COMMENTARY
A changeable offseason became even more difficult for the Patriots in the past 24 hours, as six players have chosen not to participate in the 2020 NFL regular season due to concerns of COVID-19.
Dont’a Hightower, Patrick Chung, Marcus Cannon, Brandon Bolden, Dan Vitale and Najee Toran opted to stay out of season due to coronavirus-related health and safety issues. Twenty-five players from across the NFL have decided to opt out of the season so far, with the Patriots leading the league by far in terms of the number of players who choose not to participate.
Players considered high risk may choose not to participate and win $ 350,000 for the season and a cumulative season. Risk-free players can choose not to participate and continue to win $ 150,000.
Hightower, 30, just received a baby into his family on July 16, and Chung, 33, is also expecting her second child soon.
Cannon, 32, is a survivor of non-Hodgkin lymphoma and is considered high risk according to the NFL opt-out guidelines.
A new defense has changed even more.
From a football perspective, the Patriots face an even steeper uphill climb in 2020, especially on the defensive side of the ball, where Hightower’s loss cannot be emphasized enough.
Having faced production replacement from Kyle Van Noy and Jamie Collins, the Patriots defense must now move forward without his heart and soul at Hightower.
With Hightower, Collins and Van Noy all off the team now, that means 47 percent of the Patriots’ 281 quarterback interruptions last season are gone. The passing void was significant enough before Hightower’s decision, but now New England is really in trouble, with training camp on them, and little time is left to put on new faces before the regular season begins.
There is a lot of pressure on Ja’Whaun Bentley.
The spotlight will be on third-year linebacker Ja’Whaun Bentley to take over Hightower as center linebacker. After having a promising rookie season cut short by a bicep injury in Week 3 of the 2018 season, Bentley played just 27 percent of the team’s defensive snapshots in 2019. Now, practically no depth behind him, unless count two undrafted rookies and a sixth-round draft pick as “depth” – it’s time to sink or swim for Purdue’s alum.
In addition to Bentley, the team will be looking for other young linebackers to pick up some of the slack left by Hightower’s departure. Chase Winovich had 5.5 sacks as a rookie last year, and he played 29 percent of defensive snapshots. He was probably already in line for a bigger role in Year 2, but he’ll probably see his number tied even more, especially when the team needs to put pressure on the quarterback.
Rookie outside linebackers Josh Uche and Anfernee Jennings could be thrown at the wolves faster than the team, or they wanted. Uche, in particular, is a track and field fanatic who can line up at various locations in defense, and is known for his ability to rush the pass. If he can learn defense quickly on a shortened training ground, his ability to rush the quarterback from second level could help the team make up for Hightower’s loss.
The secondary should be fine.
Behind the linebacker position, in safety, the team is better equipped to handle the loss of Chung, who saw a decrease in production from the point of view of pass coverage in 2019. His completion rate of 70.5 when he was In coverage, it was the worst of his career in 2019, and he also delivered the most yards per goal (7.4) since 2016.
The team had already worked to build depth in this position by 2020, signing Adrian Phillips in free agency and recruiting safety Kyle Dugger in the second round, which should soften the blow of Chung’s decision.
Phillips and Terrence Brooks, in their second season in New England, will likely compete to start alongside Devin McCourty in safety, in Chung’s role as a safety / linebacker hybrid.
Dugger will likely see more time now as the team’s third safety, a position that sees a lot of playing time due to the team’s high use of ten-cent packets with three securities on the field. However, whether Division II rookie Lenoir-Rhyne can quickly adapt to learn an NFL defensive scheme and play against an NFL-caliber competition is a big question mark.
A silver lining on the offensive line?
By replacing Cannon, the Patriots could have been lucky, as Cannon, who is on the back of his career and struggled last season, will no longer be on the team’s books for 2020 with his huge hit of $ 9.6 million.
With the combination of his age and performance, Cannon was one of the team’s lowest-paid players, and while the team will need to find a suitable replacement for Cannon, they can use that $ 9.6 million in savings to tackle the position, along with others. , if you need it.
However, the team is likely to seek a solution at right tackle before seeking to sign or change. Yodny Cajuste, the West Virginia team’s third-round draft pick in 2019, is completely healthy now after missing the 2019 season with a quadriceps injury that took him to the list of non-soccer-related injuries throughout the year. year. Cajuste is a talented player with good use of the hand and adequate speed of the foot. If he can stay healthy, the team will likely have his barrel replacement already within his ranks, as the Cajuste tape in West Virginia shows a professional-caliber tackle with starting potential.
If Cajuste does not meet expectations, or is injured again, the team would be more in trouble. Korey Cunningham, acquired last season by the Arizona Cardinals for a sixth-round pick, is the only player on the roster with NFL tackle experience, and was only active for one game with New England in 2019.
Order the plan in fullback
In the fullback, with Vitale now missing, the team will turn to Jakob Johnson, and potentially Dalton Keene, to take over James Develin this season. Johnson is not the same athlete as Vitale is off the field, but he is a better blocker, which should help the team now that Cannon is out.
What this means for the salary cap
On the positive side, the contracts of the six players who are choosing not to participate will now go into the 2021 season, meaning New England earns nearly $ 17.5 million in capitalization space in one go. With $ 24.5 million in total space available now, the team can address their needs in the free agency market (do they get big with Jadeveon Clowney? Do they meet with old friend LaAdrian Waddle at tackle?) Or they can choose to go over your maximum space. in the 2021 season, with a smaller salary cap almost guaranteed in 2021 due to declining earnings this year due to COVID-19.
Welcome to NFL football in 2020, folks. One day you think you have a team, the next day you lose several players in the blink of an eye. Teams will need to maintain flexibility and make smart financial decisions to navigate this unknown territory. The team rosters could change at any time. The Patriots are the first team to receive a curved ball like this, but they probably won’t be the last.
