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Patriots Football Weekly| Analysis: Deaderick released
Brandon Deaderick appeared to be playing his best football toward the end of last season. The former seventh-round draft choice from Alabama was contributing on a regular basis in New England’s defensive line rotation, and even started a half dozen games at defensive tackle. However, that wasn’t enough to stick around, apparently, as the Patriots released the young veteran Monday.
News came via Ian Rapoport today that pass rush specialist Myron Pryor is set to return tomorrow while it looks like Ron Brace is done for the playoffs with an elbow injury.
Losing Brace does hurt the Pats as depth along the line was already thin, so basically they’re becoming a little stronger in pass rush and a little weaker in run stopping.
If the Patriots face the Ravens in the divisional round they probably could use Brace, since the 3-4 defense will surely be used a lot to stop Ray Rice. Although in the first meeting between the two teams the Patriots went with a Deaderick – Warren – Wilfork front. But we haven’t seen much of Deaderick lately.
The good news is that the return of a healthy and rested Brandon Spikes should be a boost to the 3-4 base.
As for Brace it was an up and down season for him, beginning when he couldn’t pass his physical and stayed on PUP for much of training camp. He showed some signs of life at times, namely the fourth down goal line stop against Adrian Peterson, however the games he played most in were the only two losses this season (@ Jets 67%, @ Browns 71%).
With the return of Ty Warren, Brace will likely be in a stiff competition with Deaderick in 2011. For now he can worry about getting his elbow healthy.
Did you know Myron Pryor had a 71-yard fumble return for a TD in college?
Sometimes it’s really amazing how much you miss when you’re watching the game and you’re all caught up in the emotion of it. That’s why I always enjoy watching the DirecTV shortcut to really see where the game was won and lost.
The Defensive Packages page will be updated later today, but for now here are some things that I didn’t notice while watching the game live.
There are two players who really stood out to me the second time through. The first is Brandon Spikes. He’s still a little rough around the edges at times, but most of the time he is making a huge impact in the run game.
Let’s not forget how badly our run defense was gashed against the the Ravens in the playoffs. Now we have a defense that no team has run for a hundred yards on. Spikes has been a huge part of that. He comes downhill hard and often blows offensive lineman backwards. He’s always right in the middle of the plays and that’s exactly what you want from a Mike linebacker in the 34. It has also allowed Jerod Mayo to become a tackling machine.
The second guy I want to point out is Brandon Deaderick. We’ve seen Deaderick’s play time slowly spike over the last few weeks and after having a chance to really focus on him against the Vikings I can see why.
Deaderick is explosive and can play both end positions. He’s used as a pass rusher at times, but he looks like he’s really growing as a two-gapper. Opposing lineman always have their hands full with him and most times he’s tossing them into the backfield.
At a position where the Patriots had major question marks even before Ty Warren was lost, the ascension of Deaderick has been a much-needed boost. It has allowed the Patriots to have a healthy rotation of solid defensive lineman. Gerard Warren barely saw the field until the second half against the Vikings, but when he did he was fresh and ready to keep Adrian Peterson shut down.
Ron Brace has also been showing up well as of late, with the biggest play of his young career coming on the 4th down goalline stand. Seeing a defensive front of Brace-Wilfork-Deaderick for a good chunk of the first half should give Patriots fans optimism heading into the future.
Finally, here’s the defensive lineman snap percentage graph. Brandon Deaderick and Ron Brace… clearly headed in opposite directions.
https://www.patspropaganda.com/finally-heres-the-defensive-lineman-snap/
ProFootballWeekly: Deaderick Gets Some Love
When the Patriots took Brandon Deaderick in the 7th round, a tough, prototypical 3-4 DE with experience playing in a similar system to theirs, I quietly had some high hopes that maybe just maybe he could step in and play. With Ty Warren gone Deaderick is really the only DE on the roster who is built for the 3-4, thought Gerard Warren has shown a lot this year. Just another low round pick making an impact…
Reiss: Five Games, Four Different Defensive Lines
The defensive line was one of the biggest question marks coming into the 2010 season. The only constant has been Vince Wilfork dominating from any of the three positions he plays.
Gerard Warren has been a great addition. I’d love to see the Patriots lock him up past this season. He’s a big, mean, intimidating presence.
Mike Wright can fill in when needed but really his specialty is interior pass rush.
Brandon Deaderick has seemingly surpassed Ron Brace, we’ll see if that continues this weekend. I don’t think they’ve given up on Brace just yet.
Not to look past this year but a front of Ty Warren – Wilfork – Gerard Warren would be pretty formidable. Who knows maybe even Deaderick could surpass Gerard if he continues to develop.