New England Patriots: Defensive line shaping up to be one of the best

While the NFL offseason isn’t too far along, the New England Patriots have made some noticeable moves to improve an area of weakness.

Coming into the offseason, the New England Patriots had some notable holes on their team, especially on the defensive side of the ball.

In the Super Bowl loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, some of the Patriots’ flaws on defense were exposed. One of those flaws was their defensive line. Partially due to injuries, the Patriots struggled to get a pass rush consistently for most of the season. While Trey Flowers continued to emerge as a great young edge rusher, there wasn’t too much help for him.

Early on in the offseason, the Patriots began to work on their defensive line. First, the Patriots made a trade with the Cleveland Browns to acquire defensive tackle, Danny Shelton. As one of the biggest players in the NFL, Shelton will help the Patriots’ run defense, which was nowhere near as good as they were in 2016.

After trading for Shelton, the Patriots then went after Adrian Clayborn of the Atlanta Falcons. Clayborn was one of the top edge players available in free agency and the Patriots were able to sign him to a two-year deal worth $12 million.

The additions of both Shelton and Clayborn will help improve the Patriots’ pass rush and run defense, which sorely needed help. Now, the Patriots have the makings of one of the top defensive lines in the NFL.

With Flowers, Clayborn, Shelton, and Malcom Brown, the Patriots have four players that received grades of an 80 or higher last season according to Pro Football Focus. The improvement of the defensive line makes the Patriots’ defense look a lot better on paper than it did from the last offseason, as they will also have a healthy Dont’a Hightower back at linebacker.

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Improving the defense was certainly a goal of the Patriots this offseason, and the improvements made on the defensive line will help that. With free agency still going and the NFL Draft coming up next, the Patriots will likely continue to add to their already improved defense.