Should The New England Patriots Sign LaDainian Tomlinson?

Throughout the years, the New England Patriots have made a living, or lack thereof, picking up aging, low-price free agents that were released from their team.

Their slogan has been, "one man's trash is another man's treasure."

Shawn Springs, Leigh Bodden, Fred Taylor, and Joey Galloway were last year's examples. Adalius Thomas was picked up in 2007 at age 29.

Throughout his career, LaDainian Tomlinson has eaten quite nicely off New England's table. He averaged a monstrous 4.8 yards per carry and picked up a rushing touchdown in each of his five regular season games against the Patriots.

Bill Belichick, much one for "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" as he did with Wes Welker and Sammy Morris back in 2007, is probably smiling from ear to ear at the potential to never have to face Tomlinson again.

And how marvelously does Tomlinson fit into the Patriots scheme? He's a virtual Kevin Faulk 2.0—a superb receiver out of the backfield, and a near-perfect pass blocker. Both are tools that work perfectly for Tom Brady and the offense.

In fact, Tomlinson is an instant upgrade over everyone, and immediately is our best running back.

He’s a team-first player, as proven last year when he quietly stepped into a supplemental role to Darren Sproles. And minus a few press conference blunders, Tomlinson has been a classy guy who saves his talk for the field.

But I fear that Belichick may become victim to "once burned, twice shy."

The factor that Belichick continuously fails to take into account is that aging veteran players are often more susceptible to injury. Shawn Springs and Fred Taylor missed significant time due to injury last season. Sammy Morris has yet to play a full season in his three as a Patriot.

And Tomlinson already has a reputation for injury. He was injured in the 2007 postseason in the divisional round at Indianapolis, and again in 2008 in the Wild Card game at home against the Colts.

The Patriots continue to overshoot the Blue Book value on an old beat-up Camaro.

With the uncapped 2010 season on the horizon, do the Patriots want to spend that money on a crapshoot or save it for a big free agent splash? In the long run, even if LT comes at a low price, that few million dollars could be the difference between the Patriots getting or not getting a big-name free agent on defense.

Not to mention, of those aforementioned press conference mishaps, two were daggers pointed at Belichick and the Patriots: The first coming after the controversial 2006 divisional round meeting between the two, where Tomlinson said that the lack of respect shown by New England after the game “maybe comes from their head coach.”

The second came after Week One of the 2007 season, after the "SpyGate" story broke. Tomlinson said that the Patriots live by the saying, “If you ain’t cheatin’, you ain’t tryin’.”

After all that happened between Belichick and Adalius Thomas last season, do we really need a potential leader at the risk of more locker room controversy?

Furthermore, the Patriots are loaded with veteran talent at running back as it is: Kevin Faulk, Sammy Morris, and Fred Taylor are all over the age of 31. If we can’t get the veteran leadership from one of those guys, what makes it so certain that Tomlinson, a well-documented nemesis of New England, would offer that sort of leadership?

The Patriots don't presently have a consistent carrier of the load at running back, and Tomlinson doesn't figure to be that guy. At first glance, it may seem like a match made in Heaven, but is the reward worth the risk?