New England Patriots won’t bring in Chad Clifton for physical

New England Patriots director of player personnel Nick Caserio had some interesting quotes on Dane Fletcher that basically said “We made our decision” to release him and such. Very candid and expected. The most important thing that he said, however, was his quote that pretty much shot down all speculation that former Green Bay Packers left tackle Chad Clifton is coming in for a physical.

“There is no truth to that,” Caserio said.

That’s how you shoot something down.

Chad Clifton failed his physical with Green Bay due to back injuries after spending his entire 12-year career with the team. He used to be a great pass protector and is still average in that department, but he is too old and is a tremendous liability as a run blocker. “Average” might be a bit of an overstatement with regards to his pass blocking, but Clifton is a good mentor for younger tackles like Nate Solder and Marcus Cannon, who could admittedly use that.

But still, that’s not a reason for signing an aging tackle who is clearly not healthy and cannot hold up against quick pass rushers anyway. I mean, he wouldn’t even see the field anyway and it would have been a waste of a roster spot.

The fact that the rumor was never true is still interesting, so it’s now more of a “Oh well, it was fun to talk about the possibility” type of thing. The Patriots will roll with Solder, who has a ton of potential despite his struggles and is already a good run blocker, and Sebastian Vollmer once the All-Pro right tackle is healthy. Thanks for the clarification on the Clifton news- there was none on the Dane Fletcher release- and we never needed the guy anyway.

A workout could happen at a later date and the interest is real, but there’s no truth to a workout. And yes, the Patriots don’t need Clifton anyway. If he’s not healthy, don’t waste the roster spot. If he is, are you sure he’s actually better than Cannon?

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