FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – When considering if the New England Patriots might be able to do what the Chicago Bears couldn’t, and tap the potential that made linebacker Shea McClellin a 2012 first-round draft choice, Tully Banta-Cain comes to mind.
The 2003 seventh-round Patriots draft choice had been groomed in the team’s system as a defensive end/linebacker, departed as a big-money free-agent signing of the San Francisco 49ers four years later, but never produced the results the 49ers hoped. He returned to New England after two years in San Francisco and had a breakout 2010 season with 10 sacks.