The Patriots have been decimated by injuries, especially on the defensive side of the ball, where they've lost a pair of key starters in Adalius Thomas and Rodney Harrison. Continuing with the theme of holes at the linebacker position, the Pats also lost Eric Alexander late last month to a hamstring injury.

Due to said injuries, and due to the fact that he was out of work after being canned following training camp by his former team, the Houston Texans, the Pats have signed Rosevelt Colvin to a one-year deal today.

Let me start off by saying that you can't blame Rosy for not making the cut in Houston; the Texans bone-headedly (Did I just invent an adverb?) assumed he could move from outside linebacker (where he played in the base 3-4 with the Pats) to defensive end in Houston's 4-3 scheme. Uhhh, not sure if anyone informed the Texans' front office, but Colvin's packing about 250 pounds on a good day, and he's only listed at 6-3, perhaps generously. That's a good size for a pass-rushing outside linebacker, but ask Richard Seymour (6-6, 310) and Ty Warren (6-5, 300) if they could play end at 250 and be successful and you'll get laughed at, not only by them, but by everyone else in the immediate vicinity after you asked the question, as well.

After this signing, lots of Pats fans were quick to point out that Colvin was on the downswing in his final years here and that his being released by Houston only confirms how far he's fallen. I'm not going to try to argue that this is the same Rosevelt Colvin that had 10.5 sacks in back-to-back years in 2001 and 2002 with the Bears because it's not, but the good thing is that the Pats aren't expecting him to be. At this point, considering both the miles on the tires (Rosy's 31-years-old) and the situation he's coming in to, it's entirely likely they're not even expecting him to get significant minutes, at least not right away.

What they do need right now is more bodies on the roster. They are in dire need of depth at linebacker as inexperienced rooks Gary Guyton (worth noting he's done a fine job filling in in most cases) and Vince Redd are the top backups to Vrabel, Woods (who left last week's game against the Steelers with some sort of head injury, perhaps making the Colvin signing more of a necessity), Bruschi and Mayo. Colvin offers that, and assuming that his salary is pro-rated near the veteran minimum, I like the move.



Back later today/tonight with an extended post on all the goings on in Red Sox world, including a new deal for Dusty, the apparently imminent signing of Japanese stud Junichi Tazawa, and the whole Jason Varitek situation.