Rivers writes on visit to Pats

love seeing quotes like this

Me too. I hope they get him. We need him!

I think were taking him or Ellis, thats my lock! Both players would be perfect in our system. Rivers could be the next Bruschi or play outside or imagine having a second Vince Wilfork in sedrick ellis. wow

we're going to tampa in february!

Rivers in a superb athlete with great speed and a quickness. He has terrific range and makes plays sideline-to-sideline. Good in pursuit and has a good frame with long arms. Non-stop motor. Fluid mover who does a terrific job in coverage. A big hitter who often lays the lumber. Only decent as a pass rusher and blitzer. An aggressive player with a nasty attitude. He works through the trash very well. Good football intelligence/recognition and instincts. Versatile, can play outside and inside and is a hard worker. Is more of a finesse player eventhough he is built like a Greek god. Does play out of control at times and really bites on misdirection and play fakes. Doesn't take on or shed blockers all that well, which would be a problem inside for the Pats. Goes for the KO instead of wrapping up when tackling.

With all that being said, I would rather have Rivers than Gholston. Gholston simply disappers for long stretches for a player with his talent and skill. #7 might be too high for Rivers, so a trade down should be explored.

Comment was pieced together with help from espn and pro football weekly scouting info along with personal knowledge.

i dont think he fits the system...we need linebackers that can take on guards and control their gap responsibilitys. this guy tends to run around blockers, which results in plenty of big plays but also opens cutback lanes.

Patrick S.,
You make some good points and Rivers is a solid prospect but one area you fail to mention when it comes to Gholston is the fact that he will command double teams. He always faced them in college and more often than not won those battles. His special blend of power and speed will demand he be accounted for on every play and we all know a big part of winning in the NFL is about how many players you have who can command that double team. I follow the Big 10 a lot and have seen Gholston get up the field before he is even touched. He is not strictly a one trick pony either, like Groves and Avril, he can also play the run. I've seen some suggest we pick Harvey but he seems too stiff to be able to switch to LB in the pros. He also has no experience moving in reverse, while Gholston does being that he was a high school LB and also looked smooth in zone drops at Ohio St.

If Gholston is there at #7, in my mind, he should be the pick without a doubt.

The thing I keep hearing is that Gholston could be the next Sean Merriman, and some have even called him a "Merriman clone." I also keep hearing that Rivers is also very good, and many around here have said that he's similar to Bruschi, except more athletic and younger. I love Tedy, I really do. I think he's been great for us, but if I had to choose between the next Merriman, or the next Bruschi, is there really a comparison? I don't like Merriman (mostly because he's playes for SD) but his production speaks for itself.

If Gholston is there and they trade down and take Rivers at 12-14, I'll cry. I always hear about the value of the pick and all that. Sure Rivers would cost us less at 14 than Gholston would at 7, but if we get another third rounder to move back, and we take a CB that ends up not panning out, we basically swapped picks to get a guy who gave us zero production. Obviously it can go the other way and we can get the next Asante in round 3, but it's never a lock. With 4 picks in the first 3 rounds, and considering the fact that we're VERY good as it is, most of our draft picks won't make the team. I mean, we had a good DT prospect in Brown that we couldn't keep on the roster. Right now we need to maximize our top picks instead of going quantity over quality. This is the year we don't stockpile. We need to take some top end talent.

we need a LB, witch ever one we get, we need him to be able to step in this year and be a starter like a Willis in san fran., or a Ryans in houston