Adalius Thomas: See Ya

Thomas broke his forearm in 2008 and it was downhill from there.

The Patriots cut ties with an aging, unproductive Adalius Thomas yesterday. The big OLB had just finished the third year of his five-year, $35 million deal, the largest deal ever given (at that time) to a Pats free agent acquisition. Unable to find a taker for Thomas over draft weekend, the team conceded that it was best to move in another direction.

As you may recall, Adalius was in the doghouse last season when he was a healthy inactive and saw his snaps reduced significantly (he played in just 54% of the team's defensive snaps) despite the team's problems rushing the passer. Several weeks ago we reported a profootballfocus.com piece that calculated Thomas missed 25% of his solo tackles which was worst in the NFL in 2009.

He was also the epicenter of "late gate", when four Pats arrived to practice late due to a snow storm during the season. Things then turned quickly sour for Thomas as his outspoken personality clashed with Coach Belichick's style. Thomas also complained that the team handled his 2008 broken forearm incorrectly by sending him to a massage therapist instead of a physical therapist. With Banta-Cain having signed re-signed in the offseason, there was little need to keep Thomas on the roster any longer.


Outside linebackers on the Patriots' roster: Tully Banta-Cain, Jermaine Cunningham, Pierre Woods, Shawn Crable, Rob Ninkovich, Marques Murrell