Danny Shelton returns to Pats; is he enough though?

Defensive tackle Danny Shelton has re-signed with the Patriots, providing familiarity and depth along the line, if not quality starting experience.

On Monday, the New England Patriots agreed to terms with free agent defensive tackle Danny Shelton on a new deal that will reunite player and team in 2019.

Shelton was drafted out of the University of Washington by the Cleveland Browns back in the 2015 NFL Draft. Then a first-round pick (taken No. 12 overall), Shelton was generally considered a draft bust over three seasons spent with the Browns. In March of 2018, Cleveland shipped him to the Patriots with a fifth-round pick in that year’s draft for a third-round pick in this year’s draft.

He played in just 13 games for the Patriots last season, starting only one.

His most memorable play came though on the biggest of stages, when he stuffed Los Angeles Rams runner C.J. Anderson in the backfield for a three-yard loss. Though it garnered Shelton plenty of press and love on social media at the time, his season in New England was largely underwhelming, as evidenced by Bill Belichick making him a healthy scratch in four different games last season (including the AFC Championship Game victory over the Kansas City Chiefs).

On the positive side, the Patriots need all the help they can get along the defensive line. Last year’s top player, defensive end Trey Flowers, departed for the Detroit Lions in free agency two months ago. With him went most of New England’s pass rush and sack production over the past few seasons, so it stands to reason that the defending champs could use some more beef along the line.

Shelton is a better run-stuffer than he is a pass-rusher, though… which leads us to the negative side of the equation.

The Patriots currently have a bundle of bodies ready to plug into the center of their defensive line at tackle, including returnees Lawrence Guy and Adam Butler, former New York Jet Mike Pennel, and rookie draft pick Byron Cowart. None of those names quite jump off the page, and it remains to be seen whether some combination of them will be good enough to shut down the premier running backs the Pats stand to face in 2019 – but there’s still enough names there to make it difficult for Shelton to lock down a roster spot before September.

Complicating matters further would be if anything develops from the rumors linking ex-Tampa Bay Buccaneer mainstay Gerald McCoy and the Pats. While the interest would seemingly be mutual between the two sides, money could stand in the way ultimately of making a deal happen.

If McCoy is willing to take less than he could get elsewhere, however – say with the Browns or the Cowboys – in order to truly compete for a championship, then he couldn’t go to a better place than Foxborough. And if that were to happen, Shelton’s days as a Patriot would surely be numbered, indeed.