to the edge and Bruschi to take the weak side.

Thomas wouldn’t go into specifics about linebacker roles, but he did say his goal is to fit in by doing whatever is asked.

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Providence JournalThis Thomas has promise

07:49 AM EDT on Wednesday, June 6, 2007

BY SHALISE MANZA YOUNG

Journal Sports Writer

FOXBORO — When the New England Patriots signed free agent Adalius Thomas in March, there was a great deal of talk about the marriage of Thomas’ versatility and Bill Belichick’s defensive genius. The stories conjured up images of Belichick in some remote room in Gillette Stadium, his eyes trained on a giant video screen, pages of handwritten plays on the table in front of him, number 96 filling spots all over the diagrams: pass-rusher, defensive line, safety, heck, maybe punter.

Through two practices over the last six days, it appears Thomas may be seeing a good deal of time at the one spot that he hadn’t really been penciled into: inside linebacker.

But Thomas seems as though he’ll be content no matter where he plays.

“I’m excited to be here,” he said yesterday after minicamp practice. “I think this is a great place to be.”

It is easy to read Thomas’ physical stats — he’s listed at 6-foot-2, 270 pounds — but those numbers on a page don’t adequately describe just how large he is. In person, he seems taller, and even on the field with men of comparable size, he just seems to take up more space. And he’s not just big; he’s fast, as evidenced by his past occasional play at safety and even cornerback.

While the day may be coming where Thomas is all over the field, lining up at strongside inside backer on one play, weakside the next, and down on the line after that, for now his job is to, well, learn his job.

“I think the most important thing for each player, regardless if he’s a one-year veteran or a 20-year veteran, is for them to get themselves ready to go more than it is trying to work with everybody else. I think at this point everybody is kind of pulling their own sled,” Belichick said.

But that does not mean that he doesn’t plan to make full use of Thomas’ versatility.

“Adalius is a very flexible player and he, along with really all of our linebackers — Mike (Vrabel), Tedy (Bruschi), Rosie (Colvin) and Junior (Seau) — all of those guys are pretty versatile and we shuffle them around quite a bit. I think it helps them understand how the whole thing fits together because they actually play those different positions and it also gives us some depth and versatility in different packages,” Belichick said. “Adalius has a lot of experience doing different things, and we’re looking at him doing different things and seeing how that goes.”