Dear Coach,
Last season sucked.
In fact, my career has been shaky since injuring my knee in my rookie season - but here's the thing: In St. Louis, I was placed on the outside as a rookie by default, as they had no one with any skill to press outside, and I ended up tearing my ACL twice in three seasons, both times while turning to look back for the ball in tight coverage.
But I've been healthy for three seasons now and, in fact, since signing with Philadelphia two years ago, I have had mad production, including 38 pass breakups, tops in the league in that period.
The thing is, though, my hips are too tight to play on the outside. In order to stay with sprinters going vertical and to give myself a chance to make a play on the ball, I either have to give up a ton of space in off-man, jam the receiver hard in press or patrol a deep half in zone...and the coaching staffs in St. Louis and Philadelphia knew this, but their secondaries were so bad that they really had no choice...
...but here...man, people just don't realize how good the Patriots have it in the secondary compared to a lot of other places.
Seriously! You may have lost Revis, but how many players are there like that? And he's just one man, so now you've got Butler, who is legit, me, McClain, Ryan, Brown and a couple of intriguing rookies as corners, backed up by perhaps the best and deepest safety corps in the entire league - not to mention that they are playing behind the top set of 4-3 linebackers in football as part of a monstrous front seven.
For my part, I just hope to make the team with that much talent and will do whatever it is you ask me to do.
I came here with kind of a bad rep for getting toasted against elite receivers, particularly Dez Bryant and Jordy Nelson - and there's a reason why these guys are so good in that they regularly abuse corners, but also teams with elite pass catchers are going to have a field day against typical secondaries, so here's the reason why I feel like I'm going to have better success here in Foxborough: Versatility.
Not my versatility, but the way that the coaches are going to be able to disguise coverages using McCourty as a hybrid and Harmon as the centerfielder with an incredible rotation in the box - and that's where I'm going to fit.
Something that folks don't seem to remember is that I was supposed to be a safety coming out of Iowa. Tight hips, hands fighter, needs to see the play unfold in front of him, excellent box tackler and coverage in space - so, in other words, I have a little Kyle Arrington happening with my skill set, but I'm bigger and faster, and with all of the safety help over the top and in the box, I feel like this is the one place where I could shine.
Finally.
Sincerely,
Fletch
Resume'
Education:
University of Iowa
Work Experience:
2009 - 2012: St. Louis Rams
139 tackles, 5 interceptions, 21 passes defended, 2 fumble recoveries, 1 sack
2013 - 2014: Philadelphia Eagles
Regular Season: 133 tackles, 3 interceptions, 1 touchdown, 38 passes defended
2 fumble recoveries
Playoffs: 4 tackles, i interception, 1 pass defended
Personal Information:
Born June 26, 1986 at Youngstown, Ohio
Height: 6' 1"
Weight: 200
Website:
Bradley Fletcher Player Page - Foxborough Free Press
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