NFL: Should have waited for Brandon Meriweather

[Polar Bear Jones]

Quote:Pats give the boot to Brandon Meriweather
Posted by Mike Florio on September 3, 2011, 3:12 PM EDT

AP
Two straight Pro Bowls and 64 appearances in 64 career games ultimately wasn’t enough to save safety Brandon Meriweather. The Patriots have parted ways with the first-round pick from the 2007 draft, according to a league source.

Meriweather’s status had been the subject of rumor and speculation. He recently downplayed to our good buddy Tom Curran of CSNNE.com the fact that coach Bill Belichick had Meriweather playing during garbage time of the preseason finale.

Meriweather, notorious during his time in college for a stomping incident during an on-field brouhaha, was implicated in an offseason shooting. He eventually was cleared by authorities. Last October, he was fined $50,000 for launching head first into Ravens tight end Todd Heap. The fine later was reduced to $40,000.

A four-year veteran, he becomes an unrestricted free agent.

Sanders is Cheap but Meriweather would have been better. Hope he stays out of the division.

[Hit Stick]

Who's to say that we won't go for him too? No where does it say that Decoud is locked in, honestly I doubt we do because Merriweather is a problem child. Hasn't been in the pros, but New England let him go for some reason. I would get pumped if we picked him up though no lie.

[Beef]

It would be funny if we did, but from what I've read, Meriweather is not a great locker room guy and a bit of a mouth.

But I could handle Moore, DeCoud, Sanders, and Meriweather as our safety corpse for sure. That would be going from no depth to as incredible depth.

[takeitdown]

Meriweather is a lot like Deangelo Hall. Both in his play and his locker room addition. He's a bit of a problem, but more importantly, he's a risk taker at safety, and often is burned for deep plays. He makes his share of plays, but often isn't where he's needed to be (much like Hall).

I think he's not what they want at safety. He's got a lot of talent, but seems unwilling to play within the system.

[Radical]

There's a reason they cut him. No character, no playing ability. He had absolutely no business being in the Pro Bowl these past few years. Absolutely horrible.

[Polar Bear Jones]

(09-03-2011 03:43 PM)takeitdown Wrote:  Meriweather is a lot like Deangelo Hall. Both in his play and his locker room addition. He's a bit of a problem, but more importantly, he's a risk taker at safety, and often is burned for deep plays. He makes his share of plays, but often isn't where he's needed to be (much like Hall).

I think he's not what they want at safety. He's got a lot of talent, but seems unwilling to play within the system.

Sounds like you are right. The NE media bias seems to have boosted him up.

Saw this on PFF about his Probowl appearance

Quote:2. Brandon Meriweather, S, Patriots
Even Patriots fans will be bemused by this one. He’s sixth-to-last in our safety grades, and gave up three touchdowns and 69% of balls where he was the primary coverage. It’s not just the mistakes that make this decision peculiar, it’s the lack of plays he made in comparison to his peers that makes this a shocker.

While at PFF I saw this stat I never thought Decoud was that bad at tackling and Sanders is not much better.

[Paprika Neck]

merriweather is garbage.

[phalcon phil]

Im a big decoud and moore fan, so I might be kinda biased when I say I don't think he's a significant upgrade over anything we have.

[Radical]

(09-03-2011 04:13 PM)phalcon phil Wrote:  Im a big decoud and moore fan, so I might be kinda biased when I say I don't think he's a significant upgrade over anything we have.

You're not. He's a downgrade, across the board.

[NOVAFalconFan]

Apparently the Pats feel like he freelances too much/doesn't play within the system.

ETA: Belicheck is one of the only coaches with the rings, lockerroom support, and ownership support that could get away with cutting pro-bowlers for those reasons.