NFL training camp is almost here, and The Athletic released a list of concerns for all 32 teams. For the New England Patriots, one unexpected position group landed a question mark from The Athletic’s NFL staff.
The Patriots’ pass rush was a mixed bag of results last season. Individual performances helped carry the day for the unit. However, the Patriots recorded only 35 sacks over the course of 17 games. This averaged out to roughly 2.1 sacks per game, ranking them 19th across the league.
The unit wasn’t the worst in the league, but it wasn’t exactly the best. The Athletic has taken note of this, and gave a breakdown as to why they are concerned with this particular aspect of the defense.
“Is their pass rush good enough? Even before spring practices started, it was fair to question whether the Patriots did enough this offseason to improve their pass rush. Since then, we’ve learned that Harold Landry isn’t quite ready to practice and second-rounder Gabe Jacas underwent an unknown procedure that has led to a contract dispute, which meant he didn’t participate in any practices. Maybe Milton Williams is good enough in the interior to overcome the team’s weakness at edge rusher. But they certainly didn’t put any concerns to rest this spring,”
Patriots Pass Rush Was Unit-Led Effort
Breaking it down even further, the pass-rush was led by Harold Landry II. He had 8.5 sacks on the year. The now-departed K’Lavon Chiasson had 6.5 on the season, helping anchor the unit overall.
With that being said, the lack of production in terms of getting to the quarterback was able to manifest itself in other positive ways. The team had 14 batted passes and held opponents to 85.3 passer rating. Perhaps the lack of pass-rush came from the lack of blitzing. The Patriots defense blitzed only 24.5% of the time on the season, per Pro Football Reference.
The Patriots are going to have to rely a lot on their edge group, a group that is rather unproven to this point. This includes guys like Jones and Jacas, who were drafted in the second round after trading back with the Los Angeles Chargers. Jones was able to be effective for the Ravens last season, as he recorded seven sacks, 15 quarterback hits, and 51 pressures.
Returners like Milton Williams should also be able to play a key part in that area as well. He had 3.5 sacks for the Patriots last year. He was able to prove himself as both a pass-rusher and run-stopper. The combination of those two things made him one of the most productive defensive linemen in the NFL season.
Williams’ back in the fold should be helpful for a Patriots defensive line that also includes playmakers such as Christian Barmore. Mike Vrabel challenged Barmore earlier this offseason to be more aggressive. Now, it will be interesting to see if the defensive lineman is up to the task. Barmore’s health, as well as overall production, is going to be paramount to the success of the defensive line overall.
Production Will Be Important For Unit
The Patriots do have several options that can help contribute to the pass rush. The main question here is whether or not they will be able to produce. It’s no surprise that this particular group is a question mark in the eyes of several analysts and experts. The key here for the Patriots is being able to show that they can sustain and get ample production over stretches of the season.
This is a group that will be worth watching, especially over the course of preseason and training camp. It’s hard to take stock of preseason games overall, but for this particular group, it could serve as a valuable eye test.
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