The New England Patriots will need a pair of rookies to step on defense after the departures of their top veterans.
It’s up to Anfernee Jennings and Josh Uche to help replace Dont’a Hightower, an opt-out from COVID-19, and free agency departures Kyle Van Noy, Jamie Collins and Elandon Roberts. New England picked Uche in the second round out of Michigan and Jennings in the third round out of Alabama. It was clear immediately that the Patriots would try to see if they could do everything: outside linebacker and inside linebacker. That’s a lot of material to cover, so New England started teaching the rookies as soon as they could, according to outside linebackers coach Steve Belichick. He said they’ve made “a ton of progress” in learning both roles.
“Those players do have a good degree of flexibility,” Bill Belichick said Tuesday. “They showed that in college and they’ve shown that here in camp. How it actually plays out, obviously remains to be seen. We’ll have a plan. We’ll have an idea of how we think it will go, or the areas that we want to use them and that may change from week to week and so forth.”
In other words: The Patriots have seen the rookies play up to the team’s high standard of play at every linebacker spot. So long as that good play continues, they’ll keep playing at every spot. If the players need to specialize, that’s what the Patriots will do.
“They’ve been doing everything we ask them to do. We ask a lot of our players to do a lot in terms of versatility and being able to handle multiple roles,” Steve Belichick said Tuesday. “Those guys work hard in the meetings, trying to pick up everything that we’ve put on their plate. … They’ve spent time working outside, working inside, covering, rushing. Everything that we ask our linebackers to do, we’ve put on their plate, and we’ll see what they can handle.”
Hightower, Van Noy and Collins were versatile enough to play all over the defensive front. That kind of experience and versatility should prove hard to replace. But perhaps the Patriots have a rookie group that can help carry the load, even after tremendous turnover at the heart of New England’s defense.
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