New England Patriots: Is It Time To Trade Brandon Meriweather?

The 2011 NFL offseason has yet to truly begin, as the Collective Bargaining Agreement will end on March 4 and will hold free agency hostage.

Trade rumors, however, are still worth talking about.

One player who came under fire frequently in 2010 was safety Brandon Meriweather.

His unimpressive play led to his benching when he noted in an interview that he often improvises on the field. He started every game in 2009, but only 13 in 2010.

It wasn't just starts, though. Meriweather played fewer than 75 percent of the defensive snaps six times in 2010, and fewer than 40 percent of the snaps three times.

Despite all that, he earned his second consecutive Pro Bowl selection, despite not even being the best safety on his own team.

Some fans are speculating that trading Meriweather may be one of those "bang-for-the-buck" moves where the Patriots could essentially dupe a team into thinking he's better than he is, as they did with the Vikings and Randy Moss. Trading Meriweather, many think, could be a wise move for the team in terms of value.

The question then becomes, what is his value?

If Meriweather is traded, it's likely that the Patriots will be compensated with a draft pick. Being that there are only 23 or 24 first-round prospects according to ESPN's Todd McShay, Meriweather's value at this stage is probably no higher than a second-round pick.

Is the value of that pick better than the value of keeping Meriweather around? In this draft, certainly not. There aren't even any high-performing safeties available in the draft.

Moreover, Meriweather's already entrenched in the system, and has that ever-so-important NFL experience.

There's also what I like to call the "enforcer factor". Do other members of the Patriots defense draw motivation from Meriweather's high motor and heavy hitting? Does having him back there give other members of the secondary any extra measure of confidence?

We could belabor the questions for days.

But add all that to his lowly $650,000 salary for 2011 and the "value" situation becomes clear—in terms of "bang-for-the-buck" Meriweather may be the best option the Patriots have.

I suppose the real question isn't a highly complicated value question, which we could never answer based on our surface knowledge alone. The real question may simply be, can New England win a Super Bowl with what they currently have at safety, or is an upgrade necessary to the Patriots' future success?

The Patriots have a lot of depth at safety, but not necessarily any high-quality starting talent. Meriweather is better than most of the options the Patriots have at safety, as evidenced by him starting more often than not, and playing a majority of the snaps in a large portion of the games. And there just aren't really any high-quality starting talents at safety available in the draft.

He has played well in spots—even though he hasn't necessarily been "elite." Even after a disappointing 2010 season, there's no reason to think he can't play up to his old level.

With a little concentration and a lot of re-dedicating himself to the "Patriots Way," keeping him around may not be so bad after all. But either way, it appears to be the move the Patriots will make.