Thoughts on Dominique Easley?

He's so tiny. Not sure what his role could be. Right now my guess is he's a bust. Maybe he loses weight and plays mlb? His arms are short even for a trex.

I have high hopes for him but I haven't seen anything that jumps out at me, he is coming off of injury and working his way back so I will hold my peace until this time next year. Hopefully he impresses and makes us all happy.

kennyb said:

He's so tiny. Not sure what his role could be. Right now my guess is he's a bust. Maybe he loses weight and plays mlb? His arms are short even for a trex.

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His role can be interior rusher An important position that we have lacked for years. He doesn't, and shouldn't, be the size of Wilfork. He's got longer arms than Geno Atkins so I don't think that will be a problem.

kennyb said:

He's so tiny. Not sure what his role could be. Right now my guess is he's a bust. Maybe he loses weight and plays mlb? His arms are short even for a trex.

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Dominique Easley's combine measurements: 6'2" 288#; 32 7/8" arms; 9 3/4" hands
Geno Atkins' combine measurements: 6'1 293#; 32" arms, 9 5/8" hands

I've already posted their stats through 7 games of their rookie seasons (Easley has played 2 less games than Atkins).

Gronkowski123 said:

not impressed so far. small, not explosive, gets manhandled by average guards.
the jury is still out.

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Exactly anybody who dissagrees with that you said needs brain surgery Easley is small I didn't think he was a fit he's not the kind of player BB is known to Draft at DT he is small as already stated and we have seen no explosiveness. They should have let Seattle drated him instead he fits their D and not ours. BB and co second guessed themselves on that selection...I would take Jermain Cunningham at DT over Easley right now.

PatsFan2 said:

Exactly anybody who dissagrees with that you said needs brain surgery Easley is small I didn't think he was a fit he's not the kind of player BB is known to Draft at DT he is small as already stated and we have seen no explosiveness. They should have let Seattle drated him instead he fits their D and not ours. BB and co second guessed themselves on that selection...I would take Jermain Cunningham at DT over Easley right now.

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OhExaulted1 said:

You lose all credibility when you can't respond beyond one sentence. Take a chance like this-a second sentence. Try it, it's not so hard.

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Your statements are so dumb that they only deserve one sentence.

JMC00 said:

He's a pass rushing DT. Rarely do those guys come in and set the league on fire in their first year

Gerald McCoy and Geno Atkins two of the best pass rushing DTs weren't really notable their rookie seasons.

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That may be true. But look at Chris Jones. 6 sacks his first season. And probably on pace for the same this year.

http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/J/JoneCh04.htm

I'm hoping that Easley will be a big upgrade over Jones, considering that Easley is a 1st round pick and Jones came into the NFL as a 6th round pick.

VJCPatriot said:

That may be true. But look at Chris Jones. 6 sacks his first season. And probably on pace for the same this year.

http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/J/JoneCh04.htm

I'm hoping that Easley will be a big upgrade over Jones, considering that Easley is a 1st round pick and Jones came into the NFL as a 6th round pick.

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Can't really say that Chris Jones was anything close to your regular 6th round DT.

For casual, non-coaching tape-watching fans, the easiest way to evaluate a penetrating one-gap player is probably his quickness off the ball. If you DVR the games, replay each snap on slow motion. You can see who comes off the ball the quickest. I did this for most of the games so far, except for the Jets game. Wilfork routinely beats Easley off the ball, and Chandler Jones is usually way faster. There is no burst. Hopefully, he gets this back as he continues his rehab. If he doesn't, he'll never make it as a DT.

Too early to tell. Guy hasnt played competitive football in a long time before the 6 games this season. Will see towards season's end or next yr.

He looks like a guy that's still working his way back from knee surgery. He's lacking some of that explosion that he had at Florida. Whether or not he gets that back remains to be seen.

Eye on next season, this is a red shirt/recovery season for him, it's good that he's getting some snaps to acclimated to the speed of the game and NFL experience. If he contributes in the last quarter of the season and playoffs it's gonna be gravy.

SVN said:

Too early to tell. Guy hasnt played competitive football in a long time before the 6 games this season. Will see towards season's end or next yr.

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And he didn't get on the field in training camp until the final few days.

Seriously, what the hell are those who are disappointed thinking???? Most everyone here during the summer were saying that this year would be a "work back into shape" year.

Easley is recovering from his 2nd ACL and then got a shoulder injury in the second game.

Let's see how he does with a full OTA's, training camp and healthy.

Brady6 said:

I was high on the Easley pick and I know you were too as him and Donald were your 2 top choices if I remember correctly so I am curious what do you think of how they have used him so far? I do not feel they have played him to his strengths often; him taking snaps at standup OLB does not make a whole lot of sense to me. My think coming into the draft is he could be an every down 3-Tech in a 4-3 front.

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Donald and Easley were indeed my top 2 rated prospects for the Pats. I might have even preferred Easley over Donald if he had been healthy and ticked off all the boxes the way Donald did. I thought Donald had a much higher floor, but that Easley's ceiling might be even higher than Donald's.

I think clearly Easley has not recovered all of his explosiveness, plus he's had a new injury to deal with, and the issues of learning a new system. BB made it clear at the time of the draft that he loved Easley's versatility and ability to line up in multiple spots, and he has publicly lauded Easley's intelligence and work ethic, and the Pats have used him in a variety of roles right off the bat. That's a lot for a rookie to handle, especially given the physical issues, and the lack of preseason experience. Andy Johnson would prefer to keep Easley inside the tackles at all times, and I certainly agree that Easley's single biggest impact should be as a 3-tech; but I also like his gap diversity and ability to do so many things.

I'm fine with where he is right now. I think BB has a clear plan for how he wants to use Easley, and it may take a season for it to unfold. It's ridiculously early for anyone to be judging a Easley. He's been more productive than Jadeveon Clowney so far.

Aside from the obvious physical hurdles he's having to overcome, I think Belichick's coaching philosophy adds another wrinkle. Whether you agree with it or not, Belichick does not want a player who only does one thing. He wants his players (especially on defense) to be multiple. He always doesn't usually approach a rookie season with the idea that he's going to use a player only to his strengths and then add things next year so as not to overwhelm a kid. He likes to throw a lot at them and see how much they can handle, then back a little off if need be.

Right now Easley is being tested. He's working back from the the knee and shoulder injuries, and is probably being asked to think more on the football field than he ever had to in college. I'm willing to give him more time to show explosiveness in those circumstances. Time will tell if he ever gets it at this level (I believe he will, but probably 50% or more of 1st round picks just never live up to their draft position).

Sicilian said:

Aside from the obvious physical hurdles he's having to overcome, I think Belichick's coaching philosophy adds another wrinkle. Whether you agree with it or not, Belichick does not want a player who only does one thing. He wants his players (especially on defense) to be multiple. He always doesn't usually approach a rookie season with the idea that he's going to use a player only to his strengths and then add things next year so as not to overwhelm a kid. He likes to throw a lot at them and see how much they can handle, then back a little off if need be.

Right now Easley is being tested. He's working back from the the knee and shoulder injuries, and is probably being asked to think more on the football field than he ever had to in college. I'm willing to give him more time to show explosiveness in those circumstances. Time will tell if he ever gets it at this level (I believe he will, but probably 50% or more of 1st round picks just never live up to their draft position).

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BB on Easley right after the draft:

"He does a lot of things well. He's a smart guy, he's very instinctive. He's got a great motor, works hard. Football is very important to him. He's an all-in guy. There's not much to not like about him.

"He's played everywhere along the defensive line. It depends on where you put him. I'll say you don't see a lot of guys who do that — who play, I mean, he lines up on the nose, he lines up on the guard, he lines up on the tackle, he lines up wide at times. You can see him playing all those spots.

"He’s an explosive player, very explosive. A very disruptive player. In college, I would say his stats might have been a little bit deceiving because a lot of times he was the disruptive person on the play, but he wasn't the guy who ended up making the tackle, or it wouldn't be on the stat sheet. But the reason the play wasn't successful was his penetration and ability to be disruptive. I think he has a good knack for that."

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http://espn.go.com/blog/new-england-patriots/post/_/id/4762605/belichick-easley-an-all-in-prospect

BB on Easley after week 2:

“He’s come on quickly, considering the fact that he missed the amount of on-field time early,” coach Bill Belichick said. “There was probably a time when we would have been optimistic to really get him into the flow of things maybe by midseason, but it’s happened a lot quicker than that, and that’s a credit to him. He’s a very hard worker. He really works hard, and he’s smart. That’s a good combination.

“I wouldn’t have thought that his first big play would be an interception, but I think that’s kind of typical of Dominique: He’s around the ball, he has good instincts, he has good awareness. He made a really good play on the interception,” Belichick said. “He’s just a very instinctive player, he’s the kind of guy that can play different spots, can do different things, has a good feel for the game.”

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http://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/2...an-expected/voLKdtHEvWRiXx7tRva8mO/story.html

BB clearly thinks Easley is capable of handling a lot. Easley might be more productive in the short term if given a more limited role, but BB seems to have a plan.

supafly said:

I don't talk to my mom when she's home, fool.

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I do when she's not

Will need to rely on him a bit more with these injuries popping up