NFL: Breaking down the 2015 New England Patriots
By Andrew Garda
Secondary
Starters: Logan Ryan, Patrick Chung, Devin McCourty, Malcolm Butler
Depth: Justin Green, Nate Ebner, Tavon Wilson, Bradley Fletcher, Robert McClain, Duron Harmon, Derek Cox, Dax Swanson, Jordan Richards [R], Darryl Roberts [R], Jimmy Jean [R], Brandon King [R]
You don’t lose a guy like Darrelle Revis without taking a hit to the quality of your secondary. If you’re a Patriots fan who has decried what Revis brought to your team, who believes it wasn’t all that vital to your team, you are lying to yourself. (Losing Brandon Browner hurts as well.)
This is not to say all is lost or that this is a bad unit. Neither of those things is true. It’s just unlikely to be as good as it was last year.
Malcolm Butler was last season’s Super Bowl hero, but intercepting an ill-conceived Russell Wilson pass isn’t the limit of his abilities. Butler shouldn’t be judged merely on that pick—that sets unfair expectations. However if you look at his games during the playoff run, he more than filled his role, and did it very well. Is he Darrelle Revis? No, he won’t make you forget Revis. But he is a solid player and should be able to play very well, assuming fans can temper their expectations.
On the other side of the field you’ll see Logan Ryan starting, something he did a little last season with Browner out. It was hit and miss for Ryan, getting lit up in one start against Green Bay but allowing just three touchdowns in 580 snaps played (per Pro Football Focus – subscription required).
It won’t be easy, as there is a lot of talented receivers in the AFC East—Percy Harvin, Brandon Marshall, Kenny Stills and Greg Jennings joining Eric Decker, Jarvis Landry , Sammy Watkins and Robert Woods. Luckily for both Ryan and Butler, the quarterbacks on two of those teams are shaky at best but it will be a test.
They’ll get some help from Patrick Chung and Devin McCourty. McCourty was destined to leave but the Patriots stepped up and signed him to a 5-year extension worth $47.5 million ($28.5 guaranteed). There was some talk he might shift to cornerback (and if Ryan or Malcolm looks awful, it could still happen), but Steve Silva of Boston.com has reported he would prefer not to.
One hopes it doesn’t come to that as McCourty is one of the better cover safeties in the NFL. He’s a tremendous ‘center fielder’ who has eight interceptions over the last three years and is a solid hitter across the middle too.
Once upon a time the words ‘strong safety Patrick Chung’ would have given Patriots fans fits, but after a brief stint in Philadelphia with the Eagles, Chung seemed to return to New England a different player. Pro Football Focus graded him out as the No. 12 best safety in the NFL, finishing third against the run as well. He wasn’t great with the Eagles, but the light switch went on last year.
Depth could be a bit of an issue in this group as well. Justin Green has mostly been on New England or the Dallas Cowboys’ practice squad. Robert McClain was in Atlanta for a while, starting for a bit before his level of play collapsed.
Duron Harmon was supposed to be a starting safety last season, but ended up nothing more than a blip on the radar in 2014.
Bradley Fletcher tends to get picked on by quarterbacks and struggled at times with the Eagles. Tavon Wilson hung onto his roster spot last summer by the skin of his teeth and is mostly a special teams player. Nate Ebner has somehow hung around for three years despite limited ability, but like Wilson is more of a special teams guy. The team signed Derek Cox who played well with the Jacksonville Jaguars, signed a contract with the San Diego Chargers and then literally played himself out of football for a season (he was unemployed in 2014).
Dax Swanson was on the practice squad last season and could be again.
The Patriots picked up four rookies in the 2015 NFL Draft—Jordan Richards, Darryl Roberts, Jimmy Jean, and Brandon King—the most interesting of which is Richards. A second-round pick who many thought would go later, Richards isn’t all that fast and not great in coverage but is a powerful player in the box. Can he develop as a help in coverage or will he just be hell on wheels against the run? Based on where they took him, they’re hoping for the former.
Overall this is a decent group and while it will see a lot of falloff from losing Browner and Revis, the starters should be solid. Like the linebackers, there is some question as to how good the depth is, but overall this is a pretty strong starting secondary with upside behind them.