The name Connor Barwin continues to be tied to the Patriots this pre-draft season. The DE/OLB/TE out of Cincinnati has been compared so often to former New England OLB Mike Vrabel it’s actually starting to get a bit sickening. Now we have reports that the Patriots have scheduled a visit with Barwin at Gillette Stadium (one of the 30 such visits the team is allowed to have with prospects in Foxborough).

But I’m not sold that Barwin is quite the perfect fit that everyone seems to make him out to be at this point in the process. I see the Vrabel thing. Watch him on film and he really looks just like Vrabel, especially when catching TD passes for the Bearcats. He’s just under 6-4 and weighed in at 256 at the Combine. Vrabel was listed at 6-4, 261 last season in New England.

But just because Barwin looks like Vrabel doesn ‘t mean he’s his perfect replacement. First, he’s only played one season of defense and that’s as a defensive end. He was very productive in that one season with 11 sacks.  If he landed in New England the inexperienced defender would be on the move again, transitioning to OLB in the 3-4. I’m not saying he couldn’t make the jump — he clearly has the athleticism and skill potential to do so. 

The problem is that as his stock rises, and it surely is rising since the Combine, Barwin is now a potential first-round pick. So if the Patriots were to have to select him with the 23rd selection to get him, I think the expectation would be that he’d need to come in and contribute from day one. With Vrabel gone (and no Jason Taylor or Julius Peppers yet in the mix) I think the Patriots may need a rookie to at least play right away on the outside. I’m not sold on the idea of Pierre Woods and Tully Banta-Cain filling the void. I’m also not sold that Barwin is capable of coming in and playing right away on defense for a championship caliber team.

He looks like Vrabel. He’s athletic and versatile like Vrabel. Heck, he might ended up being better than Vrabel down the road. But let’s remember that Vrabel was a third-round pick in Pittsburgh and landed in New England as a low-money free agent addition. It took him four-plus seasons to make an impact in the NFL.

If I could get Barwin late in the second round or in the third, like Vrabel, I’d be all for it. But I’m not looking to take a guy who’s played one year of defense (and who’ll have to make another transition at the pro level) in the first round. I don’t think he’d be ready to add to the pass rush from day one like the Patriots could very well need.

That’s why I’d rather see Northern Illinois’ ultra-productive Larry English get the call on draft weekend. He’s proven in college action and in postseason bowl work that he can get to the quarterback. I don’t care too much about his Combine numbers or 40 time. He knows what life on the edge is like. I think he could come in and serve as a situational pass rusher as a rookie and evolve into more than that down the road.  Barwin may be the hot name and his ties to Vrabel may make him a fan favorite as a potential draft pick in New England, but I’d rather have the more productive guy that Barwin is supposedly pushing down the rankings  — Larry English.