Patriots positional rankings: middle linebacker

Throughout the month of June, PatriotMaven will be ranking each player at their respective positions. This series intends to provide a good basis on who should make the 53-man roster and who might not. Today, let's take a look at the middle linebacker spot.

Author:
Max McAuliffe
Publish date:
Jun 18, 2019 3:40 PM EDT

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - Fans should be very excited about the New England Patriots' linebacking core coming into this season. The outside linebacking core is stacked with very talented veterans, while the middle linebackers are largely young contributors that still have some things to prove.

Even with some things still left to be seen, a crystal ball is unneeded to see the potential in guys like Elandon Roberts and even more so, Ja'whaun Bentley.

So while the middle linebackers certainly do not excite as much as the outside linebacking crew, they definitely will be a strong group heading into this season.

3) Calvin Munson

Calvin Munson is a 6-foot, 241-pound linebacker, who spent the beginning of the career with the New York Giants. In his last active season (2017), he found himself taking on a large and unexpected role in the Giants defense. Due to a depleted linebacker core, the undrafted rookie saw 388 snaps and made 55 tackles. A lot of those snaps were not pretty, however, as he was widely regarded as a bottom five linebacker, out of all the 86 that played that year. With all that being said, Munson clearly should not expect to carve out a role in New England's defense. However, he is a pretty good special teamer.

Verdict: With a lot of great special teamers on the team already, it would be hard to see Munson finding a spot on this team. Unless he surprises everyone, he will likely find himself on the chopping block.

2) Elandon Roberts

This summer should be an interesting one for Elandon Roberts. The former sixth-round pick has had some ups and downs in his career and his contract expires next season. With Ja'whaun Bentley back, Roberts should see a reduction in play time. Not to mention, Jamie Collins can perform a lot of the functions that Roberts specializes in.

While keeping Roberts on the team for depth would make sense, trading him and getting some value for him would also seem logical. This offseason should feature a lot of really good players getting cut from this team to make it down to the 53 man maximum. If Roberts does not watch his back, he might find himself wearing a different colored jersey.

Verdict: Roberts gets shopped around the trade market. Asking price is a mid-round draft pick in next year's draft or a player swap like the Dorsett-Brissett trade. Roberts inevitably gets moved in some shape or form.

1) Ja'whaun Bentley

Ja'Whaun Bentley had a very strong debut to his career when he impressed in the last year's preseason and then had three very strong performances in the first three regular season games of the season. Those three games featured Bentley displaying great athleticism, ball skills, and tackling ability. Unfortunately, in the third game against the Lions, he suffered a season-ending bicep injury, that he should now be fully recovered from.

Going into his sophomore campaign, Bentley could not ask for a better place to develop as Hightower, Van Noy, and Collins all have experience and can help groom the young linebacker. Not to mention Jerod Mayo will now be his teacher. In fact, when watching Bentley, you could see a little bit of Mayo in him already.

You should be very excited about this kid's future.

Verdict: Bentley will be a roster lock. He wore the playcalling helmet in Week two against the Jaguars last year. He is clearly an intricate part of the Patriots' defense moving forward.