Spikes OTA

[dblakejr7]

Brandon Spikes skipping OTAs in hopes of becoming a three-down linebacker


So.. hes missing OTA's with his team in an effort to play more .. to impress teams..

If hes not practicing with his team. the chances of Bill playing him more get slimmer and slimmer.. If I were Bill.. and dang it im not.. UNLESS he was A LOT better then others at the position.. I would play him less.. thats not the type of commitment that the Patriots are looking for.. if he was missing to improve his play for the benefit of the team.. ok.. but the selfish attitude wont sit well in the locker room..

Preacher.

 

[JDM]

It depends how he approached it. If he talked to bill and said he wanted to work with speed coaches to get better, I'd be all for it. I think he has shown weakness in pass coverage, and if that helps him bring more to the table for us, we should be happy with it.

Personally, as a coach if a player came to me and said training that would help mitigate his biggest weakness coincided with non mandatory activities, and asked permission to miss them to better himself as a football player, that's the attitude I want to see. Improving his pass coverage would do a lot more for us than being at OTAs.

 

[JDM]

Also keep in mind the part on why is likely speculation by the guy who wrote that. The nfl.com article he copied says it is to be a better three down backer for the Patriots. There's a solid chance both are speculation but if I trusted one it would be the guy who originally broke it.

 

[dblakejr7]

you have a point JDM.. Im sure he didnt go to bill and say hey im getting better so i can make a splash in FA.. and I agree we could use help i nthe middle route pass coverage.. we got lit up a lot with YAC..

 

[JDM]

We don't know whether there was significant conversation with bill at all. That is the deciding factor with how I treat this if I am a coach, though. If he talked to me about it, I may even give him extra reps in passing situations so he can show himself a bit.

For the record, if he asked me to do this, I absolutely support it.

If, as a player, I ask and the coach says no, I view it as trying to trap me into one role to get a better value out of me as a free agent, and do it anyways with the intention of not coming back.

 

[dblakejr7]

yeah.. i think i was reading too much into that article.. to me it was as if Spikes just wanted out and didnt care too much about the team as long as he looked good and could market himself.. to me it should be about the team.. not self.. if its the Pats or any other team.. but i have an odd way of thinking..

 

[JDM]

I don't disagree with you. My point on me as a player, is if the team were trying to essentially manipulate you, which I would see that as, the loyalty goes. If you don't treat me with respect, especially when I'm trying to bring more to the team, it's not the team for me.

 

[dblakejr7]

Valid points I agree with you 100% .. we need to get more of the gang over here to bounce ideas off of..

 

[Drawmeomg]

We don't have the information to judge whether this is a problem or not. It's really that simple. We don't know, and we won't ever know, likely.

 

[JDM]

Yeah. Kind of sucks they shut down CBS. This place is 100 times better but there's just no one here. Maybe it will pick up closer to the season.

 

[dblakejr7]

hey draw..

JDM, im still trying to get some of the people i have emails for to come over they told me when its closer to season , but none of them are really posting anywhere.

 

[JDM]

Yeah, it's not like it would be hundreds of people on over there either, but at least people would drop by on occasion. I'm posting a link to here on the discussion over there on occasion. Probably won't do anything but whatever.

 

[dblakejr7]

any word if spikes is at mini camp ?