New England Patriots: Examining Options at OLB After Tully Banta-Cain Injury

As if the New England Patriots didn't have enough questions at outside linebacker, now Bill Belichick faces another big question mark at the position of least production in 2010.

According to Boston Globe writer Shalise Manza Young via Twitter, Tully Banta-Cain underwent surgery for an abdominal tear on Friday. In most cases, a player will be out from four to eight weeks while recovering. Ian Rapoport reported via Twitter that he'll be out four-to-five weeks.

Thus, he will definitely miss most if not all of training camp.

He can only hope the recovery goes smoothly so he can get back on the field.

New England has to be hopeful as well. They are already thin at outside linebacker, and losing Tully Banta-Cain certainly does nothing to help them out.

In all, a group of five New England Patriots outside linebackers totaled 13.5 sacks in 2010. Banta-Cain accounted for five of those.

He wasn't a true starting outside linebacker in the 3-4, but was utilized more as a pass-rushing specialist in the sub package. Thus, the impact may not be too great.

At present, the popular picks to start at outside linebacker figure to be Jermaine Cunningham and Rob Ninkovich. Eric Moore is nipping at Nink's heels for a starting spot, while Markell Carter's chances of making the team may have just gotten a little better.

There are a couple of options at outside linebacker that the Patriots could explore in free agency. The biggest name has to be Mathias Kiwanuka, a free-agent linebacker for the New York Giants. With five years of service, he would definitely be a free agent under the new rules of the Collective Bargaining Agreement.

There is cause for pause, however, as Kiwanuka is coming fresh off neck surgery last year.

After Kiwanuka was placed on injured reserve, Giants defensive coordinator Perry Fewell said, "Tom [Coughlin] tells me don't cry over spilled milk. You never know the impact of a player, but I think about [Kiwanuka] like, 'Boy, if we had him, we could do this, we could do this, we would be like this, we would be like that, we could change our complexion a little bit more."

Belichick's interest might be piqued by the ability to utilize Kiwanuka as a chess piece in his defense. The Patriots, however, have stayed away from big-money free agents in the past, and with the lockout's incredible interference with the offseason, they will probably do so again.

There is, however, one other option. Matt Roth is a free agent at defensive end for the Cleveland Browns, but he played outside linebacker primarily for the Miami Dolphins, where he played for the first four and a half years of his career.

He never produced a sack total higher than five, but as I talked about in a previous post, the Patriots don't always look for the sack specialists.

There are options at outside linebacker available in undrafted free agency, as well. Ultimately, the Patriots appear confident in their current group. That much was evidenced in the draft, when they didn't select a single outside linebacker until the sixth round, despite that position clearly being their biggest "need."

Still, Tully Banta-Cain was one of the lead pass rushers on the defense, and the Patriots need to find a suitable replacement to put pressure on the quarterback if they want to make a run at a Super Bowl in 2011. Whether that player is already on the depth chart or available in free agency remains to be seen.

Erik Frenz is the co-host of the PatsPropaganda and Frenz podcast. Follow Erik on Twitter @erikfrenz.