I started blogging about the Patriots around the time that the old dynasty defense was dying. The 2007 defense squeezed the last bit of life out of Rodney Harrison, Tedy Bruschi, Richard Seymour, Mike Vrabel and other supporting members who helped define the Pats teams of the 2000s. Then the retirements and departures began and I realized that if Tom Brady was to ever get four or more Super Bowls, Bill Belichick would have to build him a new defense, mostly from scratch.
It was fascinating to see them emerge from the depths of the 2010 defense that needed turnovers to survive, to the 2014 and 2016 Super Bowl-winning squads that made huge key plays under the most pressing circumstances. But there’s no denying that 2017 was a step backwards. Yes, injury attrition had a lot to do with that, but it was just as much a string of missed draft picks and decisions to cut ties with the picks they did hit on.
I really don’t want to kick a dead horse, but I can’t help but need to vent about how this all unfolded over the past few seasons. How did the Patriots go from having the most promising young defense in the league in 2014 to what’s looking like another rebuild in less than three seasons? But is this even a rebuild this time around? Let’s dive in.
When you look at the dynasty defense the seeds were planted far before the Patriots had the most dominating defense in the league in 2003 and 2004. By that point the core of guys lie Bruschi, McGinest and Law had been together for almost a decade. Of course it couldn’t last forever and the Pats squeezed what the could out of each.
Similarly that’s what we all hoped was being built with Dont’a Hightower, Jamie Collins, Chandler Jones, Dominique Easley and Malcolm Butler. Instead now it looks like only Hightower will be on the 2018 team, and he’s coming off a season-ending injury after starting the season fighting injuries. The cupboard seems mostly empty at the moment, and while some of the personnel jettisoning was inevitable and the Pats got good returns like Malcolm Mitchell and Joe Thuney, the returns have not aided the defense at all.
The 2017 offseason started with a shocking move that had a trickle-down effect the rest of the season. The Pats departed from past philosophy and gave Stephon Gilmore, a cornerback, a huge deal. In the past, the secondary was never the place they invested. On one-year deals maybe, but the long term deals always went up front to the linebackers and defensive linemen who had an impact on every single play.
Apparently this move also caused problems with Malcolm Butler, problems that would play out all season and climax with his benching in the Super Bowl. How was it all related? Hard to say on the outside. But what was clear was that despite swapping just Gilmore for Logan Ryan, the veteran secondary coming off a Super Bowl victory got off to a terrible start to the season and finished it with their worst effort of the year.
Duron Harmon also got a new contract last offseason, while Patrick Chung and Devin McCourty had both received significant deals. Taken all together and the Patriots had the second-highest secondary cap spending in the league, accounting for over 24 percent of their space. The DL ranked 29th, the LBs 17th.
Go back to 2013 and the cap spending percentages were DB 12 percent, DL 13 percent, and LB 14 percent. As someone who’s always believed that front sevens make defenses good or bad, the Patriots’ salary cap allocation in 2017 was a head scratcher. And 2018 looks worse now with DB 23 percent, LB 13 percent and DL 10 percent.
Considering where the Patriots chose to invest is it a surprise they didn’t get a single sack in the Super Bowl? That a 39-year old cut and a Bills practice squad player played significant roles in the biggest game of the year?
Gilmore certainly came on as the season progressed and showed he was worth a big deal, but overall the secondary failed to play like they’re paid. Combine that with the dearth of talent on defense and it’s not hard to see understand how they were lit up by the Eagles.
So now what? It’s pretty simple really, the front seven must be replenished. Returning players like Hightower and Derek Rivers are a good start, but the Patriots must do what they do best — find the next Rob Ninkovich, draft guys similar to Chandler Jones and Jamie Collins, plug and play like they did in 2012 and 2013. Only a handful of jobs on defense are truly locked so there should be plenty of opportunities for new players to get a chance, especially on the edge and at linebacker.
I still believe front sevens are where championships are won and no matter how you slice it, the 2017 Pats defense didn’t have a championship front seven. Did they Bend-Don’t-Break? Sure, that’s a mark of a well-coached defense, but coaching only gets you so far, and for flawed defenses like 2010 and 2011, it ultimately came down to lacking the front line players who make game-changing plays in the biggest moments.
It’s not quite a full rebuild like 2009, but this is an earlier-than-expected need for talent, one we never would’ve expected coming off Super Bowl 49. The investment needs to be re-allocated toward the front seven, maybe not on monster free agent deals, but on finding, developing, and most importantly KEEPING, the pieces for a new dynasty defense.
