The Dominique Easley Enigma

[Deus Irae]

43.2% of the snaps
3.5 sacks


For a guy who's supposed to be all about that quick first step and the ability to get to the QB...

 

[Family]

I always thought it was a defensive scheme move. They cut Easley around the same time Hakeem Nicks (who they wanted) signed with the Bears. These two were pass rushing up the middle DTs. Instead the Pats went with Valentine, Branch, Brown (even Potroast) more 4-3 DTs.

When Nicks left the 3-4 guys left were Easley and Chris Jones. Easley as your best option wasn't going to cut it.

 

[Bobsyouruncle]

I always thought it was a defensive scheme move. They cut Easley around the same time Hakeem Nicks (who they wanted) signed with the Bears. These two were pass rushing up the middle DTs. Instead the Pats went with Valentine, Branch, Brown (even Potroast) more 4-3 DTs.

When Nicks left the 3-4 guys left were Easley and Chris Jones. Easley as your best option wasn't going to cut it.

Nicks the WR?

 

[Biffins]

I always thought it was a defensive scheme move. They cut Easley around the same time Hakeem Nicks (who they wanted) signed with the Bears. These two were pass rushing up the middle DTs. Instead the Pats went with Valentine, Branch, Brown (even Potroast) more 4-3 DTs.

When Nicks left the 3-4 guys left were Easley and Chris Jones. Easley as your best option wasn't going to cut it.

His name is Akiem Hicks.

 

[zoostation]

Who cares. Pats have won 2 SBs without him.

actually 1

 

[Ring 6]

actually 1

He was on IR for the other and chose not to attend.

 

[zoostation]

He was on IR for the other and chose not to attend.

yeah - my bad

 

[deroc5050]

Without the "amazing talent" of Easley the Patriots won 2 more games than the year before.

With the "amazing talent" of Easley the Rams lost 3 more games than the year before and their coach was fired mid-season.



Possibly a similar case as Collins of addition through subtraction.

Thats a bit disingenuous obviously but on the other hand I don't question Bill on football decisions.

BB definitely makes me scratch my head sometimes but he is right most of the time. The Collins move is the strangest move I have seen Bill make. He clearly saw something brewing or building with his situation that he had to cut bait on him.

Foot Ball is a team sport and you need your guys to buy into your program, no matter what the financial situation is. It must be extremely tough in the NFL to do this year in and year out. Thats why after BB retires the Patriots will become just another team. BB has the secret sauce that cannot be learned it must be gifted. Or he is the luckiest guy in the world for Drafting Tom Brady lol..

 

[Betterthanmost]

He was on IR for the other and chose not to attend.

He went to Germany to watch a soccer game and live posted a video of himself as well. I bet BB was not too impressed.

 

[fair catch fryar]

Dominique who?........oh that guy. I forgot all about him until you mentioned him. One Superbowl later and all of the so-called busts BB has drafted and we seem to always have the players TB12 needs around him to win another. I used to question and give a sh!t about high draft picks until I decided to enjoy the ride and let BB drive the train. Blitz for 6 baby!

 

[RobertWeathers]

Thats a bit disingenuous obviously but on the other hand I don't question Bill on football decisions.

BB definitely makes me scratch my head sometimes but he is right most of the time. The Collins move is the strangest move I have seen Bill make. He clearly saw something brewing or building with his situation that he had to cut bait on him.

Foot Ball is a team sport and you need your guys to buy into your program, no matter what the financial situation is. It must be extremely tough in the NFL to do this year in and year out. Thats why after BB retires the Patriots will become just another team. BB has the secret sauce that cannot be learned it must be gifted. Or he is the luckiest guy in the world for Drafting Tom Brady lol..

This.

BB saw that DE was not going along with the program and sold short. Just like he did with Collins.

 

[Hercules Rockefeller]

His ridiculous situation with his pitbull that bit him so bad that he couldn't do rookie mini camp, then bit badly another person because he wouldn't get rid of a dog he couldn't control certainly didn't help. He just doesn't seem to be a mature adult just yet.

I LOVED the pick, because he has as quick a first step as a DT can have. Just didn't work out

 

[Bill Lee]

I LOVED the pick, because he has as quick a first step as a DT can have. Just didn't work out

Yep, it's a lotto ticket that didn't pay off. Some seem to like to call that a bust. I don't. There's no sure things in the draft and the odds drop a lot by the time you get to the 32nd pick. BB saw that athletic talent and either didn't know enough about the maturity issues or hoped/thought the player could grow out of it after some time in the league. When he couldn't he was gone, just like Collins.

 

[TheBostonStraggler]

Sims is actually a good comparison. I remember (going way back) seeing Sims on some plays be a force. I watched Easley have moments where he was a force too. But what I remember about Sims is he was not giving 100% on every play. I'd see him just plow through his man on one play then he was a pushover next play (he was too gifted to get beat so easily). My guess (only my guess) is he simply lacked the drive to become a marquee name dominating force. He lacked that Bruschi, Brown, Wilfork, Brady (for examples) fire to win every play by intensely plying their craft on/off the field.
Lots of guys come into the NFL with excellent football skill. The differences between A and B, A and C most often isn't huge enough to make up for B having the fire and A wanting to go home to watch TV. For example WR's - we see sometimes a less talented guy eventually becoming the go to guy while the guy A level skills flame out. Frequently it simply is that fire within to win every play, every game, be as good as they possibly can.

The guy they are going up against on the OL is NFL level too. Assuming that OL has the 100% drive, he's studied Sims/Easley in and out over and over. He's worked on his weak parts of his game and improved them. He wants to beat the DL man every time, badly. Ultimately, except for a very rare few, in the NFL you gotta want it, you gotta want it badly, you gotta put the time in on and off the field, and every new season (except when age catches up) you are coming in expecting to play better than the last. Without that fire your chances of thriving on the Patriots are not great. That's my guess with Easley - BB and staff didn't see that drive for consistency and improvement, and they moved on (locker room cancer possibilities not withstanding).

 

[DarrylS]

And yet at the same time, we have Fisher saying Easley was a great player and great teammate. And now after a productive season at the Rams, being graded almost 80 by PFF, being healthy for a full season, and being graded a top 20 defensive tackle, he's being chased by a few teams. Falcons are considering him, as our Raiders and Rams and he'll get a good deal

.

"Fisher saying" means crap in the world of the NFL.. the Rams have such low standards their whole team are "great players and teammates"...

Sheard was grades as almost an 80 and Branch as a 78 , these are very subjective ways of grading players.. based on what you saw last year who would you rather have??..

I will wait for the post BB era book for the back story to all of this..

 

[PatriotsReign]

So what the hell happened with this guy? Apparently he was never officially reprimanded for any one transgression but was accused for being unprofessional. We never hear any thing he actually did or said, or any plays he took off, and yet when he was released he was called "a locker room cancer". It was a shocker to see him released and the explanations were always vague and unsatisfying. We infact took another $1m ish hit on the cap just for releasing him.

He's now apparently considered our biggest first round bust in history.

What's the worst 1st-round pick in Patriots' history?

And yet at the same time, we have Fisher saying Easley was a great player and great teammate. And now after a productive season at the Rams, being graded almost 80 by PFF, being healthy for a full season, and being graded a top 20 defensive tackle, he's being chased by a few teams. Falcons are considering him, as our Raiders and Rams and he'll get a good deal

Five Free Agents The Falcons Need To Consider To Stay On Top In NFC

2017 Raiders Free Agent Preview: DT Dominique Easley

What the hell happened with Easley. So he rehabbed himself instead of listening to Patriots trainers. Gronk does that too. So what? I just don't understand why we released him, and why he "wasn't a good fit" whatever that means. Apparently his on the field play was fine. And apparently he's still productive at another team. Had a good season.

I just never understood what happened here.............

In Bill I Trust....100% without question

We've won 2 out of 3 SB's, so it would be difficult to fault BB on any of his decisions over the past 3 years

I only have emotions over a few Pats players....and maybe just Brady and Gronk.

I never look at players like JG or Brisset and attach emotion to them because I've learned over time the only thing I really care about is winning.

And man, look how successful the Patriots have been the past 16 years!

 

[varjao]

I can see the reasoning behind the pick and even though I didn't agree with the selection at the time, I supported it.

What I think is that we didn't need to gamble at the time, that was a good draft there were players with talent without the boom or bust tag all over them, we all knew Easley would be a huge bet and that's only accounting for his knees.

 

[aluminum seats]

Easley has a tremendously high ceiling and was a risk vs. reward pick because Easley can play football. Easley is not very bright and reportedly, became a locker room cancer . The Patriots do not like players who aren't very bright and players who are locker room cancers. The Patriots moved on from Easley.

Straightforward.

Except saying someone is a "locker room cancer" is a label, not an explanation. The OP was asking if anyone had insight into what happened to the guy.

(For the record, I don't much care. He wasn't very productive with the Pats and is gone. It happens. But that's what he's asking.)

 

[ausbacker]

Except saying someone is a "locker room cancer" is a label, not an explanation. The OP was asking if anyone had insight into what happened to the guy.

(For the record, I don't much care. He wasn't very productive with the Pats and is gone. It happens. But that's what he's asking.)

No, a locker room cancer provides more than enough of an explanation given historically, the Patriots weed out and release locker room cancers.

 

[aluminum seats]

No, a locker room cancer provides more than enough of an explanation given historically, the Patriots weed out and release locker room cancers.

He was looking for specifics, which calling him a cancer doesn't provide, unless we're saying Easley was literally an organism rapidly dividing cells within the locker room killing healthy cells or whatever the hell cancer does.