I don't know about the effort bit, at least as far as last year is concerned.
He was utilized primarily as a blocker, and despite patriots44 sarcasm, he actually was pretty good at that.
IMHO, if you're willing to come down the line and do crack blocks like he did, than you "give a shit"
Now, I have no idea how bad his injuries in previous seasons actually were, an no one outside of One Patriot's Place does either, so maybe, he wasn't willing to play hurt and if so, that's a legitimate critique against him with regards to effsucked. When viewed in the perspective of him being a first round pick,