Well this is a bummer, the Patriots released Dominque Easley today, their first round pick from 2014 who I was all over in the draft process. Of course this is a shocking move. Easley had injury concerns in college and those carried over into the pros, with both of his first two seasons ending on IR, but the current speculation is that it was more about his off-the-field behavior that precipitated him being cut.
When the Pats selected Easley it signaled somewhat of a departure for them. In the past, the Pats were more often a two-gapping defensive tackle team and Easley was not a two-gapper. He was a pure one-gapper with a superlative get off. That’s what you need on defense now, especially when you’re playing three-quarters of your snaps with more than four defensive backs on the field.
I saw some speculation that the release could signal another shift in scheme, but I don’t buy that anymore than I bought Revis and Browner walking meant the Pats were going to more zone coverage. Again, if we’re talking about the old “base” defense, it’s maybe 20% of the snaps. That’s not where games are won or lost. They’re won or lost against the pass, and that’s why you can’t have a bunch of two-gappers at defensive tackle now. You need variation, especially with your third-and-long personnel. You’re not cutting a first round pick because you don’t think you need pass rushers anymore.
So this all confirms that this is indeed about off the field issues. Here are a smattering of tweets that have come in, giving us an idea of what the Pats were no longer willing to put up with.
Dominique Easley facing lawsuit in Palm Beach County from Wiley Brown alleging that Easley’s dog bit him, caused injuries, seeking damages
— Aaron Wilson (@AaronWilson_NFL) April 13, 2016
Regarding Easley, there is no one incident that led to release. Call it philosophical differences on following injury programs, etc
— Tom E. Curran (@tomecurran) April 13, 2016
Easley’s knees are in pretty bad shape, and there’s not a lot of room for improvement, per source. Still stunning timing for his release.
— Jeff Howe (@jeffphowe) April 13, 2016
With the great rookie season of Malcom Brown and the retention of Alan Branch with the signing of Terrence Knighton, the Pats are still okay depth-wise at defensive tackle, but I’d still love to see them add an upfield element for their pass rush packages. Chris Jones could be in for an interesting re-birth after missing all of 2015. He’s the on-roster player I see most impacted by this release.
The good news is that this is an excellent defensive tackle class, with great fits for the Pats schematically, but this opens up a new line of thinking in the draft with a specific need.
Still, it will be interesting to see what Easley does whenever he’s picked up by a new team. It’s hard not to immediate label him the biggest disappointment of Bill Belichick’s draft career with the Patriots. That’s partially because my own expectations and excitement were so high when they selected him. But that’s what the draft is, a crap shoot that you have to take some big swings on, the same way they did with Rob Gronkowski.
This was a big swing, and unfortunately, a big miss.