For as long as Coach Bill Belichick has prowled the Patriots’ sideline, linebackers have defined his defense.
In the early 2000s, Tedy Bruschi and Willie McGinest captained dominant units that hunted Peyton Manning, the Patriots’ only worthy adversary during their dynasty years, better than anyone. As Bruschi and McGinest closed their careers, the glitzy addition of Adalius Thomas in 2007 and his tumultuous exit in 2009 typified the tenor of two wildly different seasons.
Then came Dont’a Hightower, a first-round rookie in 2012 who made the game-saving play before the winning play against the Seahawks in Super Bowl XLIX.
Two years later, Hightower strip-sacked Matt Ryan to further fuel the greatest comeback in Super Bowl history. And two years after that, he and Kyle Van Noy combined for three sacks, six QB hits and a pass breakup while shutting down the Rams in Super Bowl LIII.
Belichick later called Hightower “Mr. February.”
But now Hightower is gone. And so is Van Noy, now with the Chargers. Still a free agent, Jamie Collins is likely off doing Jamie Collins things, which a year ago included practicing parkour around his house and yard.
The mass exodus of Patriot linebackers flew under the radar this offseason, when Belichick also swapped edge rusher Chase Winovich for former Browns linebacker Mack Wilson days after cutting Van Noy. Belichick clearly prioritized revamping the second level of his defense, something he had already achieved before the draft when it was widely believed the Patriots would add a linebacker.
They didn’t. The reason? Another relatively new face: 2021 fifth-round pick Cameron McGrone.
Until last month’s minicamp, when McGrone routinely ran with the second unit, many expected he would fight for a starting job. McGrone had been hyped all spring by Patriots assistants and even de facto GM, Matt Groh, who, unprompted, raised McGrone’s name during a postdraft press conference and called him “an additional pick.” The Patriots are high on the 6-foot-1, 236-pounder, who fell in the 2021 draft mostly because of a torn ACL.
Now recovered, McGrone is seen as a potential starter, as is Wilson (6-foot-1, 233 pounds) and 245-pound journeyman Raekwon McMillan, who impressed last year in training camp before his own ACL betrayed him.
Then there’s Ja’Whaun Bentley, the only true holdover from the Hightower era.
Bentley is an interesting case study for how well lumbering, run-first linebackers can hold up in modern football. Even Groh admitted linebackers aren’t made like Bentley, a 6-foot-2, 255-pound hammer, anymore. But the 25-year-old still carries value as one of the league’s most instinctive players against the run who can swing high-leverage moments, such as snaps at the goal line or on third- or fourth-and-short.
The trouble is, passing remains king in the NFL. And Bentley, despite showing notable progress since his rookie year, still struggles in space, which leads to easy pickings for offenses. Re-signing Bentley also didn’t exactly fit the revealed focuses of the team’s offseason: getting younger, faster and tougher. Bentley is beyond tough, but he’s not winning foot races with opposing running backs anytime soon.
Over the past four years, the Patriots have addressed this problem by deploying a safety in the box next to the likes of Bentley, Hightower or Van Noy and tasking said safety with most of the coverage duties.
The results have been mixed. Per several advanced metrics, the Patriots were a top-five defense last year at defending the middle of the field, yet ranked fourth-worst at covering running backs.
Whether the Patriots can repeat the good from last season will fall both to the box safeties and the new inside linebackers. But safety is a surefire strength, thanks to veterans like Kyle Dugger and Adrian Phillips, while linebacker is a significant question mark.
How that question resolves will be up to Bentley, Wilson, McGrone and McMillan. In remaking the position through a mix of throwback veterans and younger, smaller players, the Patriots are attempting to straddle their past with football’s present, where 230-pound linebackers normalized long ago. It’s a new era in Foxborough.
And while the linebackers may no longer define Belichick’s defense in a traditional sense, they should serve as a strong bellwether for how well the unit evolves and/or surprises in 2022.
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