The Patriots' 53: "Scavenger" Belichick Putting Together Roster Full Of Intrigue

Bill Belichick is football's version of a vulture.

Or at least it seems that way - mostly due to the success he's had poaching other teams' rosters for players that are being misused or underused and who have performed well in Belichick's rigidly segregated game plans. Segregated in that in his mind, every player has a specific job to do and if they just do that job, they will mesh with the other individuals on the field into one cohesive unit.

How many times have we heard him chide a player for trying to do too much, overlapping into someone else's responsibility? "Look, it's simple, guys." He bellows in one instance caught on camera during a certain championship game, "Just do your job! Don't try to make too much out of it, just do your job!"

Foster scores from 22 yards out

Some people just don't get the concept of leaving your individuality in the trunk of their cars when they go to work - but the ones that do, the ones who have a specific talent and will focus on their jobs and leave the accolades  - or the negativity - for the media to embellish are the ones that are successful, and Belichick is the master at swooping in and bringing them onboard.

It's not just veteran players, either.  A lot of people will look at Belichick's failures on draft day, especially with receivers and cornerbacks, and say that he isn't a great personnelman - and there is something to the lack of success in drafting players in those specialties - and all you really have to do is look at the projected roster below to see the evidence...

...because while a full two-thirds of his roster are players drafted or otherwise signed directly out of college by Belichick, only two of five receivers were drafted by Belichick - one being a college quarterback converted to a receiver - and just three of five corners (with two of them being undrafted free agents), he still manages to field a top offense and a top defense nearly every single season.

Same with running backs, as half of the Patriots runners are home-grown talents - in fact, besides the safety position, the roster is spotted with players brought in from other teams, and while those players rarely gain the big-time spot light, together they make up one championship team.

Does he have the makings of another title contender?

Quarterbacks:

Tom Brady
Jimmy Garoppolo

In my mind, Jacoby Brissett came into Saturday night's game on the bubble, and I'm not sure he did enough to change that.

Both Brady and Garoppolo lost floaters along the sideline that were picked off by Texans' defensive backs (though Brady's was negated because the player landed out of bounds) as they both attempted to spread the field horizontally in order to open up the middle of the field to work with their backs and tight ends, so it goes to figure that they were both pressing the issue...

...something that you wouldn't see either do in the regular season.  If there's one play that sticks out from Patriots' quarterbacks on Saturday night, it was Garoppolo hitting Austin Carr with a laser beam on an out pattern that was reminiscent of Brady's throw to Danny Amendola during the overtime period of the Super Bowl.

Not saying Garoppolo is Brady, just saying that he has the arm to make the toughest throw - as does Brissett, but his poor mechanics get in the way...

Running Backs:

James White
Mike Gillislee

Dion Lewis
Rex Burkhead
James Develin

There is a certain protocol that is followed in preseason games, so when a guy is out there with the ones, plays a few snaps and then relaxes on the bench for the rest of the night, that means he has earned his keep.

James White has earned his keep.

Rex Burkhead was with the two's and he distinguished himself, as did Dion Lewis (who really didn't need to do much), as did D.J. Foster, who makes our list of 53 with an eye-opening performance against some of the Texans' two's and mostly their three's - but the only reason he's on the list in the first place was because of the ambiguity surrounding Mike Gillislee - but since Gillislee has returned to practice, it bodes ill for Foster's chances...

Receivers:

Julian Edelman
Brandin Cooks
Chris Hogan
Malcolm Mitchell
Danny Amendola
Matthew Slater (IR Designation)

Try as they might, the undrafted free agents from this year and the holdovers from last season are not going to make a dent in this receiving corps unless an injury besets them, which is always a possibility.

Of course, last Saturday night's contest with the Texans turned out to be getting the backs involved in the passing game, so only ten total targets found the wide outs, but this coming Friday we can expect to see a far more balanced attack - albeit french vanilla - with the starters playing until at least halftime.  It would behoove fans to pay attention to who is rotated in and out with the one's, because if a bubble-dweller gets a chance with them, it means he has a chance to make the roster.

The only reason there is a chance is because of Matthew Slater's doubtful availability.  If he starts the season on the IR, maybe one of the bubblers get a shot at the 53...

Tight Ends:

Rob Gronkowski
Dwayne Allen
James O'Shaunnessey
Jacob Hollister

...but my guess is the Patriots have enough receivers, and may go heavy on tight ends, which means if Slater hits the IR, there is a possibility that Belichick keeps four of them - and O'Shaunnessey and Hollister have been getting the reps.

Offensive Tackles:

Nate Solder
Marcus Cannon
Cam Fleming
Antonio Garcia
Conor McDermott

Fleming gave the left tackle position the old college try on Saturday night, but showed that he is a far better drive blocker than a pass protector.  He did ok, but also got shoved back into the pocket by a defensive end 40 pounds lighter, and doesn't have the kick-slide to match speed.

Waddle is better on the left, as is Garcia but they are both injured - but the good news is that Solder practiced in full on Tuesday...

McDermott deserves a closer look on Friday, as he was serviceable on the right side, featuring a mean cut block and a decent kick-slide, though he allowed Garoppolo to get murdered on a screen play by not selling the pass play.

Interior Offensive Line:

Joe Thuney
Shaq Mason
David Andrews
Ted Karras

JJ Watt abused Andrews on an inside stunt early in Saturday's game, but he does that to everyone. Together, Andrews, Thuney and Mason comprise an excellent young interior that has gotten better through failure in pass protection, but can always improve - and they will the more they play together.

The depth in camp is atrocious, however, so Karras will win a roster spot simply by process of elimination.  His best spot is at center, but he can fill in at both guard spots.

Defensive Line:

Malcolm Brown
Alan Branch
Trey Flowers
Vincent Valentine
Kony Ealy
Lawrence Guy
Deatrich Wise
Adam Butler

The Patriots played a ton of three man line rotation against the Texans, and it will be interesting to see if that becomes a trend.

Flowers and Wise never saw the field, but that was due to concussion and preservation, respectively, Guy appeared to tweak something in his right leg early on, and Valentine had the trainers come out an check on him, so those are situations worth monitoring - so it was fortunate that Matt Patricia had his charges in a 3-4 to begin with.

With all of the injuries, keep an eye on third-year special teamer Geneo Grissom, who is making a push for a roster spot at defensive end despite being inactive for the game.

Linebackers:
Dont'a Hightower
Kyle Van Noy
Shea McClellin
Derek Rivers (IR - out for the season)
David Harris
Elandon Roberts
Harvey Langi

While the Patriots were working in a 3-4, Undrafted free agent  and resident Swiss Army Knife Harvey Langi took on a role normally reserved for Dont'a Hightower, as sort of a chess piece on the second level, but mostly aligning on the strong side, where injured rookie Derek Rivers had been lining up.

Langi has a puppy-like manic style that may need to be toned down a bit, as he tends to overrun gap responsibilities at times instead of holding his ground and forcing plays to the inside, but that will come with experience in the pro game.  Harris has turned out to be a Godsend for New England in the middle with Roberts constantly getting dinged up, and Van Noy has continued his strong play on the weak side.

Cornerbacks:

Stephon Gilmore
Malcolm Butler
Eric Rowe
Jonathan Jones
Cyrus Jones

The beginning of the turn around for Cyrus Jones has begun, and it's not all that surprising.  Jones tends to get down on himself and lets negative reports in the press exasperate that, but the opposite is also true, where he becomes encouraged by positives, and the way his teammates rallied around him after some decent returns in the kicking game and some solid work in coverage, they are trying to feed him all of the positivity they can muster.

In truth, this is a pattern with Jones that has followed him from High School and college where he started off with some rough outings, got down on himself, grew a huge chip on his shoulder, then broke through the crust to play some amazing football.

Safeties:

Devin McCourty
Patrick Chung
Duron Harmon
Nate Ebner
Brandon King
Damarius Travis

Jordan Richards has been getting a lot of playing time, but it isn't translating to what the Patriots need from their strong safety - mainly, good pursuit angles and steady tackling.  He looks to have bulked up over last season and maybe he can't carry the extra mass as a safety, and it would be intriguing to see his fit as a linebacker, but the time for experimentation for the third-yard player is up.

Chung, on the other hand, looks to be revitalized as a human missile in run support and has shown an awesome instinct as a trail-technique on tight ends - which is wonderful news as undrafted rookie free agent Damarius Travis isn't ready for the role yet, but looks to have the upper hand on all other comers.

Specialists: 

Joe Cardona
Ryan Allen
Stephen Gostkowski

All three are solid, though Cardona had a couple of low snaps to Allen in the punting game, one disrupting Allen's timing and nearly causing a blocked punt by the Texans.

Timing is everything in the kicking game, and angles are everything in covering kicks - and both areas need some work before the regular season starts.

The Patriots' 53: Knee Jerk Reaction To Thursday's Loss To The Jaguars

Coaching points.

That's what the preseason is all about, putting players in certain situations and to see how they respond to them.  It's not unlike Pavlov's experimentation with conditioned response, only in football the subjects are human beings, and the ringing of a bell doesn't elicit a drooling response.

Well, maybe some drooling is involved, but that is neither here nor there in the grand scheme of football.  What does matter is that players with little or no experience in the professional game are put into actual game situations, giving the coaches a body of work from which to do things like correcting mechanical flaws, improving technique and just plain making things become routine for them.

Jacob Hollister with one of his seven catches

For every player coming out of college that makes a roster in the NFL, there are a dozen others who don't - and much of the difference comes in whether they take to coaching or not.

Players like Jordan Richards and Cyrus Jones have held onto roster spots despite no improvement in their game while players with developmental potential have been cast by the wayside in order to give the two second round draft picks the benefit of their draft position - but this year there are too many good players pushing them and if they don't show vast improvement next Saturday night against the Texans, they could find themselves on the bread lines come September.

But something that has to be remembered is that none of the Patriots starters on either side of the ball played in the game, and the gameday roster was pieced together - the result was a delay in the lineup achieving the type of cohesiveness that allows them to meld with the talents of their teammates, so some of the poor play around the roster can be attributed to that, but some of it, like what is covered in the following position sections, is all technique.

Quarterbacks:  Training camp is pretty much business as usual for Patriots' quarterbacks: Tom Brady looks in mid-season form, Jimmy Garoppolo is "struggling" and Jacoby Brissett is hot and cold.

Hearing that Garoppolo is struggling in training camp is like hearing that the sun always sets in the west - you can count on it, but sure as shooting when the guy gets into an actual game situation, he steps up and delivers.  He explained this very phenomenon a couple of weeks ago by claiming that he takes more chances in practice to put receivers in situations where he can determine such things as what their catch radius is, their willingness to go after high or low balls, etc, etc...

...which he saw plenty of on Thursday night while running for his life behind a make-shift offensive line and throwing to a gaggle of rookie receivers.  He was stuck in neutral in the first quarter while trying to find his gears, but once he did, he put on a show in the second and third quarters.

As far as Brissett is concerned, Belichick sliding past a question in regard to him in his Tuesday presser could be taken as a sign of things to come.  Usually when asked a question about a player, the Dark Master gives his usual, "He's a hard working kid, does what we ask, meow, meow, meow", but when cornered about Brissett and his development in his second camp, Belichick was unusually abrupt, even for him.

"Well, it's a work in progress." Belichick offered hastily. "We'll see."

Yikes! Well, Brissett didn't get much work in the loss to the Jaguars and, in fact, confirmed that his mechanics are still an issue, overthrowing folks badly on anything more than a dump off.  Some believe that Brissett's late entry into the game combined with his poor showing makes him camp fodder, but despite his cryptic evaluation before the game, Belichick isn't going to slice a guy from the roster over this poor outing...

...but if he struggles against the Texans with his mechanics and decision making, you could see the depth chart at quarterback look like it does below:

Tom Brady
Jimmy Garoppolo

Running Backs: Bill Belichick wants to keep the defense guessing, but he knows that he needs more than just an effective running game to complement the passing game.

To truly open up the playbook, he needs a back on the field that can run the ball with authority, willing to pick up the blitz and be a consistent threat out of the backfield in the passing game.  Gone are the days when backs were labeled as power backs or passing backs, as the only label needed for his kennel of young greyhounds is "all-purpose".

But what we saw on Thursday night was Dion Lewis and Brandon Bolden splitting some carries and undrafted rookie free agent LeShun Daniels making a few decent plays down the stretch.  One thing that was consistent with the Patriots over the years is them using their backs as vital cogs in the passing game, and Thursday night was no exception as Lewis worked the flat and D.J. Foster got some good looks over the middle.

Overall, there wasn't anything happening to cause any changes to the list of locked in backs.

James White
Mike Gillislee

Dion Lewis
Rex Burkhead
James Develin

Receivers: The Patriots receivers are a fragile bunch early in camp, with seemingly everyone plagued with one malady or another, all except, that is, for Brandin Cooks who is instead making the defensive backs sick from eating his dust.

But none of the "roster locks" played against the Jaguars, healthy or not, as Thursday night was about exposing the youngsters to the professional game - and in the process, the Patriots were able to get some good film on some prospects, especially much-hyped rookie Austin Carr, who made some dazzling plays on some rockets launched by Garoppolo.

Carr showed some veteran savvy in showing Grop his numbers in the back of the end zone, then showed his athleticism in high-pointing the ball in traffic and coming down with it for six, then pulled a Julio Jones on a toe-tapper along the home sidelines.  Not enough, mind you, to bump a veteran at this stage, but a similar performance against the Texans next Saturday could have impact on the roster.

The one thing that could introduce a youngster to the roster is the injury incurred by special teamer Matthew Slater.  If it is significant enough, Slater could be placed on the IR with a designation to return, giving a player like Carr or Devin Lucien a chance to see the regular season.

Julian Edelman
Brandin Cooks
Chris Hogan
Malcolm Mitchell
Danny Amendola
Matthew Slater (IR)
Austin Carr

Tight Ends: The only question mark for the Patriots' tight ends is whether or not they are going to keep three tight ends on the roster, and if so, who will that third one be?

Gronkowski is a given, and Brady is targeting Allen like a mad man in the scrimmages, but Thursday night was all about the race for the number three tight end, and while rookie Sam Cotton showed up well on the inline blocking mode, it was Jacob Hollister that made the big splash, displaying solid route running and a willingness to break off route and to high-point balls in traffic...

...even taking some nasty shots coming back down to earth that cost the Jaguars 30 yards in personal fouls - and while that is just football, Hollister popping right back up, going back to the huddle and performing again has to be given some serious consideration.

Rob Gronkowski
Dwayne Allen
Jacob Hollister

Offensive Tackles:  Perhaps Belichick was giving us all a lesson in appreciation for the starters on the offensive line as none of them played, leaving Cam Fleming, LaAdrian Waddle and rookie Conor McDermott to shoulder the load as bookends, the the results left us wanting Nate Solder and Marcus Cannon.

Solder, however, is dealing with some mysterious malady and has missed a sizable portion of camp, and whether it is a recurrence of his previous medical issues, be it cancer or torn bicep, the prognosis for the offensive line is not good, if last night's performance has any bearing on the situation.

Now, we don't know what Solder is dealing with, so it would be unfair to speculate, but what we do know is that if he can't go in the regular season, the job will most likely fall to rookie Antonio Garcia who has a nasty streak a mile wide - but while the other tackles had a poor night against the Jaquars pass rush, they did perform well in the running game, all except rookie Conor McDermott, who tried to cut block a would-be tackler on a running play in the first quarter and whiffed badly.

It was good thought, putting McDermott at right tackle as he is a better run blocker than a pass protector, but he did himself no favors last night.

Nate Solder
Marcus Cannon
Cam Fleming
Antonio Garcia
LaAdrien Waddle


Interior Offensive Line: Joe Thuney seems to be figuring out what his lot in football is, as he has shown up as a solid pass protector in camp - which in comparison to his well-documented struggles last season isn't saying a whole lot.  But there seems to be an edge to his game now.

We won't know for certain until he sees the field against the Texans next Saturday night when the Patriots should be starting their regulars - unless they really want Watt, Clowney and company to get free shots at their quarterbacks - and there is no better way to discover where your line is in terms of cohesiveness than going up against the best.

Joe Thuney
Shaq Mason
David Andrews
Ted Karras


Defensive Line: The Patriots have the ability to morph into anything they want, or need, to be, and the defensive line is no exception.  Who remains on the depth chart isn't so much a question as is where would they line up on each play?

At the moment, it would appear that the Universities of Texas and Arkansas are dominating the top of said depth chart, with nose tackle Malcom Brown (Texas) and defensive ends Trey Flowers and rookie Deatrich Wise (Go Hogs!) displaying excellent form, though we didn't see Brown at all last night and Wise's night ended early when he suffered a concussion taking a knee to the helmet.

The depth was atrocious otherwise, and the linebackers were forced to set the hard edge most of the night on the outside.

Malcolm Brown
Alan Branch
Trey Flowers
Vincent Valentine
Kony Ealy
Lawrence Guy
Deatrich Wise

Linebackers:  Just a few months ago, this group was considered a weak link in the defense.  Now we're trying to figure out what to do with all of the talent.

Elandon Roberts went helmet-to-helmet with someone in the middle of a scrum and had the look of a fighter on wobbly legs.  Harvey Langi filled in ably and Jonathan Freeney showed that he's not quite ready to surrender the roster spot he's held for a couple of seasons, as he an Langi were setting the edge all night long.

Unfortunately for the Patriots, the middle of their run defense was like jell-o and the Jaguars ran roughshod on them without any of their starters playing in the game - so last night certainly wasn't an indication of what we will see when the games are for real, nor did it change any minds on what the final depth chart will look like, unless injuries mount in camp.

Dont'a Hightower
Kyle Van Noy
Shea McClellin
Derek Rivers
David Harris
Elandon Roberts
Harvey Langi

Cornerbacks: Oh, what an awesome problem to have!  The Patriots sport three starting-quality corners on the 2017 roster, with second-year speedster Jonathan Jones making all kinds of waves in mincamp, taking most of the slot reps, but he also got repeatedly torched by the Jaguars, mostly on the same dig routes that he sees all the time in practice...

Butler is more than capable in the phone booth, where Cyrus Jones could also see some action, because it is becoming increasingly more obvious that Jones can not stick with receivers on the outside - in fact, Belichick used him as a safety on Thursday night, in part so that he could keep the action in front of him because as a boundary corner, he looked lost.

Gilmore and 2016 pickup Eric Rowe are taller corners and could get the call on the outside against the bigger receivers that New England is likely to see this year, though Butler will see time on the outside against the likes of Antonio Brown and Jarvis Landry.

The diversity of the cornerback corps gives Patricia many options in the Patriots' week-to-week game planning, and if either of the Joneses contribute, Gillette Stadium could easily turn into a no-fly zone...

Stephon Gilmore
Malcolm Butler
Eric Rowe
Jonathan Jones
Cyrus Jones

Safeties: There is not a better combination of safeties in the league than Devin McCourty, Patrick Chung and Duron Harmon, and all three are signed to multi-year contracts - while Nate Ebner and Brandon King more than earn their bones on special teams.  The problem is that in order for the Patriots to run their preferred Big Nickel alignment (one high safety and two in the box), they need McCourty, Chung and Harmon healthy and on the field.

Injuries haven't been a huge problem, but if one of them hits the shelf, it disrupts the entire defensive philosophy, so the search is on for players who can fill in at any of those positions.  While not drafting any blue liners, Belichick did pick up Big Nickel-type defensive backs in Richmond's David Jones and Minnesota's Damarius Travis, with Travis being the versatile box safety that could potentially spell Chung.

And Travis actually accounted well for himself on Thursday night, starting the game and contributing three stops and a pass defended before being replaced by Jordan Richards, who had a night he wishes he could forget, particularly since he appeared to dislocate his wrist in the fourth quarter, forcing Belichick to use Cyrus Jones to replace him.

This means that Richards is the odd man out no matter which undrafted player remains, with Jones making his way to the practice squad...

Devin McCourty
Patrick Chung
Duron Harmon
Nate Ebner
Brandon King
Damarius Travis

Specialists: The only question here is if Stephen Gostkowski is going to rebound from his less-than-stellar 2016, when he missed several extra points, seeming to push everything to the right, which if put in terms of physics, means that he isn't striking the ball as consistently as he should be.

Some attribute that to Belichick's preference of easing up on kickoffs to force the opposition to return kicks rather that take a touchback out to the 25 yard line, perhaps throwing off his natural leg swing on field goals and extra points - but he is excellent at pinning the other guys deep on his kickoffs, so the trade off is congruent.

But against the Jaguars, "Ghost" was shaky once again, pulling a 56 yard kick that had no chance from the second it left his foot, though his kickoffs were money.

Allen is a field position weapon that has gotten the offense out of plenty of holes in his career, and is clutch when he absolutely needs to be, while Cardona's worth is in never hearing his name, which means he is spot on in his long snaps.

Joe Cardona
Ryan Allen
Stephen Gostkowski

Patriots' Team Building Process On Full Display Against Jags

We've all heard it a thousand times.

When asked about the progress of any player at this point in the team building process, we usually get a canned response from New England Patriots head ball coach Bill Belichick, something to the effect of a combination of "He works hard", "He's a smart kid" and the ever popular, "We'll have to see."

But on Tuesday when asked about second-year quarterback Jacoby Brissett, we got something straight from the depths.

"He's a work in progress." Belichick deadpanned to the glee of bored beat writers.

When Brissett is in the game on Thursday night against the Jaguars, it will most likely be with all manner of position battles happening all over the offensive line, so we are going to be able to witness first hand if Brissett has made that essential second-year progression in regard to his mechanics.

You see, the North Carolina State alum has a penchant for throwing off his back foot when being pressured up the gut, a natural knee-jerk reaction that produces overthrows without much on them, especially up the sidelines, making them ripe for interceptions by centerfielders in the worst-case scenarios, and wasted downs in the best-case.

Thus far in camp, it's obvious that he still has the issue and has thrown the aforementioned high ball off of his back foot release and it seems as though he is trying to compensate for the poor mechanics rather than correcting them.  It will be interesting to see if Jacksonville makes it a point to pressure him up the middle to force those floaters, and also to see if they align a single-deep safety as a ball hawk to pick him off.

This is what camp and preseason are for.  Brissett has an absolute rocket for an arm when he can step into throws and does have good accuracy on the intermediate and short throws, making him an adequate short-term backup, but the issues with his mechanics make him a poor choice as a long-term fill-in, as teams would easily be able to game-plan against his weaknesses.

Needless to say, tonight's game is going to be important to his future with the team.

Other players we will be watching closely:

Dion Lewis - From all accounts the "Human Joy Stick" is back to his old elusive self, breaking ankles and causing would-be tacklers to grasp at thin air.  How much he used in the preseason - and even early in the regular season is anyone's guess, but it makes sense to limit the demure all purpose back's exposure to things that might rip his legs apart, so if he does play, we really can't expect it will be for very long.

Rex Burkhead - On the other hand, we will probably see plenty of Burkhead, who has a little bit of every type of running style known to man inside of him.  He can play the power guy, he can catch the ball, he can protect the passer - which may turn out to be a godsend to Patriots quarterbacks in the preseason - and once he's in the open field, he looks like a newborn fawn trying to find it's footing, with elbows and knees everywhere.  Regardless of how it looks, he's been effective with it in the past.

Devin Lucien - Lucien has generated plenty of press clippings the past few weeks, and now it's time to see if he's just a workout warrior or if his star rises when the bright lights come on.  You can read more about the Arizona State product here...

Jacob Hollister - The Patriots generally carry three tight ends, but the third guy is normally more of an inline blocking machine than what Hollister presents, but his receiving skills can't be ignored.  Of the candidates for the roster spot, the Wyoming product is far and away the best pass-catching prospect, but he offers little from a blocking perspective, certainly less than what the other candidates bring.

For that very reason, Hollister is going to have to bring the "Wow" factor in the preseason if he wants to make this team.

Conor McDermott - Does the athletic McDermott have the sand-in-his-pants anchor to play the blindside protector?  Either Brissett and/or Jimmy Garoppolo is going to find out on Thursday night when the UCLA product goes up against names like Yannick Ngakoue and Dante Fowler.

Blessed with a basketball player's size and slide step, McDermott looks every bit a tight end - but one can't help noticing that he is a far more effective blocker on the move in the running game pulling into the interior on a "wham" assignment, using a killer cut block to take down rogue linebackers while his set and slide technique screams "tackle" in pass protection, he just doesn't have the anchor - or does he?

We'll probably get to see tonight...

Deatrich Wise - The Jacksonville offensive line is a hot mess everywhere except at the pivot, so the Patriots coaches should reasonably expect to see their defensive linemen dominate - but in a preseason game in which the coaches are looking at form and technique, domination is not always going to be apparent to the naked eye, nor will it necessarily show up on the stat sheet.

With Wise, who has long arms and enormous hands, he should be rag-dolling tackles early in the game with a savage initial punch, and bull rushing him back into the pocket.  Like Trey Flowers before him, Wise dominated as a defensive end at Arkansas with uncommon strength, but unlike Flowers, he's not quick-twitch so a lot will depend on his pad level as the game wears on.

If he plays into the late stages of the game and he's still stacking up tackles like cord wood, it may be an indication that the Patriots have struck gold twice in drafting hogs.

Derek Rivers - Rivers was an All American defensive end at Youngstown State, but in the pros, his best destiny is at strong-side linebacker, as his size and skill set whispers "Jamie Collins".

Rivers has been working on his pegs on both sides of the second level all through camp, and when rushing in tandem with Wise, who has worked exclusively as a down lineman, they have been nearly unblockable.  Rivers' issue is that he has zero experience as a stand-up linebacker, so the learning curve is protracted - but if his production in camp is any indication, he's well ahead of that curve.

Cyrus Jones - Naturally, everyone in the civilized world and Canada will be watching with a blood-lust to see if Jones muffs a punt or makes some sort of crazy, knee-jerk decision of some sort that will result in a turnover, but Jones seems to have regained much of his confidence on fielding kicks, so in addition to his special teams play, he will be getting some reps at corner, perhaps a bunch.

Damarius Travis - strong safety Jordan Richards is in the fight of his career for a roster spot, but every kid in the mix that gets injured makes him closer to a lock to hold on to his spot for a this season.  The only player left in his way?  Damarius Travis.

Travis is an undrafted box safety with a reputation for going after the big hit, eschewing proper wrap-up technique required for run support.  He also is reported to have issues with handling tight ends on seam routes, which belies his extraordinary height (6' 2") for the position.  That said, we'll be looking to see if the Jaguars can cause those deficiencies to manifest, of if he has taken to professional coaching.

The Art Of Football, Part 8: "Dog Faces" Give the Patriots' Secondary It's Flare

Patriots' safety Duron Harmon stops to admire the Lombardi Trophy after Super Bowl 51

The New England Patriots have so many premium draft picks on their defensive depth chart that they could field a starting lineup made entirely of first and second round draft picks.

No matter what traditional base alignment they play in, there is plenty of draft royalty to man the positions - why just take a look at what the lineup could look like in a 3-4:

Left Defensive End - Kony Ealy (2nd round 2014 by Carolina )
Nose Tackle - Malcom Brown (1st round 2015)
Right Defensive End - Alan Branch (2nd round 2007 by Arizona)
Weakside Linebacker - Kyle Van Noy (2nd round 2014 by Detroit)
Weakside Inside Linebacker - Dont'a Hightower(1st round 2012)
Middle Linebacker - David Harris (2nd round 2007 by New York Jets)
Strongside Linebacker - Shea McClellin (1st round 2012 by Chicago)
Right Cornerback - Eric Rowe (2nd round 2015 by Philadelphia)
Left Cornerback - Stephon Gilmore (1st round 2012 by Buffalo)
Free Safety - Devin McCourty (1st round 2010)
Strong Safety - Patrick Chung (2nd round 2009)

They could use this lineup, but they won't - for no other reason than they are a much better team when their "Devil Dogs" are on the field - their blue-collar, toiling in the trenches and anything-but-pretty working stiffs - because head ball coach and defacto general manager Bill Belichick really doesn't care in what round a player was drafted, doesn't care how much a player makes in salary.

None of that makes any difference on the field. The only thing that does matter is how well a player does his job, and while all of the aforementioned royalty have all had their highlight reel production and individual accolades, there are other players on the team - the Devil Dogs, the Dog Faces, the big ugly collection of irrelevants - who were considered reaches by some draft experts and outright garbage by others that make the ultimate difference.

Which makes no nevermind to Belichick, as he considers draft experts on the same level as beat writers: a complete waste of his time. Belichick has his own formula for grading potential draftees, and has instructed his scouting department to not give players grades on projected rounds, but instead based on a five-tier system of potential.

The criterion is simple.  Belichick wants his scouts to grade players based on how they would fare under his philosophies, placing them in a linear progression of "starters", "potential starters", "developmental players", "backups" and "players who wouldn't make it on any NFL roster." - which precludes status, popularity and any other superficial label that could be applied.

For example, the team's best pass rusher is 2015 fourth-round selection Trey Flowers. Their most consistent defender over the past decade has been former fifth-round pick Rob Ninkovich while rotational nose tackle and 2016 third-round pick Vincent Valentine saw significant snaps late last season and was a force in the running game...

...but it is in the secondary where the "dog faces" make the most impact on defense, as former third-round safety Duron Harmon and undrafted cornerback Malcolm Butler make their bones as two of the best in the game at what they do.

Unless you are one of the people who have been living under large rocks for the past few years, you already know of Butler's heroics in Super Bowl 49 and his corresponding meteoric rise to the top of the NFL's cornerback ladder - this is where I question my own usage of the term "meteoric rise", as meteors tend to fall, not rise, but I am a slave to commonly used metaphors - but not many are truly aware of Harmon's contribution to two championship teams.

Pro Football Focus published some interesting numbers in regard to the Patriots' secondary, a unit that they graded out to be the third-best in the National Football League at the end of last season, and while they've added a very sturdy piece to their cornerback kennel in former Buffalo Bill Stephon Gilmore, it is the steadiness of the safety corps that they opine is what makes this secondary.

And, of course, we know this because the Patriots were said to be in their nickle or dime defensive alignments on 80% of their snaps in 2016, with an extra safety in on the action the majority of that time - so is it any wonder that the Patriots ponied up a four-year, $20 million contract to keep their all-important nickel safety, Duron Harmon, in Foxborough for the immediate future?

Harmon is that rare blue-liner that has the size (6' 1", 210 pounds) and speed (4.41 at Rutgers' pro day), plus the requisite lateral agility to play the single high safety role well enough that it allows New England's defensive coordinator Matt Patricia to use free safety Devin McCourty as a coverage chess piece and strong safety Patrick Chung as an impromptu weak side linebacker without losing anything on the back end.

There is not another team in the National Football League that features such capability in their secondary and, as such, the versatility of what is known as the Big Nickel defense - that is, a nickle or dime alignment that features three safeties - is often overlooked when assessing the talent level of a coverage unit, but the talent of the Patriots' safety corps has not eluded the folks at Pro Football Focus.

The one weakness that the report identified in the secondary was the lack of a true nickel cornerback, which was offset by Harmon playing deep and McCourty - a former cornerback with elite speed and an All Pro selection at both corner and safety on his resume - moved around in coverages, often taking the double slot in a spread formation much like a nickel corner would.

But the Patriots appear to have strengthened their cornerback positions by adding former Buffalo Bill Stephon Gilmore in free agency, who joins Pro Bowl talent Malcolm Butler and ascending star Eric Rowe to form an imposing corps - and with Rowe being a former college safety with like-attributes as Harmon, it gives Patricia many, many options in coverage.

Rowe and Gilmore come as like-sized boundary corners who will most likely fixate on the larger outside receivers, while Butler, who has proven his mettle both outside and in, figures as a chess piece that will be moved around to take advantage of mismatches.

With Gilmore on board and with Rowe ascending as a legitimate corner (see his coverage on Julio Jones in the Super Bowl for an example), teams that employ bigger wideouts to create those mismatches really don't apply against New England as they are well above the curve - again - when it comes to neutralizing a competitor's advantage.

Add to that the aforementioned coverage skill of McCourty and Chung's ability on tight ends, there's not much that's going to get by the Patriots' secondary.

That said, depth is going to be more a matter of who Belichick and Patricia see as having the most developmental upside, because with Butler's contract expiring at the end of the season and with Chung and Rowe scheduled for free agency the following offseason, the Patriots are in good shape to bring along potential replacements.

Actually, Belichick drafted Jordan Richards out of Stanford to develop into a Chung replacement, but he's been a disappointment in a backup role, and no Patriots' fan can hear the name Cyrus Jones without cringing and then falling into a drooling, blank-staring stupor in recalling his struggles in the role as a punt returner last season...

...the fact of which has many forgetting that he was a shutdown corner at Alabama, and never really got a chance to showcase that potential as a rookie as his fumbling issues on punt returns sapped him of so much confidence that Belichick didn't even bother dressing him for the final six games of the regular season, nor for the playoffs.

Jones has always bounced back from disappointment in his football career and has the talent to do so again, and don't expect Belichick to throw the towel in on him after just one season, especially as a second round draft pick.  But while Jones looks to improve on his disastrous rookie season, the jury has spoken in Richards' case, and he may well get the axe as a former second rounder who didn't make much improvement from his rookie season to his sophomore campaign.

Like Jones, Richards looked like a bust from the very start - but unlike Jones, Richards doesn't have the speed nor the instincts to play the strong safety role in New England, as his lumbering style is more scripted for an inside linebacker role, but he just doesn't have the size.  His roster spot is in serious jeopardy, especially given the two undrafted free agents that Belichick signed immediately after the draft.

Richmond's David Jones is a Harmon clone with sideline-to-sideline lateral agility and speed and the ballhawking skills that would make him a fine centerfielder, but has durability concerns and a left forearm that has been the bane of his football existence - this combined with the fact that Harmon was just re-signed, it makes sense that Jones find his way to the practice squad, or even to the PUP where he could allow his forearm to adequately heal while being coached up on the Big Nickel...

...while Minnesota's Damarius Travis is ready to contribute immediately.  At 6' 1" and 212 pounds, Travis is a pure box safety that can handle tight ends across the formation and in tight quarters and is a violent striker in run support.  Where he gets into trouble, as does Chung, is when a tight end takes him up the seam in single coverage - which really isn't an issue with Harmon stalking the blue line.

That leaves only the special teams players that populate the rest of the secondary depth charts, as safeties Nate Ebner and Brandon King and slot corner Jonathan Jones are ace standouts.  Ebner has been a fixture for five seasons and King for two, as the speedster from Auburn also doubles as an emergency "Dime" safety in prevent formations.

Jones also played at Auburn and is a speed merchant like King, but has tremendous ball skills and plays much bigger than his 5' 9" stature would suggest, and has the inside track for the fifth corner spot.

All told, the Patriots may just have the best secondary in the National Football League - surely the most diversely talented - and as we've witnessed for the past couple of seasons, that should be enough.

The Art Of Football, Part 6: Big Nickel Defense In Full Effect

The 2016 draft class supplied the New England Patriots with two cornerbacks named Jones.

The Patriots' top pick of the draft, Alabama corner Cyrus Jones had what can only be described as a mostly disappointing rookie season as he treated the football like a microphone after a hot take, while Jonathan Jones made a name for himself on special teams after edging out several other candidates to make the team as an undrafted free agent.

Neither saw many snaps on defense, as Jonathan - blessed with 4.28 speed - became a core-four special teams demon and Cyrus got benched and ultimately deactivated for his inability to hold onto the football when returning punts.

Patriots McClellin, Flowers, Branch, Hightower and Harmon celebrate

Now that the 2017 organized team activities and mandatory mini-camp are underway, Cyrus has done nothing but continue to pull gaffes on fielding punts and looks to be in danger of being perhaps the biggest draft bust of the Bill Belichick era, but Jonathan Jones is serving notice that he's ready to compete for the nickle corner slot left vacant by the defection of Logan Ryan in free agency.

If he can pull it off, the Patriots, who already have one of the top corner tandems in the league with Malcolm Butler and Stephon Gilmore, would become the lone team in the NFL to employ two undrafted free agents as starters in their secondary, given that Belichick and defensive coordinator Matt Patricia run out of the nickel about eighty percent of the time.

Granted, the Big Nickel - a five defensive back alignment that utilizes three safeties rather than three corners - is in play a lot of the time to give the Patriots a more flexible unit to match up against teams with bigger personnel, but in a standard nickel, it is Jonathan - not the more widely heralded Cyrus - that looks to be in position to gain significant playing time this season.

But let's pump the brakes a little bit here.  We're talking about dime depth here, with names like Gilmore, Butler and Rowe ahead of the Joneses on the cornerback depth chart, and names like McCourty, Chung and Harmon filling out the Big Nickel before either of the youngsters get an opportunity in the defensive backfield, making the lineup a tough egg to crack.

Because the Big Nickel alignment dictates the Patriots' defensive philosophy.

For the uninitiated, the Big Nickel is an alignment that features flexibility on all levels of the defense. Originally, the alignment was nothing more than a desperation sideline adjustment made by the Philadelphia Eagles way back in the early 1960's, defensive assistant Jerry Williams,bringing in rookie safety Irv Cross to cover Chicago Bears rookie tight end Mike Ditka, who was too big for a standard nickle corner to cover and too fast for a linebacker.

Ditka was the prototype for what was to be known as the "move" tight end, and he was running roughshod all over the league until Williams put the clamps on him, in what he called the "Chicago Special" defense - and then some years later Los Angeles Rams' defensive coordinator Fritz Shurmer resurrected the alignment to defend against the juggernaut San Francisco 49ers offense...

...particularly against tight end Brent Jones and running back Roger Craig as both were too much for his group of linebackers, and used it as the defensive coordinator of the Arizona Cardinals in the early 90's when his linebacking corps was beset by a myriad of debilitating injuries

The philosophy had been dormant for several years since then, and only resurfaced in 2010 when Patriots' head ball coach Bill Belichick drafted a pair of elite tight ends in Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez.  Knowing that the success the two would bring to his offense would spur copy cats around the NFL - and also to find a way to cover the two in practice - he started collecting safeties through the draft.

That would account for the seemingly weird reaches in the draft, taking what many scouts considered to be undraftable, including safeties Tavon Wilson in the second round of the 2012 draft and then Duron Harmon in the third round of the following season.  Wilson never really panned out, but Harmon became the centerpiece of the Big Nickle...

...the sideline-to-sideline centerfielder whose speed and other-worldly range enabled Belichick and defensive coordinator Matt Patricia to run with one high safety, and to drop cornerback-turned-free Safety Devin McCourty and strong safety Patrick Chung closer to the line of scrimmage, where they could pick up man coverages on tight ends and running backs while filling the box in run support.

One of the main advantages of this alignment is that the Patriots are a rare team that has good enough coverage play from their safeties to line them up in the slot, if need be, causing confusion for the opposing quarterback and his offensive line - confusion as to who is actually in coverage and who is coming on the blitz, because in the Big Nickel, they are able to disguise their intent like no other team in the league.

This has a curious effect on the rest of the defense.  Since a weakside linebacker and a strong safety require similar skill sets - ie,. lateral agility, field vision and tackling skills to key on the running back - in the Big Nickel, especially against an offense that features good passing game production out of the backfield, a safety will take the place of the weakside linebacker.

Against offenses that rely more heavily on spread formations, the strong safety will still reduce down into the box even though the situation would normally call for a standard nickel because the defensive line has the ability to morph between 3 and 4 man fronts, and on several occasions last season we saw this play out, fans bitching about the pass rush not being able to get to the quarterback.

This offseason, however, Belichick stocked the line with players who can rush from the outside, and can also reduce down to a five-technique on a three man front and even to a three-technique on four man fronts - so the defense can essentially transform into whatever they need to be at the drop of a hat - and he didn't just stock the line, he stocked it with proven, veteran talent.

Lawrence Guy is a great example of what Belichick was seeking on the market.  Guy is an early-down run-stuffer who graded out as Pro Football Focus's eighth-best in that category last season, and was a vital cog in the Baltimore Ravens fifth-best rush defense, and now joins forces with the likes of Malcom Brown, Alan Branch and Vincent Valentine on a Patriots' run-busting rotation that ranked fourth in 2016.

Guy is just one of several Patriots' defensive linemen with the versatility to produce in both three and four-man fronts - the breakdown for which is forthcoming in the next piece in this series - which gives even more flexibility to Belichick and Patricia in the Big Nickel, particularly given the quality of the linebacking corps.

Last season we saw a lot of the 4-2-5 alignment in the Big Nickel - four down linemen, two linebackers and five defensive backs - but the preferred option this season may be the 3-3-5 look, given the fact that Belichick now seems to be collecting five-technique, 3-4 defensive ends and eschewing traditional 4-3 rush ends.

There is really only one of those on the roster, rookie Derek Rivers, but in this scheme he projects to be more of a stand-up rush linebacker, what with his 4.61 speed and penetration skills to force running backs to the sidelines laterally as an edge setter - and no one would be surprised to see Rivers execute much like departed Jamie Collins did on the strong side.

In fact both Rivers and fellow draftee Deatrich Wise were projected to be attractive to teams looking for 3-4 fits, with Wise having tons of experience in Arkansas three-man line as a five-tech. Everyone else on the line has the versatility to play on shifting fronts, and all of the linebackers have the flexibility to play any of the positions on the second level, led by clutch veteran Dont'a Hightower and flanked by names like McClellin, Van Noy, Roberts and Ninkovich.

The players that make the 2017 New England Patriots defensive unit are going to be the players that fit the Big Nickel scheme, which is not necessarily players who would be considered elite, all-around athletes - rather, the players that fit the scheme are those identified by Belichick as the ones whose skill sets can be incorporated into the game plans on a rotational basis...

...long a staple of Belichick defenses, the rotation allows for a wide open play book as well as keeping players fresh for the fourth quarter, both of which were on full display in the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl, as the Patriots' defense matched up fresh players with the Falcons' offense and eventually got to Matt Ryan to turn the game in New England's favor.

So all anyone has to do who is wondering why the Patriots are doing something that looks funky on the surface, is to remember that Belichick has been building his defense to accommodate the Big Nickel for years, and that if that confuses them, think about how confusing it is to their opponents as well.

Slot Corner Becomes Need In Wake Of Ryan's Departure, Butler's Ambiguity

What makes an effective slot corner?

A better question may be, do the New England Patriots have one?

Also known as a nickel back, a slot corner is best described as a press-man cover who works best in tight spaces, plays the run like a linebacker, is more agile than fast with long arms and cat-quick reflexes and the instincts of a hammerhead shark. A slot corner must be dexterous enough to change direction in time to mirror shifty garden gnomes like Julian Edelman and T.Y. Hilton...

Jones' skill set makes him a viable slot candidate despite issues as rookie

...while being long enough to get their arms around taller men playing out of the slot to knock the ball away from them - it is truly a combination of athleticism and physical make up that is rare - and even more rare is the guy who can play inside out, pressing from the slot and playing trail technique, vertically, to the sidelines.

In many ways, a slot corner's job is more difficult than a traditional outside-the-numbers corner, and the 2014 post-season gives us decent example of how rare this cover corner truly is.

In the AFC Championship game against the Indianapolis Colts, then-Patriots' slot corner Kyle Arrington shut down the Colts' speedy slot man T.Y. Hilton, allowing just one reception on six targets by jamming Hilton at the line and not allowing him to release to the inside where he could rub out Arrington by taking him through traffic.  Instead, Arrington man-handled to demure Hilton and took him to the outside where the sidelines and over-the-top safety help were available.

But in the Super Bowl two weeks later, Arrington was absolutely abused by Seattle Seahawks' depth receiver Chris Matthews, as Matthews had seven inches in height and nine inches in reach on Arrington, who again played inside technique, but got toasted by the much bigger Matthews when the Seahawks had him release to the sidelines where he easily won 50-50 balls on his sheer height advantage.

So badly burned was Arrington that Patriots' head ball coach Bill Belichick removed his charred remains at halftime and inserted a little known undrafted free agent named Malcolm Butler in his stead.

The rest, as they say, is history.

In reality, Belichick switched things around after inserting Butler, and put uber-physical and much taller corner Brandon Browner on Matthews and lined Butler up with Jermaine Kearse on the outside where they both could match up better, though Browner and Butler would switch up on the last defensive play of the game, Browner jamming Kearse at the line of scrimmage to allow Butler to break on slot receiver Ricardo Lockette, intercepting the pass intended for Lockette and saving the Super Bowl for the Patriots.

Butler said in the weeks following that game that he didn't want to be remembered just for being the guy that made that play - that he didn't want to join the ranks of the "one hit wonders" that seem to make a play in the biggest of games, then fade in obscurity.  For sure, that has not been the case, as Butler has become one of the best corners in football, and is now embroiled in a contract dispute with New England.

Butler stands even shorter than Arrington, but has the fiestiness and competitiveness required of a press corner, and the requisite springs in his legs to challenge along the sidelines.  In that manner, Butler is the perfect slot corner, and it is that same nastiness and athleticism that makes him a pretty damn good wing corner as well - and maybe that's what Belichick was thinking when he brought in lengthy corner Stephon Gilmore from the Buffalo Bills.

Together with like-sized (6' 1") third-year man Eric Rowe, the Patriots suddenly have two big, capable fly corners, and having Butler play in the slot - the Patriots are primarily is a base nickel or Big Nickel about three-quarters of the time - would give New England one of the best, if not the best, corner tandems in the NFL.

Of course, having Butler in the slot plays right into his strengths, and would produce some eye-popping numbers insofar as passes defended, interceptions and tackles - he has the physicality, quick-twitch athleticism and jack-in-the-box springs to cover taller receivers without breaking stride, though many only look at his work on the outside as dismiss him as a capable - perhaps elite - slot corner.

Last season, the Patriots had Rowe and Butler on the outside with Logan Ryan in the slot to form one of the better secondaries in the league, but now that Ryan has gone on to play for the Tennessee Titans for $10 million a year, the cupboard is bare of proven slot corners.

The list of candidates that currently reside on the roster hardly causes opposing offensive coordinators sleepless nights, as names like Justin Coleman and Jonathan Jones are mainly special teamers and former second-round pick Cyrus Jones melted down like the wicked witch of the west in his rookie campaign, though his skill set matches exactly what New England looks for in their slot men.

And that may be the plan, as Butler's resistance to playing nice with his restricted free agent tender has cast some ambiguity on the depth chart, due to his insistence on getting paid big bucks now instead of waiting until 2018, when he could rake in millions on the open market.

Cyrus Jones started slowly at Alabama and gradually became one of the best shutdown corners in college ball, not to mention it's premier punt returner.  Patriots' fans will all tell you that Jones started very slowly in his professional career as well, particularly as a return man, fumbling away five of his 18 touches in the kicking game and eventually being benched by Belichick.

But if history holds, Jones should begin to display his wares in season two.  Jones' background in football was as a wide receiver, making the transition to cornerback in his sophomore year with the Crimson Tide and contributing in his Junior season after a frightful sophomore campaign, so a blueprint for Jones does exist.

Coleman (5' 11", 185) is slightly under-sized for the slot on the professional level, but gets by on hand fighting underneath and touch tackling in run support, while Jonathan Jones is even smaller but with elite speed that makes him a core-four special teamer.

Neither of those guys are the long-term answer, and if Cyrus Jones doesn't lick it into high gear, he won't be either - but Patriots' fans needn't fret, as Belichick does have a couple of options, the first of which is to retain Butler by either matching any offer sheet that comes his way or to offer his a long-term contract themselves, though Belichick is not the kind of guy to surrender leverage to a player just for the sake of keeping him around...

...nor is he the kind of guy that signs someone in free agency out of desperation, which is what it would appear to be if he did something weird like offer a deal to apparently washed up fly corner Darrelle Revis, as media-generated rumors have been suggesting.

Revis has the size and the length to compete in the slot, and was thought of as a nickel back coming out of college and some even suggested that he would make a better safety due to his innate instinctual ability to visualize a play unfolding in front of him - but Belichick nixed that notion after the 2014 season when he told Revis that his skill set didn't translate to safety in the Patriots scheme.

That doesn't mean that his skill set wouldn't translate to safety elsewhere, just not in New England where the predominant defensive look is in the nickel package, usually with a third safety instead of a third cornerback - a scheme that calls for a box safety to become, essentially, a weakside linebacker, a free safety to become a slot corner and a combination safety to become the football equivalent of a centerfielder.

Of course, Belichick could have just been telling Revis that because he didn't want to re-sign him to a big-money contract just to convert him to safety when his value had always been as a shutdown, fly corner - so Revis went onto his original team in New York, who signed him to a five-year, $70 million contract only to watch his skills diminish to the point that there are now general managers around the league who claim that they wouldn't sign him for free.

The draft offers a few names that may help, such as Michigan's Jourdan Lewis, Florida's Quincey Lewis and Colorado's Chidobe Awusie, though Belichick is far more likely to draft a box safety like Louisville's Josh Harvey-Clemons to compete with the disappointing Jordan Richards or to prepare for the end of the line for long-time starter Patrick Chung.

So what would be the best scenario for the Patriots would be to get restricted free agent Butler to sign his first-round tender that will guarantee him $4 million for this season, then work towards a long-term deal during the season or prepare a rookie to take his place if he hits unrestricted free agency after the season.

Judging from the lack of movement towards a rumored deal with the New Orleans Saints for Butler - due to what can only be described as either a disagreement between the teams for compensation for the corner or a lack of salary cap space in New Orleans, or both - it appears that the Patriots will have the proper leverage to coax another year out of Butler...

...but wouldn't preclude a pre-draft or even a mid-season deal between the teams for Butler's services - but Patriots' fans can rest assured that Belichick won't leave his secondary devoid of a proper slot corner, whatever happens.

Butler, Agent's Impatience Could Mean Patriots' Secondary Looking Much Different

Malcolm Butler was Pro Football Focus's number three-rated coverage cornerback in the entire National Football League last season, and with him in the lineup, the New England Patriots' secondary was rated the third-best in the National Football League.

Coincidence?  Hardly, but one also has to take into account that free safety Devin McCourty earned the title of top coverage safety in the league, while centerfielder Duron Harmon ranks second only to Seattle's Earl Thomas as the best single-high safety in professional football - not to mention that erstwhile slot corner Logan Ryan graded out as a top-ten coverage man at that spot.

But while Ryan has moved on to play with McCourty's twin brother in Tennessee, the remainder of the aforementioned top-three secondary is intact, with former Buffalo Bill Stephon Gilmore adding his press-man ability to that mix, a move that was underwhelming Patriots' fans, given the money he was offered and the potential backlash in the locker room.

That backlash comes in the form of Butler, who has been rumored by one source to be terribly frustrated by the Gilmore contract, and said to be looking forward to working with Gilmore by another.  It all has all the sounds of either a megalo-maniacal agent gone rogue or a collective of mother hen beat writers trying to generate page views - or both.

At the center of all of the madness is Huntsville, Alabama attorney Derek Simpson, who considers being a sports agent a hobby and a part-time job and whose only client is Butler.  The two have formed a fast friendship, which is fortunate for Simpson, because if he didn't have Butler as a client, he would have lost his certification as an agent this coming summer as NFL rules specify that an agent must have at least one client in the NFL for three consecutive years.

Simpson once gave Butler some advice, telling him to take two post-it notes and fix them to his bathroom mirror - one had the number "3" written on it to represent the average length, in years, of an NFL career, and the other had the floating decimal "78.8", which represents the percentage of former NFL players who eventually file for bankruptcy.

Sage advice to be sure, but Butler's path to the big time dictated that he had to start small, as in rookie minimum salary, and work his way into a bigger contract that could be the start of life-long financial security, a start that began with the Patriots placing a first-round tender on the restricted free agent, a marker that was scheduled to pay him just shy of $4 million in 2017.

That may have been enough for Butler had the Patriots not opened the vault for Gilmore, who earned his bones through five years in Buffalo as a first-round draft pick who had to wait for the Bills to pick up his fifth-year option in 2016 before he made any heavy money.

And that's the rub.  Rookie salaries are capped in the NFL, and depending on where a player is drafted, the cap is either higher or lower - and as the tenth overall pick in the 2012 NFL draft, Gilmore was capped at a four-year total of $12 million, fully guaranteed, with most of that ($7.2 million) locked up in a signing bonus which made him an instant millionaire.

Last season on the fifth-year option, which is available only to players who were selected in the first round of the draft, Gilmore made transition tag money, totaling just over $11 million, all the while holding out of OTA's in protest of not being signed to a long-term extension by the Bills.  As it turns out, the Bills offered Gilmore a five-year deal worth $10.5 million per season, but he turned it down, wanting "Josh Norman" money...

...and while he fell short of Josh Norman's contract, what he got from New England was close enough to what the Bills offered him to wonder if Gilmore didn't just want to get out of the losing culture in Bufalo.

Lesson being, although he bitched and railed about money, Gilmore had to wait to get the contract he desired, while Butler and his agent seem to not want to take things as they come - which is unfortunate, as a Butler-Gilmore-Rowe trifecta in the standard nickle package probably would have been the top unit in all of football.

But pending a trade being worked out between the Patriots and Saints, the question looms: what's next for the Patriots' secondary?

Assuming that Butler will be gone and knowing that Ryan already is, the top two corner spots will go to Gilmore and Eric Rowe, twin 6' 1" press-man corners with deep speed - though Rowe, a former college safety,  is equally impressive in zone and is better in run support than Gilmore.  Who plays in the single slot is up in the air, but after a disastrous rookie campaign, Cyrus Jones could be the man.

Jones had his issues with ball security and decision making in the return game, fumbling four times and inexplicably failing to dodge a bouncing punt that hit him in the leg - but early trouble seems to be a staple of Jones' game, as are miraculous recoveries.  He's been a cornerback for just three years - his last two seasons in college after making the transition from wide receiver and his rookie season in Foxborough - and has always embraced adversity...

...and lord knows he had plenty of that last season, so Patriots' fans are about to witness either a complete turnaround as a slot corner or a colossal bust.  Beyond Jones is his college nemesis from Auburn, Jonathan Jones, who has blazing speed (4.33) and specializes in -you guessed it - press-man coverage and does his best work in a phone booth, making him a perfect slot man despite his demure (5' 8") frame.

There's also Justin Coleman who has shown promise in limited action, but if none of these three make the nut, the Patriots could spend mid-round draft capital on a corner in the draft.  Free agency?  Well, three of the top corners remaining have played for the Patriots in the recent past as there's no reason to believe the team is interested in bringing any of them back.

The Patriots spent a second round pick on Darius Butler back in 2009, but was waived tow seasons later and after an initial stop in Carolina eventually found a home in Indianapolis.  Sterling Moore had his 15 minutes of fame as a safety, stripping a potential game-winning touchdown out of Baltimore's Lee Evan's hands, helping to send New England to a Super Bowl...

...and Darrelle Revis won a Super Bowl with the Patriots in 2014 - but while many Patriots' fans are ecstatic about Revis beating the rap and becoming available on the open market, the fact of the matter remains that both Malcolm Butler and Brandon Browner had more success in Matt Patricia's  defense down the stretch than the fading Revis did.

He has since put on about 25 pounds and at age 32 is looking for a switch to safety to try and revive and extend his career, but the price tag is too steep even if he was still the owner of the mythical "Revis Island', and he's made a direct pitch to play for his hometown Steelers, putting the Rooney's on the spot.

In short, there are no decent options on the open market other than Gilmore's battery mate in Buffalo, slot corner Nickell Robey-Coleman, who was recently released by the Bills.  Familiarity between Gilmore and Robey-Coleman wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, and would give the Patriots a young (25), coachable slot corner with four years of experience in a phone booth.

But, of course, this is all dependent on Butler leaving for New Orleans as seems destined to happen - whether it does or not, Patriots' fans should know better than to doubt the team building skills of Belichick.

Mail Call! Addressing Patriots' Fans Questions Heading Into The Preseason Opener

Welcome back, professional football!

Foxborough Free Press enters it's fifth season of covering the New England Patriots, and our readership as grown exponentially each year and is now to the point where Patriots' fans know that they will get honest reporting and honest opinion...

...so much so that we have decided to add a forum to our lineup, a weekly article that takes the best questions from our readers on social media and answers them, in-depth and with all due research to ensure that they receive the best possible information.

Heading into Thursday night's preseason opener against the New Orleans Saints, there are naturally many questions, particularly in regard to rookies and free agent pickups who have yet to perform on the field of battle with their fellow Patriots.

There are also many questions about the state of the offensive line, the status of injured players and, of course, the snap count management between quarterbacks Tom Brady and Jimmy Garoppolo, what with Brady being suspended for the first four games of the regular season and Garoppolo needing as many snaps as he can get with the first-team players.

That said, let's dive right in with this week's questions:


Can Dion Lewis come back and be the same player after his ACL tear? - Wayne (New Hampshire)

Lewis has to feel a bit snake bitten, what with injury impacting his past three seasons - but the good news is that after an ACL tear, most athletes come back even stronger than before.  Modern surgical advances combined with decades of trial-and-error on athletes' knees has brought the procedure to the point that the toughest part about returning to the field is overcoming the anxiety that the knee will buckle again.

Lewis' case can be made by the successful return of Jamal Charles, Darrell Revis and Adrian Peterson in recent years, though none of these players carry the title of "Human joystick", not possessed the video game like elusiveness that belong to Lewis.  I would think that the team will be careful with him right up to the first regular season game, then limit his snaps from that point on, since the offense is absolutely loaded.

To answer the question, yes, I do believe he can come back and be the same player.  I don't think the ACL anxiety affects him as much because he also had to deal with coming back from a broken leg two years ago, so he'll be more familiar with the sensations and more apt to let it all hang out.

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Bill always finds one undrafted rookie who makes the roster.  I am wondering who are the 1-3 guys right now that appear they could be that guy? - Pete (California via Pats Fans Pre-Belichick)

Here's the thing: Belichick blew his undrafted load on the third day of the draft, loading up on players that may not have been drafted otherwise, and signed an enormous number of veteran free agents. So currently there are only eight undrafted free agents on the roster, but most are in positions of great depth, leaving their chances of making the squad very long indeed.

For example, there are three UFA cornerbacks competing with five veteran corners and the team's second round draft pick - that's nine players vying for five spots, at most.  Malcolm Butler, Logan Ryan and rookie Cyrus Jones are guaranteed spots, and second year man Justin Coleman is having a fantastic camp.

You see where this is going?  There are two UFA tight ends competing for roster spots that don't even exist.  The only players that have a shot at the final roster - a snowball's chance, but a chance nevertheless - are Tennessee offensive tackle Kyler Kerbyson, who was a second-team All-SEC left tackle as a senior, and Arizona State WR/RB D.J. Foster.

At this point without seeing them perform under game conditions, it's tough to say if any of them have a legit shot, but the math is not in their favor this year.

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What free agents and rookies can we expect to make an impact this year? - Warren (Massachusetts via New England Patriots Nation)

Cornerback Cyrus Jones will make an impact on defense as a second round draft pick, while Ted Karras and/or Joe Thuney will make the biggest splash on offense - because the draft was intentionally a depth draft, no one but Jones and possibly wide receiver Malcolm Mitchell projected to be more than long-range projects.

A name to watch is Kamu Grugier-Hill, a weakisde linebacker prospect from Eastern Illinois that is built like safety Brandon King and plays with a mean streak a mile wide - but as far as immediate impact, there is just too much veteran presence to really hope for much out of the rookie class.

And the reason for this was simple: Belichick simply went off in free agency, loading up with starting quality talent. Tight end Martellus Bennett was the biggest signing, and he will team with Rob Gronkowski to scare the bejesus out of defensive coordinators.  Defensively, tackle Terrance Knighton and hybrid edge setter Shea McClellin will find a niche and rush tackle Markus Kuhn could surprise.

As with everything else heading into the first preseason game, there is much that is unknown about many of the players, but we should know a lot more after the first two contests.

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Brady, as we know, is suspended for the first four games of the season.  How does BB use the quarterbacks?  It's important to get Jimmy G. his reps, especially with the first team.  How much does he play Brady, and do you risk his health playing him with the second string? - Ken (New Jersey via Pats Fans Pre-Belichick)

Is Tom Brady playing in any of the preseason games? - Denise (via New England Patriots' Nation)

Most assuredly, Brady will play, but not tonight.

The issue that is unique to the Patriots' preseason games is that Belichick has to find a way to get both he and Garoppolo snaps with the first team players and playing behind a cohesive offensive line.

What is also unique with the Patriots in the preseason, however, is that they have so many quality players in the skill positions that both quarterbacks will get snaps with all of them at some point - and it's really not going to matter who starts.  Belichick could run a pro set, 11 personnel offense, splitting reps between Gronkowski and Bennett, one of several backs (Gaffney being the man I want to see run) and three wide receivers.

The line will be the only question mark, and that is just because they may not have enough healthy bodies to rotate in and out, and the players who start will most likely play deep into the games.

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Who most likely steps into Rob Ninkovich's role on the defensive line in Week 1? - Jake (Texas via Pats Fans Pre-Belichick)

I think that it's going to take a team effort to fill Nink's shoes.  As we've outlined many times, Ninkovich is essentially the soul of this defense.  When Belichick says do your job to Nink, that means to pressure the quarterback, but to also use his veteran guile and natural intuition to know when to break off his pass rush to disrupt the screen game and to set the hard edge in the running game.

So I can see Shea McClellin filling in on the early downs, with Chris Long playing the situational pass rusher.  Both players have their weaknesses, with Long being the most limited of the two, as he has had difficulty in setting the edge.

It's really too early to make this call, but I'm sure Belichick would love to see Trey Flowers snatch that role away from the veterans.

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What is the word on injuries with Edelman and Gronk? - Lynn (Maine via Pats Fans Pre-Belichick)

Edelman is day to day with some phantom numbness and pin-and-needle sensation related to his foot surgery, while Gronk is full speed ahead.

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Brady and Clipboard Jimmy have a lot of weapons to move the ball, but those weapons are useless without an O-line to give them time to pass or open running lanes. How much of an improvement will we see in the line this year with Dante Scarnecchia back as the line coach? - Scott (Rhode Island)

What have we learned about the offensive line thus far? - William (Massachusetts via New England Patriots Nation)

Well, we've learned that in camp there have been no starters from last season who are working with the first team, with the exception of David Andrews.  Much of that has to do with lingering injuries, but it is also to be remembered that Dante Scarnecchia prefers his interior linemen to be tough, mean and, seemingly, undrafted.

Players like Josh Kline, Shaq Mason, Ted Karras and Andrews are Scar's type of players - dirty street fighters. He's trying to get way from the finesse of the zone blocking scheme and go to a more physical drive or wall blocking scheme, for which he needs tough guys that like to mix it up.  He has that in Sebastian Vollmer at right tackle as well, but what we are going to see on Thursday night is a rag tag group of players that may be considered depth now, but may end up with roster spots.

In the end, we may see something along the lines of what the team had when Mankins, Wendell and Connolly shored up the middle, especially if Mason lives up to his enormous potential.

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We lost Chandler Jones, who has led the team's pass rush the last few years.  We also lost Akiem Hicks who provided a boost down the stretch.  We gained Chris Long and Pot Roast among others. How do you feel that the Patriots will attack the opponent's offense this season? Will they lean on the linebackers more? Will they look to attack more from the inside? - Rick (New Brunswick via Pats Fans Pre-Belichick)

You hit the nail on the head with the last two questions.

The role of the defensive ends in the Patriots' defense has always been to set the hard edge in the running game first - Chandler Jones couldn't do that, but now Belichick has a virtual plethora of players on the edge who can, and the presumptive starters, currently injured Rob Ninkovich and rising star Jaball Sheard, can do it all.

But their jobs will be to funnel everything the opponent throws at them in the running game to the inside, where the bigger bodies await.  There has been speculation that the Patriots are dumping their traditional three-tech defensive tackles in favor of bigger bodied nose tackle types who will both occupy double teams in the Patriots four man front, keeping the guards off of the linebackers.

This is the key to the entire defense.  If the guards are kept off of the linebackers, and the tackles occupy double teams, it allows the linebackers to flow to the ball, in many instances, blowing up the play before it gets a chance to develop.  I seriously doubt you will see a dominating pass rusher with double-digit sack totals, rather, you are apt to see a couple of players hammer out seven or eight sacks and a bunch more between two and six.

In other words, in this defense dominated by the 4-2-5 Big Nickle alignment, the pressure on the quarterback could come from anywhere - and judging from how the alignment performed down the stretch last season, we could see a dominating defense that masks their coverages and intent so as to confuse protection schemes.


Have a question for our staff? Simply go to our Facebook page and pose your query on the pinned post at the top of the page.  We will accommodate as many questions as we can!

Reloading The Musket, Part 8 - Cyrus "The Virus" Jones Completes Elite Patriots' Secondary

His nickname might be Clamp Clampington now, but once opposing receivers get a load of rookie cornerback Cyrus Jones, they are going to call him something far more foreboding.

Say hello to Cyrus the Virus.

Far from being the murderous thug portrayed in the cliche'-filled film Con Air, Jones is loved by teammates, loathed by receivers and is the maker of highly circumspect signal callers. Typical of New England Patriots' cornerbacks in that he has less than ideal measurables - giving up several inches to today's taller receivers - Jones makes up for that with excellent technique, ball skills and run support.

All of the Patriots defensive backs are competitive, but none of them except Jones could be considered downright antagonistic. Known for his aggression against receivers on the field and his combative tweets on social media, Jones has actually toned down his reaction to adversity and has been able to mask his on-field emotions to a degree...

...which is fortunate, because growing up even missing a tackle was cause for Jones to become inconsolable. "Some people on the outside couldn't understand. 'Why is he crying? Why does he want the ball all the time?" said his father, Cyrus Sr. "Hopefully now, they can see why."

The coaches at Alabama saw why, as did opposing quarterbacks and receivers and so, apparently, did Patriots' head ball coach and defacto general manager Bill Belichick who used top draft capital on Jones, bringing him in to join the likes of Malcolm Butler, Logan Ryan, Devin McCourty, Pat Chung and Duron Harmon in New England's secondary...

...an already top-ranked secondary according the folks at Pro Football Focus, who slotted them at number three in the entire National Football League, with the caveat that all they were missing was an effective nickle corner, then stating, "They hope to have improved the position with the selection of Cyrus Jones..."

A former wide receiver who transitioned to the cornerback role in college, Jones has exceptional ball skills and impeccable timing, plus has the field vision to become the Patriots' primary punt returner as proven by his four returns for touchdowns for the Crimson Tide last season, his only college season with that responsibility - meaning that his potential is virtually untapped.

The really scary thing for opposing offensive coordinators is that the Patriots have achieved such a lofty status despite having one of the youngest starting secondaries in the NFL at just over 25 years of age on average - the elder statesmen being Chung and McCourty, both at just 28 years old - and with a full stable of young greyhounds learning the ropes behind them, the future is just as bright as the present, if not more so.

The trio of safeties on the back end comprise the best Big Nickle squad in the game.  Harmon patrolling the the deep zone with the range of a speedy centerfielder allows McCourty - a former first round selection as a cornerback - and Chung to reduce down into the five-yard buffer off the line of scrimmage to act as a nickle corner and a weakside linebacker, respectively, McCourty helping out on outside receivers while Chung focuses on the running back.

Combined with the bulk of the front four taking on interior double teams and setting a hard edge on the outside, this alignment allows for the strong side linebacker to mirror the tight end and for the middle linebacker to read and react to the ball - the result of which provided the Patriots with a top ten defense last season - and it's only going to get better.

Because of the success of the alignment, Belichick will likely keep six safeties on the roster for a second consecutive season, limiting the roster spots for the true cornerbacks.

McCourty, Chung and Harmon are givens, as is second-year strong safety Jordan Richards, who is an insurance policy against any free agency defections next offseason, but the depth behind these four is a matter of some conjecture, as the last two slots traditionally go to special teams' mavens.

Last season, those went to Olympic Rugby player Nate Ebner and former Auburn "star" linebacker Brandon King, both of whom more than made a case for continuation in those roles in 2016, which is bad news for the fringe players vying for a spot on the 53 - the one exception could be rookie Kamu Grugier-Hill, who played weakside linebacker in college, but has the speed and athleticism to make the team as a Chung-like Big Nickle...

...though he could likely count against the linebacker depth chart.  Regardless, the limitations on the roster spots could again leave the team with just four corners - and with Butler, Ryan and Jones locks to make the roster, that leaves just one spot open amid a glut of potential candidates.

The smart money would be on either Justin Coleman or Darryl Roberts, both second year players with off-the-charts intangibles.

Roberts broke a bone in his wrist and landed on the Patriots' IR last preseason which, in retrospect, allowed the team to keep him around rather than expose him to waivers at the end of camp - a sure cut who needed a year of technique work and refinement, not to mention getting his skinny butt into the weight room, and the team took advantage of all of that once his injury healed.

The Marshall product has elite speed (4.38), loose hips to charge direction on a dime and rocket launchers in his legs to get to high balls, but he also had bad habits that needed to be corrected, such as mugging receivers well into their pattern, drawing laundry from the referees.

As a result of injuries to Roberts and others, the rookie Coleman got plenty of opportunity to display his wares as a nickle corner, logging five passes defended and 21 tackles in his ten games with New England in 2015 - this despite less-than-prototypical speed.  What set the Tennessee product apart from his contemporaries was his quickness underneath, something he displayed in abundance at the scouting combine...

...notching top grades in the twenty and sixty yard shuttles as well as the three cone drill.  Coleman bounced around early in the season between Minnesota, Seattle and Foxborough, but eventually settled in with the Patriots and held up well.

In many ways, Jones is a compendium of those two second year players: He doesn't carry Roberts' fast wheels, but does display a penchant for punking receivers, and he didn't blow up the pre-draft process like Coleman did, instead displaying incredibly normal athleticism - but when he punks the receiver, he does so within the five-yard mugging zone that corners are allowed to have contact with them.

This is his main attribute.  His ability to fight in the legal zone and intimidate pass catchers with his aggressive posture, excellent play strength and nasty attitude are key, but the fact that he transitioned from wide receiver at Alabama to the other side of the ball in his sophomore season gives him a unique insight into the head of a pass catcher, making it easy for him to get under their skin.

His game is intimidation, and once he gets under a receiver's skin there is no cure for him - there is no antibiotic to inject them with, no salve to calm their savage rash, not even a magical elixer to treat the symptoms.  Receivers are just going to have to let Cyrus the Virus run his course and just hope that the next time they meet, they can wash their hands of him.