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Tweets of Note from Tuesday’s Patriots Minicamp Practice

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Many themes of the offseason are continuing but the headline has to be the progress of Wilfork and Kelly. Doesn’t mean they won’t still end up on PUP, but their presence in 11-on-11 work can’t be taken as anything but a positive.

Patriots Film Study: Duron Harmon, Patrick Chung Vie For Starting Safety Role | New England Patriots | NESN.com

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Patriots Film Study: Duron Harmon, Patrick Chung Vie For Starting Safety Role | New England Patriots | NESN.com

Good comparison read from Doug Kyed. I really liked what I saw out of Harmon last year. Good size, range and solid tackling. As for Chung, he was a PatsProp favorite during his time in NE the first time, but as a free safety he was not at his best. Unfortunately his size and play temperament don’t match up and result has been a lot of injuries for him. If he’s kept in the box he brings an aggressive downhill approach, but his range is not ideal for the back end.

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Revis is a good player and I’m glad we have him,” he said. “We’ll keep working with him. There is still a lot for him to learn in a new system and all that. But he’s a very experienced and accomplished player and we’ll just try to fit him in to the things we’re doing, both individually and collectively and his other teammates in the secondary, especially once we get into multiple defensive back groups – with five, six, however many are on the field at the same time, there is a lot of communication and adjustments and things like that involved too. He’s worked hard and done fine.

Bill Belichick on minicamp and more – New England Patriots Blog – ESPN Boston

https://www.patspropaganda.com/belichick-revis-2/

Are you surprised with the lack of reps Marcus Cannon is receiving at Guard? He filled in nice for Vollmer at tackle last year and is clearly a quality runs blocker.

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Not really, I know the speculation was that Cannon was headed for guard when he arrived but in my view he’s settled in a swing tackle who could play guard if needed to. He brings a lot of value, but I no longer think he’s going to be a long-term guard and that’s okay. The real question now is how well could he play left tackle in a pinch? The release of RJ Mattes last week puts Cannon a little bit more in the forefront as a swing backup.

Any ideas about how the Pats defensive schemes might change with the changes in personnel? Collins/Anderson for Spikes/Fletcher, additions of Revis/Browner, Easley — even McCourty from CB to S — all seem like attempts to counter high flying passing attacks (most obviously the Broncos). Wondering whether we’ll see some schematic changes as well.

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I think the most interesting place to start has to be at linebacker. As mentioned yesterday in Mike Reiss’ notes, Hightower has seen sometime at WLB which would put him closer to the line of scrimmage which is really where I think he’s best. 

General consensus was that he’d move to Mike to replace Spikes in base, but I think we all agree that Hightower isn’t exactly the ideal Mike linebacker in coverage.

The Pats scheme has been a hybrid defensively, so it’s hard to put things into a neat box. They will evolve again this year, and if that means Mayo goes to Mike it give the defense some new twists.

First, Mayo is the best coverage linebacker and has the best speed. So if you’re really looking to take away the seam routes, he’s the best bet there. Hightower and Collins being closer to the line of scrimmage where they can use their size and speed to not only disrupt receivers at the line but also get after the quarterback makes a lot sense.

The weakness could  be up the middle though, where Mayo doesn’t have the ideal stopping power you’d want against teams that run up the gut a lot. Of course, they could always shift to a 3-4 against those teams and put Hightower in the middle where he would be effective against the run.

As for the defensive line and secondary, there’s just a ton of versatility and different tools for each game plan. It’s hard to really say what they WILL do, but the CAN do just about anything.

The only thing they really lack is a true strong safety but they’ve been moving away from that for years. The safety depth chart should really just be one single depth chart and the top two play. McCourty and Harmon can both do just about everything, but most importantly, both can play in space and have good range. You need that more than a thumping box safety now.

Sensing a trend…

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They knew what they wanted to do and went out and got the best players available, and some of the best players in the football league to do what they need them to do. I think they’re going to have specific roles for each one of them, specific role for Darrelle and specific role for Brandon that is going to allow their talent to shine. I think they’ll definitely be a top 2, top-3 secondary in football.

| Boston Herald

Don’t tease me, Sherm…

https://www.patspropaganda.com/patriots-defense-blog/