Looking at the Patriots - 2020

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chevss454 said:
And he needed to learn to use his hands more effectively in concert with foot speed. Getting off the LOS means not wasting time on too much of either. Flashback to Kenbrell Thompkins...he was great off the LOS...he was tutored by his cousin, Antonio Brown.
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Loved me some Kenbrell.
 
chevss454 said:
And he needed to learn to use his hands more effectively in concert with foot speed. Getting off the LOS means not wasting time on too much of either. Flashback to Kenbrell Thompkins...he was great off the LOS...he was tutored by his cousin, Antonio Brown.
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Where’d he end up?
 
patfan64 said:
:frown:
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That was serious.

Is he on somewhere or out of the league?

---------- Post added at 11:38 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:37 AM ----------
EasyBigFella said:
Good for him. Happy he made the right choice.
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Caving to left cancel culture pressure is NOT the right decision in anything.

If he did it because he didn’t like it it’s the right decision.
 
Dwight Schrute said:
That was serious.

Is he on somewhere or out of the league?

---------- Post added at 11:38 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:37 AM ----------



Caving to left cancel culture pressure is NOT the right decision in anything.

If he did it because he didn’t like it it’s the right decision.
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I have no idea where Kenbrell ended up. When he caught that game winner against the Saints, I was hooked.
 
PFF ranks the Pats' OL 7th. Colts are 1st followed by Saints, Cowboys, Packers, Ravens and Browns. Tampa Bay is 13th.



AFC, Bills 18th, Jete 27 and Dolphins 32nd.

7. New England Patriots

The Patriots finished 10th in our 2019 rankings, and they should have a unit capable of cracking the top 10 once again. Left tackle Isaiah Wynn has played just 563 snaps after being drafted in the first round in 2018 and graded out at 70.7 overall last year, good for 34th among 89 tackles. Wynn got off to a good start in what was essentially his rookie season and showed he was capable in pass protection with a 75.0 grade. Right tackle Marcus Cannon has graded at 70.0-plus over the past four years, though last season’s 70.1 mark is his lowest during that span. He has developed into one of the more dependable right tackles in the league after turning his career around in 2016 with an 86.6 grade that tied for sixth among all tackles.
On the inside, left guard Joe Thuney has improved his grade in every season since entering the league in 2016. He finished with a 79.2 overall mark in 2019, good for fifth among guards. Thuney graded out at 88.0 as a pass protector, allowing just 17 pressures on 732 attempts after improving his ability to handle power players. Right guard Shaq Mason is one of the better run blockers in the league, capable of collapsing defenders at the line of scrimmage or locating them on the move. Mason’s 86.9 overall grade since 2016 ranks fifth among guards.
At center, David Andrews returns after missing all of 2019 due to injury. Andrews has graded at 67.0 or better in each year as a starter from 2015 to 2018, including a career-high 82.1 mark in 2017. While the starting five has plenty of experience, New England has an intriguing group of first- and second-year players — including tackles Yodny Cajuste and Justin Herron and guards Hjalte Froholdt and Michael Onwenu. That group gives the Patriots excellent depth and flexibility when building for the future.

https://www.pff.com/news/nfl-offensive-line-rankings-all-32-units-entering-the-2020-nfl-season
 
patfan64 said:
I have no idea where Kenbrell ended up. When he caught that game winner against the Saints, I was hooked.
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He ran a great route and made a sweet catch, But truly imo one of TFB's all-time great and all time clutch throws.


Cheers
 
Dwight Schrute said:
Wow.

Thought we had something there.
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Steve1 said:
Here's his NFL record:
https://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/T/ThomKe02.htm

He was just o.k. (he was just a rookie), but he caught that game winner vs. the Saints in 2013.
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Me, too. He performed better and more consistently than Dobson despite Dobson being force fed because of him being a high pick. BB should have kept Thompkins and traded Dobson.



Learning a new offensive system isn't easy and often takes the 2nd or 3rd year before a guy really gets it. Once he got into that "signed in March & released in August" pattern with other teams I knew his days were numbered. That's a hard rut to climb out of for a WR - so much to learn and competing against those who already know the playbook.
 
From Jeff Howe The Athletic

Leftovers from his articles on teh rookies

Part 1
After rolling out 11 feature stories on the Patriots’ draft picks and undrafted free agents in recent weeks, here’s a hodgepodge of notes and quotes that were left stranded on the cutting room floor.
We hope you enjoy this array of leftovers, which just couldn’t fit into the stories but are entertaining enough for various reasons to unveil here.
1. First, for selfish purposes, it’s time for a tally. Those 11 features included 43 phone interviews that spanned a total of 14 hours (to the exact minute). From those interviews, I transcribed 41,391 words of quotes. And the 11 feature stories included 27,390 words. So over the course of six weeks, that amounted to 68,781 written words. (For reference, my 276-page book was approximately 80,000 words.) That word count doesn’t even include this leftovers story or a couple other spinoffs, such as the way Bill Belichick relies on Nick Saban and Chip Kelly during the draft process, which would have pushed that word count closer to 75,000 words.
Kyle Dugger

Round 2. Pick No. 37. Safety.
2. There are some real underdog stories among the Patriots’ draft class. Dugger didn’t receive a single scholarship offer from a Division I school. Dustin Woodard accepted his only one. And Cassh Maluia didn’t have an offer until the conclusion of his high school career.
3. David Cole, who was an assistant coach at Division II Lenoir-Rhyne, fondly recalled the way Dugger used to routinely bring a sausage melt into every morning meeting. Dugger meticulously unwrapped it, spread it with jelly, closed it back up to marinate for 15 minutes and then reopened it to eat it.
“It used to crack me up every time,” Cole said.
4. Cole recalled his first conversation with Dugger in 2016: “We came down here to replace Ian Shields’ staff. The first time I called Kyle – because we got down here and the kids left for Christmas break, and one of the (graduate assistants) told me to call Kyle Dugger because he was a very good football player – I just remember he had the deepest voice on the phone. It sounded like I was talking to Barry White, man. I got off the phone and was like, that guy’s voice is super deep for being 19, 20 years old.”
5. Drew Cronic, who was the Lenoir-Rhyne head coach from 2018-19, remembered one of his first impressions of Dugger: “Dave (Cole) was telling me (Dugger) was a pretty good punt returner. I’m like, ‘Yeah, OK, whatever.’ You don’t think about a guy like that (with that size being a good punt returner). I turned on the film and was like, oh OK.
“First of all, I would never punt him the ball. You know that moment when you can tell, ‘Oh gosh, they punted it to him?’ You can feel the air get sucked out of the stadium. Everyone starts standing up. Anytime he caught a punt, it was a threat. You could just feel it. What’s this guy getting ready to do? He’s getting ready to do something amazing.”
Josh Uche

Round 2. Pick No. 60. Linebacker.
6. Michigan defensive coordinator Don Brown was asked how Uche’s style compared to Chase Winovich: “I think (Uche) is a little more shifty inside. He can give you that COD – change of direction – where I think Chase is very effective on the outside. Josh is, too, but with all the linebacker stuff we did with him over the last two years, he has become a really good linebacker-type of blitzer as well as an edge rusher.”
7. Michigan offensive line coach Ed Warinner, who joined the program after a stint at Ohio State, praised Uche and Winovich: “Chase and Uche practiced as hard as anybody I’ve ever coached against in practice. Joey Bosa practiced like that, too. Those guys are good because they work at it.”
Anfernee Jennings

Round 3. Pick No. 87. Linebacker.
8. Former Dadeville High School assistant coach Matt Harrison worked with Jennings’ mother, so the two have been friends for a little longer than a decade. Jennings’ mother always expected his best effort in everything he did, and she asked Harrison how Jennings was doing during his freshman season.
“I told her, ‘For him to be able to achieve what he can achieve, he’s going to have to do what I say, and I’ll tell him when he reaches the pinnacle of his athletic ability and his hustle,’” Harrison said. “She said, ‘When do you think that will be?’ I said, ‘I’ll let him know.’ And I still haven’t let him know today.”
Dalton Keene

Round 3. Pick No. 101. Tight end.
9. Virginia Tech tight ends coach James Shibest summed up Keene’s playing style: “I can’t tell you how many times during a game he’d run somebody over. He’s not going to make anybody miss when he’s got the ball, but he’ll try to run right through you. It electrified our sidelines and really the whole environment, the whole crowd. It’s a cool title to have. I wish I had it. It was that tough overall mentality. He’s probably our hardest worker.”
10. Virginia Tech tight end James Mitchell mentioned how much respect the team had for Keene: “Guys know he battled all through that 2018 season with that knee injury and was a great player. He had the surgery (after the season) and was in the weight room squatting 400 pounds before you knew it. He wasn’t going to let anything get in his way as far as the injuries go. He basically had to beg to practice sometimes. He never wanted to come out, but we knew he had to do what was best to keep him (ready) for the games. He was never one to sit out of practice because he was hurt. He always wanted to fight through it. That’s another reason why guys have so much respect for him, including the coaches.”
Cassh Maluia

Round 6. Pick No. 204. Linebacker.
11. Wyoming coach Craig Bohl was asked if Maluia and former quarterback Josh Allen, currently of the Bills, would go back and forth at practice: “This will be one area where Cassh can be really quiet, but once he gets on the field, you’ll hear him perk up quite a bit. I don’t know if the word is that he’ll talk some trash, but he’ll do that. One of them will run over the other one then reach down and try to help him up.
“Josh was a guy like Cassh who wasn’t very heavily recruited but just wanted a chance.”
12. Bohl praised Maluia for choosing to train for the draft in Wyoming so he could complete his classes and graduate.
13. Bohl knew the Patriots were high on Maluia throughout the draft process: “The Patriots have always impressed me as a group that digs a little deeper. They peel back the onion. When he was selected, I knew it wasn’t by chance. They didn’t just take a guy to fill a slot. They had done their research on him, and I think it’ll be a great fit.”
14. Wyoming linebacker Logan Wilson monopolized the program’s pre-draft hype, and he went to the Bengals with the first pick of the third round. But while the team knew Wilson would be a relatively high pick, they were especially excited Maluia got the attention he deserved.
“It was a different level of excitement for Cassh within the team,” Wyoming linebackers coach Aaron Bohl said. “I thought it was awesome that Logan went on day two and Cassh went on day three, so that was Cassh’s day from that perspective. It’s good to see him get the national recognition he deserves. A lot of times, it comes off as Cassh is the other (line)backer even though he had such a great career. It’s good to see his hard work is paying off.”
J’Mar Smith

Undrafted free agent. Quarterback.
15. Louisiana Tech baseball coach Lane Burroughs shared a funny memory of a game at Arkansas Little Rock. Smith watched the game from the dugout alongside Louisiana Tech donor Steve Davison, who has a big-time reputation with the school.
“There was a foul ball hit – I mean, a screamer right at both of them,” Burroughs said. “They both go flying. After the game was over, we won, I said, ‘J’Mar, what would I have taken more heat for, if you had gotten hit in the head off that foul ball, or if Steve got hit?’ He goes, ‘Trust me, coach, it’s Steve. They can replace me. They can’t replace him.’ That’s the sense of humor he’s got.”
16. Tim Rattay, who was primarily in charge of Smith’s recruitment, has a well-known connection to the Patriots. Prior to the 2000 draft, former Pats quarterbacks coach Dick Rehbein worked out Rattay, and Belichick has admitted they liked Rattay – just not as much as Tom Brady.
“I did (hear that),” Rattay said. “You never know with that stuff. I know the only two teams that worked me out at school were the 49ers and the Patriots.”
The 49ers selected Rattay in 2000 with the 212th pick in the seventh round, 13 picks after Brady went to the Patriots. Rattay was asked if he ever wonders what might have happened if the Patriots took him instead.
“Wherever Tom Brady would have went, he would have been Tom Brady,” Rattay said. “I don’t care if he was at New England. I don’t care if he was in Miami. Wherever he was going to go, he was going to be Tom Brady. Obviously, he was around a great coach, a great organization, but Tom Brady was going to be Tom Brady wherever he went.”
Jeff Thomas

Undrafted free agent. Receiver.
17. Former Miami head coach Mark Richt said Thomas’ best route was a deep post with a weave. Thomas had a knack for selling a corner route for three steps and then crossing the defensive back’s face to the post.
“He could do that without losing his speed,” Richt said. “Some guys, they look like they’re running a track, so to speak. Other guys look like they’re actually running the flag route enough to get the safety to turn his hips or get the cornerback to play that route, and then he’d cross his face without slowing down. The guy just can’t recover. He was very good at that type of route.”
Richt said Thomas excelled when he ran routes that would allow him to catch the ball on the move, such as a quick slant, crossing route or bubble screen.
“Hit him on the move, let him keep his speed or be able to square up a guy and make him miss on some of those bubble routes,” Richt said.
18. East St. Louis High School assistant coach Jason Hicks praised Thomas for speaking to the current high schoolers, either on the phone, through texts or on social media. Thomas has relayed advice on how to improve themselves enough to play college football or to simply avoid making the same mistakes that derailed his own path.
“He’s a superstar around here to all of our kids,” Hicks said. “Even the little league kids, they want to be like Jeff Thomas. That No. 4 (that Thomas wore in high school) is a hot commodity in East St. Louis right now, from the little league up to high school. In order to put that on, you have to be ready to step up to that responsibility with that number.”
 
Part 2


Justin Herron

Round 6. Pick No. 195. Offensive tackle.
19. Wake Forest director of football operations Jordan Jarry, who grew up in Nashua, N.H., had high praise for Herron: “You would have him over your house for dinner. If he dated your daughter, you’d be excited. He’s that type of kid. He is very responsible, extremely respectful and well-spoken. He is not some 20-year-old kid. He is a mature adult who handles his business and is respectful of people.”
20. Herron’s Wake Forest bio notes that he played the trumpet in high school, but that was news to Jarry and head coach Dave Clawson. (There’s some discrepancy, as Herron’s high school coach mentioned it was the saxophone. Either way, Herron was definitely in the jazz ensemble at Bullis School.) Neither Jarry nor Clawson had ever even heard Herron mention his music background.
“Honestly, he had never mentioned that to me,” Jarry said. “I don’t know if he thinks we’d tease him about it because usually playing in the band and football doesn’t mix. It doesn’t surprise me one bit to hear that because he is a well-rounded guy. His parents did a good job with him.”
21. Clawson went to Williams College and lived on the same floor as Josh Kraft during his freshman year. Jonathan Kraft was a senior at the time.
“I met Mr. (Robert) Kraft when he was at Williams before he owned a bunch of pro sports teams,” Clawson laughed.
Courtney Wallace

Undrafted free agent. Defensive tackle.
22. I haven’t had a chance to write about Patriots undrafted free agent Courtney Wallace, a defensive tackle from Louisiana Tech. But La. Tech head coach Skip Holtz offered a detailed evaluation of Wallace.
Wallace didn’t start until his redshirt senior season in 2019. He broke his foot in 2016 and then again a second time, so Wallace endured the same strenuous rehab process on two occasions. As a result, the 6-foot-2, 305 pounder struggled with his weight.
A major hypothetical question, for sure, but had Wallace not gone through all of that, could he have been drafted?
“I think he definitely would have had a shot, yes,” Holtz said. “Courtney is probably not the prototypical height, but incredibly powerful, strong football player. He had a problem with his foot. So all of a sudden when you break your foot and you’re a little heavy, how do you lose weight? He really had to be disciplined to overcome it, and then it happened a second time. He really came back motivated and competitive, and he did a great job to get himself in shape and overcoming his injuries.
“Had he not gone through all that, he would have played a much bigger role for us earlier in his career. He didn’t take that step. He was a backup behind (2016 first-round pick) Vernon Butler then a couple other players on the (defensive) line. Courtney was always kind of a contributor, but he has never really been the guy until this year. A lot of that had to do with the number of injuries when he was younger, and he had to get his weight down. He is a powerful guy with a nose-guard body. I’m anxious to see how he is going to do in camp up there.”
Wallace grew up in Monroe, La., which was about a half hour from campus. He returned home to attend church on Sundays and remained involved with his church’s youth groups. Wallace had a passion for helping underprivileged kids and led a step line dance team that traveled to campus to perform for the football team.
“Phenomenal young man,” Holtz said. “He is very much into giving back. He had a group here, underprivileged children in Monroe, whether they didn’t have a father figure in their life or were less fortunate families. He took a lot of them under his wing and got them involved in that and gave them the opportunity to belong to something. He did all that on his own.”
 
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