In my positional breakdown of the New England Patriots, I ranked the team’s units from worst to first as training camp draws near. I ranked the linebacking corps as the Patriots’ second-best unit, but the release of Brandon Spikes and lingering injury concerns drops this unit to fourth.
The Patriots won the Super Bowl without Spikes and Jerod Mayo. Spikes played 2014 with the Buffalo Bills, while Mayo missed the majority of the season after tearing his patella tendon in a Week 6 victory at Buffalo.