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donta hightower

Preview Sneak: Patriots Defensive Overview

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We continue with a collection of excerpts from this year’s Patriots Season Preview book with a look at the strides the defensive took in 2016 and how their 2017 offseason will shape the unit this fall.

Outside of replacing Logan Ryan with Stephon Gilmore, there wasn’t much turnover on a defense that led the league in points-per-game, arguably Bill Belichick’s most important defensive stat.

Still, the defense didn’t garner much respect during the season. They were seen as a unit that feasted on bad quarterbacks and offenses. Maybe there was some truth to that, but you can only play who is on your schedule, and the number of poor offenses that litter the NFL landscape isn’t the Patriots problem. They took care of business while other defenses had their ups and downs even against some of those bad offenses.

What mattered most for this defense was how they finished. Dont’a Hightower’s game-changing strip sack in the Super Bowl opened the door for a Patriots comeback, and when it was all on the line, with the Falcons inside field goal range for a game-sealing kick, the defense pushed them back, forced a punt and league MVP Matt Ryan never saw the ball again.

When you line up the last four Patriots teams that went to the Super Bowl it’s the defenses that were the story. Yes, Tom Brady went into berserker mode in Super Bowl 51, but without Hightower, who also had a game-saving goal line tackle in Super Bowl 49, and Malcolm Butler‘s interception, we’d still be lamenting the defenses of Super Bowl 42 and 46, who couldn’t make that one last big play to help win the game.

Hopefully 2017’s defense has the same kind of big plays on the big stage ability.

Here’s the introduction to the defensive player previews.

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Report: Dont’a Hightower Returning to Patriots (phew)

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It’s been an interesting couple of weeks as Dont’a Hightower made the rounds to the Titans, Jets and Steelers, but in the end found that the best fit was to remain in New England according to Adam Schefter.


I was slightly pessimistic about Hightower’s chances of returning once he was set to hit the open market. What I underestimated is how Hightower’s skillset is somewhat of a unique fit in New England. While I’m sure he would’ve been fine in the Jets or Steelers system, the Patriots know exactly how what to do with the 260-pound linebacker.

But how do the Patriots use Hightower? By the end of the 2016 season, he would often play at a traditional inside linebacker spot on early downs, although when the Patriots employed their “6-1” look, Hightower would slide to the weakside outside linebacker spot where he was strong setting the edge. On passing downs the Patriots used Hightower often as a blitzer. And I think this is a good excuse to post one of my favorite GIFs from SB51 as an example.

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Saints, Texans Circling Malcolm Butler

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The great wait on Dont’a Hightower and Malcolm Butler continues.

Hightower is visiting with the Steelers today, while Butler is reportedly meeting with the Saints, trying to hash out a deal with them. PFT and Reiss both had good explanations of how things can work out when trading a restricted free agent like Butler.

So, to summarize: (1) Saints negotiate with Butler; (2) if a tentative deal is reached, Saints approach Patriots; (3) if a tentative trade is reached, Butler signs tender; (4) Patriots sign Butler to multi-year deal and trade him or Patriots trade him and Saints sign him to multi-year deal.

It’s an interesting situation. On one hand you already have Stephon Gilmore, Eric Rowe, Cyrus Jones and Justin Coleman, not to mention Jonathan Jones, who, despite being primarily a special teamer, looked pretty good in a handful of cornerback snaps from the slot last season. Even without Butler, it’s not situation critical at corner. Getting a first round pick back would also help fill the void left by Butler as well.

But that ignores the bigger picture that Butler has been awesome and is one of our favorite defenders to watch. Same goes for Hightower. Those two made some of the biggest plays in the last two Super Bowls. I know BB won’t pay for past performance, but those plays gave Hightower and Butler a special place in Patriots’ fans hearts that will never go away.

There’s no place for a sentimental Patriots fan unfortunately. And now it seems like a distinct possibility that both Hightower and Butler could be on other teams next offseason. If that happens these will perhaps be the most surprising change of course by the Patriots over the last 17 years.

The 2012 draft was the start of it. The Patriots took two defenders in the first round and it seemed like they would be the core of the next dynasty. They drafted and scouted so well they knew they’d have a ton of hard choices to make if they were to keep that defensive core intact. And now it seems like building a foundation on defense didn’t really matter. Well, it didn’t matter as much as maintaining their pay structure, even when they had plenty of pay to go around.

It’s been about acquiring assets and keeping the cheap young player pipeline fresh. Chandler Jones, Jamie Collins and now perhaps Butler could all be spun into capital, instead of maintaining continuity with the defense. Even Hightower’s exploratory adventure across the AFC would ultimately result in compensatory picks should he sign elsewhere.

We’ll weigh all that when the fates of Butler and Hightower are finalized. But this will certainly be a fascinating year for the defense.

Pats Posits: The Wait on Hightower and Butler Continues…

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After a noisy start to free agency things tapered off over the weekend after the Pats signed defensive lineman Lawrence Guy to a surprising four-year deal. Now the reports of Malcolm Butler being unhappy and Dont’a Hightower visiting just about every major Patriots rival are swirling as we wait to see how things play out with the two biggest internal pieces of the Patriots’ offseason.

First, let’s talk a little about Guy, who I initially thought would just be a depth piece, but as Mike Reiss points out in the piece above, the length of the deal and the total amount point to the Pats seeing Guy as someone who should be a contributor. There is however no guaranteed money after the first year so expect him to come into camp with something to prove. Though it doesn’t seem like the former seventh-round pick who has bounced around the league before becoming a starter last season, plays any other way.

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Pats Posits: Are You Ready for Free Agency?

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Tom Brady First Down Browns

The “legal tampering period” starts tomorrow and the official 2017 NFL league year starts on Thursday, which means there’s going to be a flurry of things to talk about this week. Some bad, as Patriots free agents take trips and likely sign elsewhere, and some boring, as the Patriots take their usual slow start, which will probably include signing some special teams guy no one has talked about at all.  It doesn’t take 888 casino review to tell you that’s a lock.

That’s just how things go in Patriots Nation. And it certainly doesn’t mean anyone is used to it or done complaining about it, even after five Super Bowls. Plenty of new is already starting to slip out, so let’s take a look at what we’ve heard and what to expect.

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Patriots Free Agency Rumblings Regroup

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Small bits of news are starting to drip out, most of them courtesy of Jeff Howe who seems to have the most vocal sources on the Patriots beat. Again, I can’t state this enough, this is the season of misinformation so before you overreact to anything it’s important to remember that every bit of news often has a purpose behind it. Whether it’s to drive up a players price or to spark interest around the league, very few pieces of information that make it to the public can be taken at face value.

Here’s what Howe and others most recently broke.

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Opinion: I Think Hightower’s A Goner

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First off, I’m not writing this to make you mad. I’m really not. It’s just the way I feel, not in a “woah is us” or “we’re doomed” kind of trolling way, but just in an “I’ve been doing this so long I think this is how it’s going to play out” kind of deal.

Second, I love watching Dont’a Hightower play football. I don’t need to recap the big plays he’s made (there are GIFs for that), nor how important he is to the defense, besides the fact that there are no other three-down linebackers on the roster.

I would love nothing more than for the Patriots to sign him to a long term deal.

Unfortunately I just don’t think it’s going to happen.

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