Patriots Secondary Gets Worse Through Free-Agent Signings, Draft Could Hold Answer

So far in free agency, the Patriots have lost Asante Samuel, a top-5 NFL cornerback, and nickel back Randall Gay. The also let safety Eugene Wilson walk, and need to find a replacement for 35-year-old Rodney Harrison. So what does New England do? Well, to date, they've signed Jason Webster, Tank Williams and Lewis Sanders to help fill that gaping hole in the secondary.

I fully expect one -- or all -- of these stiffs to not be on the opening-day roster, but in the meantime they help fill out the depth chart.

More to the point, though, is the Patriots' glaring need in the defensive backfield. (Yes, there are also issues at linebacker, but having Ellis Hobbs as your shutdown corner trumps the possibility of fossils Tedy Bruschi and Junior Seau returning for one more season.)

New England couldn't fix the problems in free agency since the Seahawks and Raiders franchised the two best available options, Marcus Trufant and Nnandi Asomugha, and Samuel was set to walk unless he got "Nate Clements money." (I suppose you can make a case that the Patriots actually exacerbated the problem by signing Webster, Williams and Sanders, but like I said, there's no way all three guys are around when the season starts. If they are, well, the Patriots will definitely need to average 50 points a game because their defense will be, to put it kindly, a liability.)

Obviously, the Pats could look to the draft to shore up the secondary, and Scout.com's Chris Steuber, in his latest mock draft, has them drafting Troy's Leodis McKelvin. The last time New England took a cornerback in the first round? Eleven years ago when they landed Chris Canty with the 29th pick. That didn't work out so well. (Two years before, though, they drafted Ty Law, who could be back with the team after taking a three-year paid vacation in New York and Kansas City.)

Whether there is any cornerback in this year's class worthy of a top-10 pick is up for debate, but New England could feel differently. Particularly since they probably don't make personnel decisions based on mock drafts.