Patriots sign CB Robert McClain

[Corsi]

Robert McClain ‏@bobbymac36  17m17 minutes ago
Thankful to have the opportunity to continue my career with the @Patriots

 

[E5 Yaz]

Robert McClain: He competed with Josh Wilson for the nickelback role going into last season and lost the battle to begin the year. He eventually was forced into a starting cornerback role opposite Desmond Trufant after Robert Alford went down with a season-ending wrist injury. McClain struggled in the starting role and got picked on some, but had his moments. Former Falcons defensive coordinator Mike Nolan actually said McClain played with more confidence out on the corner then he did covering the slot as the nickelback. The Falcons see value in McClain as a special-teamer but they probably would want him back only at a low price. -- Vaughn McClure, Falcons reporter 
 
http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/new-england-patriots/post/_/id/4779417/polling-nation-on-patriots-cornerback-visits?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

 

[Ed Hillel]

Such a strange career path for a guy his age. Started out as a 7th rounder, got cut, ended up on the Falcons for a few years, was really good in 2012, dipped a bit in 2013, was forced into a starting job in 2014 and was terrible as a fill in late last year. Don't know what to make of him. His snap totals are all over the place, looks like he's rotated inside and out.

 

[Ferm Sheller]

Such a strange career path for a guy his age. Started out as a 7th rounder, got cut, ended up on the Falcons for a few years, was really good in 2012, dipped a bit in 2013, lost the starting job in 2014, and then was terrible as a fill in late last year. Don't know what to make of him.

 
Like relief pitchers, hockey goalies and some of the fellow CB brethren, he may have lost some confidence along the way.

 

[Super Nomario]

I assume this is a budget signing. It's tough to see how a 5'9" guy is going to fit into a secondary that is already lacking in height.

 

[dcmissle]

Such a strange career path for a guy his age. Started out as a 7th rounder, got cut, ended up on the Falcons for a few years, was really good in 2012, dipped a bit in 2013, was forced into a starting job in 2014 and was terrible as a fill in late last year. Don't know what to make of him. His snap totals are all over the place, looks like he's rotated inside and out.

Jetsam. Fletcher is flotsam.

It is what it is. All good.

 

[Mugsy's Walk-Off Bunt]

The hopeful side of me imagines Belichick got a positive report on this kid from Dimittroff (sp?) along the lines of "needing a fresh start."

edit sloppy posting.

 

[mulluysavage]

Wait, Who???

 

[theapportioner]

 
Like relief pitchers, hockey goalies and some of the fellow CB brethren, he may have lost some confidence along the way.

Is CB a position that is more prone to variability in performance? Aside from the elite players. Like, if you took the PFF rankings for the CB position, would you see more year to year variance in players than at other positions? Huge measurement and othet caveats apply but I'd be curious if there is something behind this anecdotal thought.

 

[Super Nomario]

Is CB a position that is more prone to variability in performance? Aside from the elite players. Like, if you took the PFF rankings for the CB position, would you see more year to year variance in players than at other positions? Huge measurement and othet caveats apply but I'd be curious if there is something behind this anecdotal thought.

Football Outsiders has written about this:
 

 
It's become clear over the last couple of years that these cornerback charting numbers are very inconsistent from year to year, particularly for nickelbacks but also for starters. There is the Asante Samuel run, yes, but other than that it intuitively seems like the cornerbacks who come out best in our metrics are inconsistent on a year-to-year basis. This is definitely something we need to look at. Are cornerbacks more consistent if we were to compare two-year spans rather than one-year spans? Is there something we can do to change the way we chart in order to better get consistent numbers?
 
Take, for instance, the 2011 version of this list. How many repeaters are there in the top 10? Zero. There are two people who make two top-10 lists if we include the 2010 stats, and one of them isn't the New York Jets cornerback you'd expect.

 

[theapportioner]

They seem to conclude that it's a measurement problem. And I'm sure that's a big issue. But what if there is "real" variability for whatever reason. If that's the case, then we might have more confidence that at least one or two of the Pats corners could have a real rebound year.

 

[Mr. Baseball]

UConn grads rejoice!

 

[Corsi]

Mike Reiss ‏@MikeReiss  2m2 minutes ago
CB Robert McClain contract details: 1-year, $1.24 million. Signing bonus of 150k, roster bonus of 240k, base salary of 800k.