https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=db8ySqPgjRg
The Patriots made a second trade with the Seahawks on Saturday, shipping a fifth- and seventh-round draft pick to them for defensive end and special teams player Cassius Marsh.
This move might not have had the flash of the Phillip Dorsett trade but it might have even more impact on the team. Yes, Marsh has the prerequisite special teams pedigree but he’s also developing into a solid pass rusher on third downs and that’s a role the Pats were obviously light at ever since losing Derek Rivers to a torn ACL.
But what I like most about the early word about Marsh is what an all-out effort and general pain in the ass kind of player he is. Honestly, that’s what I thought the defense most lacked this season without guys like Ninkovich, Long and Sheard. Their inexperience on the edge was obvious and none of those players outside of Dont’a Hightower and Alan Branch strike much fear into opponents. Solid football players of course, but not many in the mold of Mike Vrabel, the kind of guys who made life hell for the offensive players they lined up across.
Marsh seems like he could be that kind of guy. Plug him into special teams and let him get his feet wet, then throw him out there off the edge on obvious passing downs and let him develop. This was a solid and needed move, and one that could pay then most dividends of all the Patriots trades in recent days.
