Patriots rookie will be key to confusing opposing offenses
The New England Patriots are taking an optimistic approach to replacing team legend and longtime starting free safety Devin McCourty. Patriots safety Jabrill Peppers reiterated a comment McCourty made earlier this offseason that New England could benefit from some unpredictability. “I think personally that now, you kind of knew where Devin was going to be […]
The New England Patriots are taking an optimistic approach to replacing team legend and longtime starting free safety Devin McCourty.
Patriots safety Jabrill Peppers reiterated a comment McCourty made earlier this offseason that New England could benefit from some unpredictability.
“I think personally that now, you kind of knew where Devin was going to be most of the time,” Peppers said. “He inserted, he rotated down, but for the most part you knew 80-to-90 percent of the time he was going to be in the post. Now you don’t know where anybody’s going to be. One play it could be (Kyle Dugger), it could be me, it could be (Adrian Phillips), (Jalen) Mills. Marte (Mapu) could drop back from the linebacker position. It’s a lot of different things that we could do, a lot of different tools the coaches can play with. It’s up to us to make it look good, communicate and get the job done.”
Peppers made another interesting comment about how Mapu, a rookie who wouldn’t label himself at just one position Monday, will help in disguising what New England is doing on defense.
“We’ve all played in the deep part of the field, cover man-to-man whether it’s a tight end, running back or if we have to replace on a blitz from the corners,” Peppers said. “We feel comfortable in the box, knowing how to read.
“Then you add in a guy like Marte who you don’t know if he’s at backer or safety now. We’re talking pre-snap. It might look one way to an offense, and we might run the same play but just flip two guys, and it looks like a completely different defense. We’ll just keep spinning the dial. We have a lot of continuity going one. We only lost one player — a great player — but we all know each other pretty well. We’re just trying to build off that and take the next step.”
Mapu is listed as a linebacker but has taken snaps at safety — including McCourty’s old free safety position — this spring. The 6-foot-3, 216-pound Sacramento State product primarily played defensive back in college but was viewed as a linebacker during the pre-draft process. The Patriots have used Peppers, Dugger, Phillips, Mills, Mapu, Joshuah Bledsoe, Jonathan Jones and Myles Bryant at free safety so far this spring. That list could be shortened over the next five weeks before training camp.
“Nothing is set in stone yet right now,” Peppers said. “We have a lot of guys working multiple things to see what we can do, put things on tape to see how it looks. Ultimately, when we come back to training camp, things will be a little bit more defined, but right now, guys are working everywhere. The more you can do, the better, the more valuable.”
Peppers is entering his second season with the Patriots. Head coach Bill Belichick borderline raved about his progress in Year 2 as he continues to recover from a torn ACL suffered in 2021.
“Yeah. Oh my god, yeah,” Belichick said. “He’s a much different player now than he was last year at this time or even in training camp. A full year after the injury, a lot of confidence in the communication, the system, his assignments. He’s playing fast, aggressive, helping out his teammates. Last year he was trying to learn things, now he's helping out his teammates, anticipating, making calls or adjustments that maybe help him or possibly help his teammate be in a better position to defend a certain play or type of play. Yeah, he's been great. He’s way ahead of where he was last year.”
Peppers was selected in the first round of the 2017 NFL Draft by the Cleveland Browns out of Michigan. The 27-year-old brings versatility, athleticism and smarts after returning on a two-year deal as a free agent.
