Choke said:
bostonfred said:
Apparently 50% of the Patriots' defensive snaps have been played by players under the age of 25. The league average is about 23%. And we saw huge plays from Chung and Ninkovic this week, which could be a sign that they're making progress.
Its been 5 years on Ninko. Turns 27 in 3+ months. This is his fourth stop.
Yeah, it was funny listening to the sports radio guys Monday night/Tuesday morning on the drive home from watching the game. They were obviously trying to figure out who the hell he was. At some point they invented a narrative about him being a hard working guy who hung around rosters by sticking around on special teams, but it seemed like they were paraphrasing articles as fast as their producer could find them. In any event, my point wasn't that Ninkovic is one of the under 25 crowd, but that the Pats have totally recycled their defense. Who are the veterans they're building around? Wilfork? The old guard is almost completely recycled, and with Kevin Faulk done for the year and Fred Taylor out indefinitely, it seems like they've cleared out the guys who skated by on their talent or had a sense of entitlement, and have a legit group of young guys to work with. And with
two firsts (Oakland), two seconds (Carolina), two thirds (Vikings), and two fourths (Denver) next year, they should be in good shape to move up or down in the draft and fill any holes they might have.