{"id":5702,"date":"2024-11-07T23:01:08","date_gmt":"2024-11-07T23:01:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=5702"},"modified":"2024-11-07T23:01:08","modified_gmt":"2024-11-07T23:01:08","slug":"patriots-midseason-report-card-grading-each-defensive-position-group","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=5702","title":{"rendered":"Patriots Midseason Report Card: Grading Each Defensive Position Group"},"content":{"rendered":"<article id=\"post-1962282\"><!--?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ??--><!--?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ??--><!--?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ??-->The Patriots aren\u2019t very good, and that was reflected in each aspect of their first half.<\/p>\n<p>New England is currently in line to hold the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, with a bad roster, injuries and a lack of consistency contributing to a less-than-stellar few months. It\u2019s not like there haven\u2019t been some bright spots, but there\u2019s no doubt both sides of the ball have had their fair share of struggles.<\/p>\n<p>We took a look at every offensive position group and gave them a grade for their performance, so now let\u2019s do it for the defense:<\/p>\n<p><strong>DEFENSIVE LINE: D+<br \/>\n<\/strong>The Patriots didn\u2019t expect to have Jaquelin Roy, Daniel Ekuale and Jeremiah Pharms Jr. playing pivotal roles along the defensive front this season, but that\u2019s exactly what they\u2019ve gotten.<\/p>\n<p>New England was hit with the injury bug in a major way, with Christian Barmore spending the season on the non-football injury list with blood clots and forcing that trio into vital roles along the front. Davon Godchaux, Keion White and Deatrich Wise Jr. have also underperformed, headlining a run defense (136.9 yards allowed per game) that ranks 26th in the NFL.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>LINEBACKERS: D+<\/strong><br \/>\nJa\u2019Whaun Bentley went down with a pectoral injury in the second game of the season, producing a massive falloff for this unit. Jahlani Tavai has steadily improved while playing out of position, but the pass defense has taken a major hit while cycling through names like Raekwon McMillan, Christian Elliss and Sione Takitaki.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a group that likely will earn a much better grade by season\u2019s end, but steady improvements in recent weeks aren\u2019t enough to cover up how ugly the middle of the defense has looked at times.<\/p>\n<p><strong>CORNERBACKS: B<\/strong><br \/>\nChristian Gonzalez is one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL. Jonathan Jones is a solid boundary guy, though he probably should be playing nickel at this point. Marcus Jones brings tremendous speed, and when put in the right situations, has flourished.<\/p>\n<p>New England needs to build depth around that trio. It\u2019s a good unit, but far from great.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<figure><\/figure>\n<p><strong>SAFETIES: C+<\/strong><br \/>\nJabrill Peppers\u2019 off-field issues really sank what could have been a decent grade for this room.<\/p>\n<p>The Patriots have done an admirable job filling in the cracks, with Marte Mapu, Jaylinn Hawkins and Dell Pettus all stepping in and outperforming expectations. Kyle Dugger is still great when he\u2019s on the field, though his ever-present ankle injury is something to monitor moving forward. New England has something with this group, but only if those issues we mentioned get resolved.<\/p>\n<p><strong>SPECIALISTS: B+<\/strong><br \/>\nJoey Slye has outperformed expectations. Bryce Baringer has been tremendous if you ignore Week 9. Joe Cardona is Joe Cardona. Brenden Schooler is Brenden Schooler.<\/p>\n<p>Good job.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Patriots aren&#8217;t very good, and that is reflected in the performance of each position group throughout their first half.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":5704,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Patriots Midseason Report Card: Grading Each Defensive Position Group - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=5702\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Patriots Midseason Report Card: Grading Each Defensive Position Group - 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