NFL Lockout: The New England Patriots May Be in a Bad Situation

Believe it or not, the New England Patriots are not in a good position as we sit in the midst of the NFL lockout.

Granted, ESPN's John Clayton and PFW's Kevin Fishbain feel otherwise—but the Patriots aren't necessarily in a great position.

Clayton and Fishbain share the common thought that because the Patriots have Bill Belichick and Tom Brady at the helm, then all will be fine in Patriot-land—they couldn't be any more wrong.

The Patriots have one of the youngest rosters across the league and a long offseason with no coaching does nothing but hurt the younger players. In fact, the Patriots had a ton of rookie players in key roles and positions on last year's version of the Patriots, so this lockout is definitely stunting their growth and development.

New England's key young players such as Devin McCourty, Brandon Spikes, Rob Gronkowski, Aaron Hernandez and Jermaine Cunningham all saw significant playing time in key roles last season and could have used all the coaching they could have got this offseason.

Former NFL head coach Brian Billick wrote an informative piece for Fox Sports and discussed how the lockout hurts the second-year players the most:

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"However, there is another subgroup that no one is talking about that may have an even greater impact on the season — the substantial group of players entering their second year in the league.

The transition from rookie organized team activities through training camp and into the season is well documented with varying degrees of success. The contributions of many rookies are easily quantified. But by and large, it is this crop of rookie players’ growth in their first legitimate offseason that leads to major roles on their respective teams in Year 2."

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Billick is not the only person who believes that the lockout is affecting the second-year players the most; Baltimore Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome feels the same way too. 

The list of second-year players on New England's roster is astronomical, and it's really going to hurt them entering the 2011 season. 

McCourty, Spikes, Gronkowski, Hernandez, Cunningham, Brandon Deaderick, Dane Fletcher, Sergio Brown, Kyle Love, Zoltan Mesko and Taylor Price are all of the significant names among New England's 13 second-year players. All of the players listed are expected to be key contributors to the '11 Patriots, but the lockout is harming their progression. 

It's certainly good to see that the Patriots players are organizing team practices and workouts, but it's not the same. For starters, no coaches are present and they're just wearing straight clothes—no helmets or shoulder pads.

Once the lockout is over, the Patriots coaching staff is going to have a lot of work to do considering the large group of young players on their current roster.

With all of the second-year players, the current rookies can't be forgotten either.

Staying young always has its advantages, but there aren't any major advantages when there's a work stoppage.

This article was first seen at PatriotsPlus.net. Be sure to follow Tony Santorsa on Twitter @  TonySantorsa.