New England Patriots: Assessing The Cornerback Position
By Cyrus Geller
It sure feels good to be talking about actual football for a change. Deflate-gate has dominated the headlines as of late, which has forced me to talk way too much about Tom Brady‘s balls, and the lack of brains that Ted Wells, and Roger Goodell have. But rest assured, I am ready to get back to talking about the Patriots, mainly, their alarmingly shorthanded secondary, in particular, the cornerback position.
A lot of Patriots fans were freaking out about our secondary before the draft, but I was not one of those people. With Devin McCourty retained, and a dynamic front seven ready to hunt the quarterback, I thought the Pats would be just fine with Logan Ryan, Malcolm Butler, and Kyle Arrington as the starting cornerback trio.
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However I don’t understand the release of Arrington. I was fine with letting Brandon Browner go, and I was more than happy to keep McCourty instead of Revis (especially for the kind of money 24 got from the Jets), but I can’t comprehend why New England would want Arrington gone. He was a model citizen, so it couldn’t be off the field issues, and, in my opinion, he was also the best slot corner in the game, so it couldn’t be related to on the field issues either.
So why release him?
I’m not going to spend a long time trying to understand the move, instead, just focus on what the Patriots have to work with right now, and try to figure out how they will defend the pass in 2015. As it stands right now, the two starting corners for the Pats will be Logan Ryan and Malcolm Butler, and with McCourty roaming over the top, that is not a bad combination. However where we run into issues is in the slot, and the lack of depth the Pats have.
Who is going to play the slot? Robert McClain? Chimdi Chekwa? Darryl Roberts?
Cutting Arrington just doesn’t make sense, and barring a blockbuster trade for a high-profile cornerback, the Patriots are just going to have to deal with this problem throughout the 2015 season. Their deep, and electric front seven will surely help, but the lack of depth and talent at the cornerback position may come back to bite them next season.