Patriots case Cason
University of Arizona cornerback Antoine Cason is set to make a pilgrimage to Foxborough for a pre-draft visit with the Patriots, according to a league source.
Cason, who won the Jim Thorpe Award, given to the top collegiate defensive back, is slated to meet with the team on April 6 and April 7.
The 6-foot-1-inch, 191-pound corner intercepted five passes last season, returning two for touchdowns and scored twice more on punt returns. He is regarded as an instinctive and technically sound corner who can play in both man and zone coverages.
The Patriots conducted a private on-campus workout with Cason last month.
Cason is not projected to be a top 10 pick, but could be a possible target of the Patriots if they were to trade down from the No. 7 pick into the middle or late part of the first round.
NFL teams are allowed up to 30 in-house visits with prospects. The visits do not include workouts, so they are essentially final interviews and medical checks.
This, IMO, should be the pick at number 7.
Then they can take Mister Weak Link Hobbs off the corner and move him inside to nickel
Hobbs is hardly a "weak link", and as it stands he's our #1 corner on the depth chart. He's not moving anywhere.
It seems like the same folk who disregard losing asante to FA "because his success was merely a symptom of the system/team" are the ones who ride Hobbs as a "weak link." Only problem is that those two positions are inconsistent. If the system and team are so great than Hobbs should be fine.
I think the key for us Patriots fans and BB and co. is to recognize that while we have a great team, great coaches and great system, the quality of the individual players on that team and in that system matters. This doesn't mean that we should have re-signed asante (I think his value was too inflated), nor does it mean that signing savvy veteran LB's is bad practice. What it means is that we should consider the concept of drafting some young stud LB's and DB's instead of banking on the practice of plugging ppl, anyone, into our system
Defense and Hobbs played well in the superbowl. They cut the giants to 17 points from 35 in the prior match up, and generated a number of turnovers and punts. Eventually, if you let a team linger around they get a break and that is what the giants did.... the same could be said about the patriots in many other games.
Bottom line: Hobbs did a great job. You can't blame him for losing a 1 on 1 against a receiver a foot taller. The pats are at a cross roads right now, they likely can either (1) take the best corner in the draft and build a strong secondary; (2) build either the O or D line with a top notch player; or (3) drop down in the draft and pick up some quality talent and extra picks later in the draft. That's an excellent position to be in.
"This, IMO, should be the pick at number 7."
This must be Mangini masquerading as Mike Allen. We can pick him up in the second round, not with the 7th pick overall.
no way Sean...... Cason will not last until the 2nd round.....I don't think he should be taken at #7...but he'll definetly go 20-30 in ROUND 1
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