Bill Belichick: Patriots To Try Logan Ryan At Safety During Spring

“I think, yeah, we’ll have to see how it all goes,” Belichick said about moving Ryan to safety during spring organized team activities. “Last year (Marquice) Cole sort of did that, played some safety, played some nickel corner, played a little bit on the perimeter. Logan did that. We’ll have to see how it all comes together, but I would imagine in the spring that we probably give those guys some exposure. Somebody, I don’t know if all of them. … Again, I think there’s definitely a place for that too with the different personnel groups and the different types of receivers that we see. Every time it’s three receivers, it isn’t quite three receivers; it depends on who those three guys are and how you want to match up on them and so forth. So some flexibility for us defensively is probably a good thing over a long haul.”

Belichick typically likes to put the best 11 players on the field, even if it means playing someone out of position. Defensive end Rob Ninkovich has moved from linebacker to defensive end multiple times, and Devin McCourty was stuck in limbo between cornerback and safety for a couple years.

Ryan could be the next versatile player who’s too valuable to keep off the field. Ryan proved to be a playmaker last season, recording five interceptions, 1.5 sacks, a forced fumble and a touchdown in 2013.

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Read more at: http://nesn.com/2014/05/bill-belichick-patriots-to-try-logan-ryan-at-safety-during-spring/

The pats have had success in moving corners to safeties before.

I guess that leaves dennard as the 3rd corner.

Just think of the coverage skills on the back end with Browner, Revis, Dennard, Ryan & McCourty all on the field at the same time!

Talk about helping your pass rush via the secondary.

Big-T said:

Just think of the coverage skills on the back end with Browner, Revis, Dennard, Ryan & McCourty all on the field at the same time!

Talk about helping your pass rush via the secondary.

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Also don't forget that the run defense will help the pass rush as well. With Vince and Mayo returning, Hightower shifting inside, and Siliga developing the interior run defense is vastly improved. Will Smith is also an excellent edge run defender.

These things will help to keep opposing offenses in 3rd and long situations instead of 3rd and 1 or 2 which allows pure pass rush scenarios featuring Jones/Easley/????/Ninkovich with potentially one of Hightower or Collins blitzing.

The defense should be substantially better in 2014 despite not adding the premier pass rusher everyone wanted in free agency.

Better secondary, better run defense, far superior pass rushing combinations available for obvious pass downs. The every down pass rush will still leave something to be desired but on 3rd and longs, which we should see more of, the options are now endless assuming good health.

Big-T said:

Just think of the coverage skills on the back end with Browner, Revis, Dennard, Ryan & McCourty all on the field at the same time!

Talk about helping your pass rush via the secondary.

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It can never hurt to have more flexibility on the back-end, whether it's just for insurance/particular matchups or if it's potentially for an every-down transition.

It makes sense that DT's are becoming more like DE's, DE's more like LB's, LB's more like S's, and S's more like CB's with the expansion of the passing game.

Once again the media and fans are simply getting too concerns about labels that haven't had much meaning on this team for several years. I keep hearing on the radio and here laments about how the Pats haven't addressed the SS position.

Well one reason could be that......we don't use a SS in our defensive system. So drafting someone with the skill set to be a SS circa 206 is kinda stupid when those skill are no longer useful in Foxboro circa 2014.

Now days all these guys are simply DB's and BB will try to put his best 4-6 guys out there on every situation. The fact is that different teams will present different combinations of QB's, receivers, and offensive system each week. The ideal is being able to have enough DB's with the different skill sets to meet those varying challenges

Need someone to come down from the S position into the box and provide a big hit - Chung can do that. Need a S who can cover in space - maybe that would be better left to Ryan. Need a guy to cover a TE downfield threat - Sounds like that could be a job for Browner

So with the Pats this season, we should start to get used to a more amorphous defensive secondary with only 2 real constants. Revis on the left covering an outside WR. and McCourty in the middle to erase mistakes and limit the damage. Other than that, we should get used to different DB's playing specific roles to create weekly match ups depending on what the offensive challenges are, week to week. Ideally those role will match the different skill sets to the opponent that best gives them a chance for success.

I would hope that eventually we'll all start to better understand how the Pats secondary is going to work. And the fact there IS NO SS....so stop asking for one.

Does this mean Edelman will play corner again?!?!? ... just kidding, i hope the Pats are never in that situation again ... ever ever ever

BTW- getting back to the OP. I think BB is being a little slick with this "announcement". True Logan Ryan is definitely going to be playing in the middle of the field in some sub packages this spring as the Pats start to put in their defensive package. What he DIDN'T say, was that so will Browner, Dennard, and Arrington, etc.

Remember, most of the safeties the Pats have drafted the last few years have also played some CB in college, just as McCourty started out as a CB. Just as position flexibility has become a cliche on the front seven, "position flexibility" will also become the new watchwordfor the secondary.

In other words, the old labels of CB, FS, SS, are no longer applicable. Neither are the newer ones like "slot corner" or "in the box S". They are all just DB's now who week to week, will be mixed up by the "rocket scientist" and thrown out there in various combinations of skill sets to confront and confuse opposing offenses.

TommyBrady12 said:

The pats have had success in moving corners to safeties before.

I guess that leaves dennard as the 3rd corner.

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That leaves Dennard starting at CB for Games 1-4. He is the backup for both starting corners. However, no matter what this board thinks, Belichick will continue to use Arrington as our nickel back.

I suppose that Green might make the 53 man roster.

I hope not ss. Browner is the natural fit there. His weakness is speed. That won't b a prob there. Ryan should b #2 corner. Good press n very good recovery speed. Perhaps Ryan is being tried at fs to try n keep from paying McCourty this off season. If Ryan can play fs as well as McCourty he could b part of trade during season. However unlikely cuz dennard must b trusted at other corner and reserves must b counted on. Bills just checking his options in case paying mccourty is a stretch next yr. I think anyways.

I think we are seeing a real change in philosophy for the Patriots and maybe the league in terms of pass defense. The way they are constructing their secondary and pass defense seems to be more about how they are going to cover certain kinds of match-ups with receivers than the traditional FS/SS/CB. Belichick seems to be saying as much and it makes much more sense overall as even with a CB as good as Talib we watched him blanket bigger stronger receivers but getting eaten up by smaller quicker receivers, and bringing in Browner strikes me not as filling the RCB position as it does filling the need to cover really good receiving TE's and the bigger receivers they face all the time. Revis is just a pure lockdown corner who can be used on the best receiver on every team but after that they can mix and match against opposing offenses without losing anything as they have the talent and depth and each of them has strengths they can use while covering the weaknesses they have. Ryan is a lot like McCourty imo and would give them 2 center fielders to cover up for corners who are pressing but we could also see Chung in there when they need more of a run stuffer or harmon if he plays well enough to get the reps. In short I think their weekly match-ups will dictate the reps for a number of their DB's but McCourty and Revis will be in for pretty much every snap, we may see more of Dennard and Arrington one week and more of Ryan and Browner another it will just depend upon the match-ups and game scenarios

TommyBrady12 said:

The pats have had success in moving corners to safeties before.

I guess that leaves dennard as the 3rd corner.

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Dennard was the #3 CB either way. Dennard is a very good CB he grades out as one of the best #2 CB in the NFL over the past few years.

mgteich said:

That leaves Dennard starting at CB for Games 1-4. He is the backup for both starting corners. However, no matter what this board thinks, Belichick will continue to use Arrington as our nickel back.

I suppose that Green might make the 53 man roster.

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What has Dennard done to lose his starting job? Dennard has been a very good starting CB in the last two seasons and I do not know why anyone thinks he would be put into a reserve role. Browner is here to cover the opponents #1 TE 1on1. Dennard will continue to play RCB opposite Revis as he did opposite Takib.

Gymrat said:

I hope not ss. Browner is the natural fit there. His weakness is speed. That won't b a prob there. Ryan should b #2 corner. Good press n very good recovery speed. Perhaps Ryan is being tried at fs to try n keep from paying McCourty this off season. If Ryan can play fs as well as McCourty he could b part of trade during season. However unlikely cuz dennard must b trusted at other corner and reserves must b counted on. Bills just checking his options in case paying mccourty is a stretch next yr. I think anyways.

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Is Browner really a good fit there? I'm not so sure. He is pretty stiff and takes big long steps just before tackling instead of taking smaller steps and breaking down. I feel like Browner would have a hard time as a safety in the open field. I feel like safety isn't a very good fit for him.

Dennard is a really good #2 corner and I don't have any problem having to "trust" him there. I like Ryan. But I feel like you severely overrate him. McCourty is one of the best safeties in the league. I doubt that Ryan could just come in and be close to that. Ryan will probably be tried at safety because we already have 3 very good corners in Browner, Dennard, and Revis.

Logan Ryan like McCourty has great ball skills and his strength is playing the football and not the actual receiver. This is why they are both excellent fits as safeties they can play the football. I think you will see Harmon or Chung as a traditional in the box strong safety in early down base situations, with McCourty as the free safety. In sub packages and passing situations, you will see them insert Ryan alongside McCourty.

It's all about putting the best 11 on the field, the question then is - are Logan Ryan or Alfonzo Dennard better than Duron Harmon? Putting out 4-5 DBs that can match up man to man with what the offense puts on the field means the front can get creative with different types of pressure.

In my opinion you're much better off having one player play the other safety position. Any real good team (i.e. one you'll face in the playoffs) will take advantage of the rotating players on the field. Do you think Manning would let Chung just play in the box and defend against the run? You need another safety who can tackle and cover or at least be adequate at both. Maybe that guy will be Ryan which I'm fine with. Or maybe Harmon will take a step in his 2nd year and be that guy. But please don't let me see Patrick Chung step on the field on defense for this Patriots team. What a disappointment that would be. His two biggest highlights as a Patriot in four years with the team came in one game and both were on special teams (@MIAMI 2010).

Logan ryan will be good at whatever they want him to do.

Brady6 said:

What has Dennard done to lose his starting job? Dennard has been a very good starting CB in the last two seasons and I do not know why anyone thinks he would be put into a reserve role. Browner is here to cover the opponents #1 TE 1on1. Dennard will continue to play RCB opposite Revis as he did opposite Takib.

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I suspect that Arrington is done here and Dennard will be moved to the slot.