Why Did Pats Dump Collins, Easley and Chandler Jones Again?

Before I get into this let me say that I think most hold Bill Belichick to an impossible standard. He’s the best coach in NFL history, but that doesn’t mean he hits on every draft pick or that every personnel decision he makes turns out right. Better than the league average? Yup. More often right than not? Yes. But he’s not perfect and I don’t expect him to be.

I know the likes of Dan Shaughnessy think that bloggers like me are nothing more than fanboys who wave pom poms and blindly think everything Belichick does is infallible. But after how the Patriots defense has looked through nine games, even I have a hard time not casting a critical eye on the moves made by Belichick since last offseason.

By themselves, getting rid of Dominique Easley, Chandler Jones and Jamie Collins could’ve been easily dismissed and swept under the rug. But collectively jettisoning first round picks from 2012 and 2014 and a second round pick from 2013 now seems even more extreme as we’re forced to watch a defense that can’t get off the field, can’t disrupt a quarterback, and looks generally lifeless when they’re supposed to be rounding into form.

Why did we rationalize getting rid of them all again? Locker room cancer and was going to want too much money and freelancing? Something like those? Well at this point I’d happily take all those “problems” back since all three had more energy and life to their game than anything we’re seeing from the Patriots defense now.

Are they missing talent? Do they lack leadership? Is it scheme? Have the surprising moves left the defense rudderless and depressed that they’ll all soon be discarded by Belichick as well? There’s no easy single thing to diagnose. But what I do know is that they look every bit as untalented as the 2010 defense that was comprised of cast-offs and guys soon to be out of the league.

This summer all we wondered was how the Pats would keep all their talented defenders. Now we’re wondering if they should keep any of them. After Sunday night it sure doesn’t look like they’ll be giving Jabaal Sheard nor Chris Long any kind of significant new deal. None of the soon-to-be free agents have much, if any, leverage left and we’re already closing in on Thanksgiving. Time is running out.

The 2010 and 2011 defenses were bad but at least they forced turnovers. Maybe that only reinforced the illusion that those defenses weren’t fatally flawed, but they did make plays. This defense simply does not make plays. Whether it’s the scheme, the coaching, the desire, the leadership, whatever… they need to find some fire quickly.

One can still hang onto this being a top-10 defense in points, but after a few games of marginal improvement against sub-par quarterbacks, the Seahawks destroyed any hope that the Patriots defense was trending upward. Seven of the Seahawks nine drives ended in points.

They bent. They broke. They gave up big plays. The didn’t force a turnover for the fifth time in their nine games. And in every critical moment, they came up short.

Would Easley, Jones and Collins make a difference? Well any perceived “locker room problems” or “freelancing” seems kind of silly right now and I wonder if this entire offseason and season have been over-managed from a personnel perspective.

And don’t even get me started on the three-year, $9 million they gave Shea McClellin, who has a whopping five tackles on the year.

And what about Barkevious Mingo and Kyle Van Noy? They deserve a shot sooner than later, otherwise those personnel moves can also get thrown onto the “why’d we do this again?” pile.

Something has to change soon and there aren’t many options outside of waiting for guys to start getting off blocks, disrupting and making plays. And with three crap QBs the next three weeks, they’re in a no win situation. Shut the terrible teams down? They were supposed to. Get lit up? They’re even worse than we thought.

So now we wait for the Ravens and Broncos, likely the only two interesting tests left of the season before the playoffs. Usually the Patriots always start to play well down the stretch in December, clearly all eyes will be on the defense and where they go from here. If they don’t turn it around and make it to the Super Bowl (because nothing less is remotely acceptable) the unnecessary removal of three defensive high round picks will loom large.

With a ton of cap space this offseason and far fewer “must keep” players than we initially thought we had, another full defensive rebuild might be afoot just when we thought we had a core for another dynasty.