New England Patriots: Kony Ealy has struggled to adjust

One of the New England Patriots’ offseason acquisitions was defensive end, Kony Ealy. So far, the transition hasn’t gone as smoothly as he would have liked.

This offseason, the New England Patriots had to make a lot of moves in order to replace some of the players they lost from their Super Bowl team. One of the new players that were acquired by the Patriots was defensive end, Kony Ealy.

In a trade with the Carolina Panthers, the Patriots were able to acquire Ealy, to basically move back from the end of the second round of the draft to the beginning of the third. The deal certainly made a lot of sense for New England, as they were able to add a defensive end to help replace Chris Long.

With the Panthers the past three seasons, Ealy has done a good job of getting after the quarterback. In three seasons, he has totaled 14 sacks, six forced fumbles, and one interception. While Ealy is a capable pass-rusher in the NFL, he does struggle against the run.

So far in training camp, Ealy has struggled. He hasn’t been getting many reps with the first-team defense. For Ealy, the transition to New England has not gone smoothly.

"“It’s just a learning curve. That’s fair to say,” Ealy said to Mike Giardi of CSNNE.com. “Within the scheme of the defense, I’m learning, studying, picking things up every day. I had a natural ability to cover and do everything they ask me to do in the drop game so I don’t have a problem with it.”"

As some players have found out the hard way, New England can be a challenging place to perform. With five Super Bowls as a head coach, Bill Belichick demands a lot out of his players in the offseason.

However, even though the schemes might be difficult, hard work will certainly get you places in New England. Every year we see players have great seasons or go from undrafted players to starters.

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Even though Ealy has had success as a pass-rusher in the NFL, there is a reason why the Panthers trade him for virtually nothing. With the Patriots, Ealy has a chance to shine on one of the best teams in the NFL. While things might not have started as smoothly as Ealy would have liked, there is still plenty of time in training camp to improve.