Patriots newcomer brings much-needed physicality
The New England Patriots spent a top-100 selection on a player that is not only a swiss-army knife but brings hard-hitting physicality to the defense. Marte Mapu played five seasons at Sacramento State before being selected 76th overall by New England in the 2023 NFL Draft. He became a full-time starter for the Hornets in […]
The New England Patriots spent a top-100 selection on a player that is not only a swiss-army knife but brings hard-hitting physicality to the defense.
Marte Mapu played five seasons at Sacramento State before being selected 76th overall by New England in the 2023 NFL Draft. He became a full-time starter for the Hornets in 2021 during his six-year college journey.
Mapu's collegiate path was unique. He redshirted his freshman season (2017) and then played a mere 104 snaps between his 2018 and 2019 seasons. Mapu followed up a slow start to his college career by missing the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He finished his college career at the top, winning Big-Sky Defensive Player of the Year in 2022.
Mapu's biggest strength is his versatility. He played all over the defense throughout his career and was pretty good everywhere. It is hard to project his position at the NFL level, but I expect him to be around the line of scrimmage, most likely a weak-side linebacker.
Snaps by alignment:
Slot: 510
Box: 249
Free Safety: 56
Edge: 49
Mapu was solid in pass defense, allowing a 67.7% completion percentage and a 79.6 passer rating in 2022. In the FCS and FBS, Marte Mapu was the fourth-highest graded safety in 2022 (minimum 800 snaps), per PFF.
Mapu has a good feel for the middle of the field in pass coverage, staying disciplined in his zone, and preventing passing lanes from forming. He has "eyes on the back of his head" and does a good job mirroring guys that are behind him in zone coverage. Mapu knows when to leave pass coverage, come down, and make a play on a scrambling QB.
In man coverage, Mapu has the hip fluidity, discipline, and acceleration to be successful against running backs and tight ends in man coverage. Mapu did not receive a combine invite and did not participate in pre-draft athletic testing due to a torn pectoral muscle, so we don't know any real testing numbers but his film shows a good athlete in the short areas of the field who's lacking top-end speed. If Mapu plays at linebacker, he will be an above-average athlete, but I don't think he has the speed to play at single-high/free safety.
At Sacramento, Mapu was often the last line of defense and was relied on to prevent big plays. In run defense, there were numerous times that he would fill gaps and come up with game-saving stops. Mapu routinely recognized what was happening pre-snap, and was pretty good at not taking the bait on option and play-action plays. Mapu sees the play before it happens and gets in a position to make a stop. If Mapu missed this tackle, it would have been a big gain for Incarnate Word.
As sure of a tackler as Mapu was in 2022, he can occasionally miss an open-field tackle. Mapu gets lucky that his teammate saves this play, but missing big-time tackles will never fly in Patirots head coach Bill Belichick's system.
Here's another example of Mapu quickly diagnosing what the opposing team was doing, filling a rushing lane and making a big stop in the run-game.
This shows the blend of the high and low you get from Mapu. The versatile defender did a good job watching the quarterback's eyes and saw him staring down the fly route. Mapu booked it to aid his teammate, who had just gotten burned by the wide receiver (No. 0). But Mapu doesn't possess the chase-down speed to get there in time.
Not to be confused, Mapu was not at fault for this play. This play was a positive for Mapu, showing off his ability to diagnose and react. Mapu almost saved the play. On the flip side, you can tell that while Mapu is a smooth accelerator, but he levels out as a runner and lacks a true second gear.
Mapu had the most NFL talent on his team, and when watching his tape, it felt like he needed to be Superman to prevent big plays.
This clip is interesting. On one hand, the linebackers did not shed and clog the rushing lanes. On the other hand, Mapu came down to help and the angle he took would have never allowed for him to catch up to the running back.
If you watch the clip back though, there is some guesswork that needs to be done. When Mapu comes down to help in run defense, he took a bit of a "sit and wait" approach, he sat in (and closed) an open rushing lane which forced the running back to go elsewhere. The issue was the second-level defenders were being manhandled by Incarnate Word blockers, and there was another wide-open rushing lane.
You have to wonder, if Mapu shot the gap and made contact with the running back instead of waiting for the running back to meet him, would the result have been different? I don't think this play was Mapu's fault. There were rushing lanes open everywhere, but I do think if Mapu had a more aggressive reaction it could have had a positive result.
Regardless, Mapu had a bad angle to try to recover from in order to catch the running back. It was a good example of his acceleration, but you can see that lack of elite pursuit speed show up again.
One of Mapu's biggest strengths is his physicality. Mapu brings the boom. Likely the hardest-hitting defensive player from the 2023 draft class, Mapu brings a much-needed physicality and size to the Patriots' defensive backfield. This collision was absurd.
Listen to the audio from the broadcast version.
The transition from the FCS to the NFL is a leap, and I wouldn't be shocked if New England takes their time getting Mapu up to NFL speed. Mapu possesses many of the desirable traits of a strong safety or a weak-side linebacker. He's a highly reactionary and instinctual player with exceptional length, physicality and enough athleticism.
Mapu will need to be put in a position where he does not need to rely on sheer athleticism but can rely on his brain to process the field. I wouldn't expect much from him as a rookie, but he does have a good foundation to build on and hopefully, with good coaching, Mapu can become a long-time contributor for the team.
