kyle arrington

Kyle Arrington’s ascension to atop the leader board in interceptions was far from a direct one. Here’s a great reminder to how close he came to going to Cleveland. I’d say his decision paid off.

Some bloggers projected that perhaps it was the Colts, who had experienced a run of injuries in the secondary, making a run at Arrington. But it was a different team in the Midwest: Eric Mangini’s Cleveland Browns.

When asked about it on Thursday, Arrington explained how the process unfolded.

He said his primary motivation was simply getting a chance to play, and that’s why he strongly considered the offer to join the Browns’ 53-man active roster. At the same time, he described himself as being loyal, which explains why he told the Patriots about the offer in hopes he would remain with them.

All off-season long we envisioned the Patriots secondary with McCourty and Bodden on the outside and Arrington taking over the star position in the slot. But earlier in the preseason, especially against Detroit, Arrington struggled there and it made us question if he had the quick change of direction skill needed to play there.

Often times slot corners are the third corners on the depth chart but their position can be even harder to play than on the outside where you have the sidelines to help you.

As you can see from the stats below Arrington has had a good start to the season, with three interceptions and giving up receptions on just 38.6% of his targets.

• Devin McCourty – 36 targets, 24 receptions (66%), 378 yards, 3 TD, 0 INT, 129.2 QB rating

• Ras-I Dowling – 7 targets, 3 receptions (42.9%), 74 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT, 81.8 QB rating

• Kyle Arrington – 13 targets, 5 receptions (38.5%), 79 yards, 0 TD, 3 INT, 19.9 QB rating

• Leigh Bodden – 16 targets, 10 receptions (62.5%), 176 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT, 120.8 QB rating