{"id":6992,"date":"2016-07-26T06:00:56","date_gmt":"2016-07-26T10:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patsfans.com\/patriots\/blog\/?p=6992"},"modified":"2016-07-26T06:06:03","modified_gmt":"2016-07-26T10:06:03","slug":"patriots-training-camp-primer-safeties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patsfans.com\/patriots\/blog\/2016\/07\/26\/patriots-training-camp-primer-safeties\/","title":{"rendered":"Patriots Training Camp Primer – Safeties"},"content":{"rendered":"

Deepest Position of the Team, Tough Cuts Ahead<\/h2>\n

The Patriots head into training camp this week and there should be no shortage of competition at a number of spots. As a lead-in to the beginning of camp, we\u2019ll break down the positions and give our take on who is a lock, a near lock for the 53-man roster and who is on the bubble. Next up are the Safeties.<\/p>\n

Bill Belichick likes to say that the spring\u2019s OTAs and Minicamp is a learning exercise and that the real competition begins in training camp. While that is true to an extent, with 89 players on the current roster, a minimum of 36 of these will be cut. That doesn\u2019t take into consideration the tweaking that goes on during the season after the initial 53-man roster is completed.<\/p>\n

So the next position to break down are the safeties. The backend of the Patriots secondary is set, starters Devin McCourty and Pat Chung return and each will turn 29 in training camp so their age isn\u2019t an issue.\u00a0 Duron Harmon is normally the first man on the field, but he missed all of the spring so 2nd-year player Jordan Richards was taking the majority of his reps. Richards is shorter and stockier than Harmon and is a bit stiff for the backup center field role, he\u2019s better suited to the box or the hybrid safety\/linebacker role. Nate Ebner will not be at camp, having been granted permission to play rugby in the Olympics.<\/p>\n

Those five plus Brandon King were on last year\u2019s roster. The team let Tavon Wilson walk in free agency but waiting in the wings is LB\/S Kamu Grugier-Hill, Brock Vereen, Cedric Thompson and the recently signed Vinnie Sunseri.<\/p>\n

The team is deep and talented at safety and they\u2019re more than addressed the loss of Wilson who played very little the past two seasons.<\/p>\n

So who\u2019s locked in and who\u2019s on the bubble?<\/p>\n

Roster Locks: Devin McCourty, Pat Chung, Duron Harmon, Jordan Richards
\n<\/strong>McCourty is the quarterback of the secondary, a co-captain of the team and the glue that holds everything together on the backend. He still doesn\u2019t get the credit he deserves for his center field play. With each passing year, he\u2019s asserting his leadership more and more and still just 28 is one of the oldest established veterans of the unit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nPat Chung has excelled in his second stint with the Pats. (USA TODAY Images)<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Chung continues to enjoy a renaissance in his second go-around with the team. He plays up in the box and is extremely effective at stopping the run and covering the tight ends. It seems like Chung should be older than 28, but he still has several good years left in his career.<\/p>\n

Harmon was considered a reach when he was drafted in 2013 but now he\u2019s a very valuable member of the defense. In certain packages, the team will move McCourty around and bring in Harmon to play centerfield. He played in nearly 54 percent of the team\u2019s defensive snaps and allowed just 4 of 11 passes for 69 yards and two touchdowns in 2015. He was also credited with three passes defended and three interceptions. His 58.5 passer rating against, was the best of the Patriots’ secondary men.<\/p>\n

Richards was drafted in the 2nd<\/sup> round of the 2015 NFL Draft with the 64th<\/sup> overall pick. He has an outstanding football I.Q. and is a high character guy. As a rookie, most of his playing time (21% of the defensive snaps), came after McCourty and Chung suffered injuries late in the season. He\u2019s best suited to the backup of Chung, being used down in the box and covering the tight ends.<\/p>\n

On the Bubble: Nate Ebner, Brandon King,
\n<\/strong>King was a pleasant surprise a year ago, carving out a special team\u2019s role and ending up with the second most tackles on the STs unit. He wasn\u2019t given much of a chance of sticking but worked closely with Special Team\u2019s Coach Joe Judge and had a solid rookie season.<\/p>\n

Ebner was given a contract extension this spring and has been a valuable member of the STs unit. But he was granted a leave of absence to compete in the 2016 Summer Olympics as a member of the US National Men\u2019s Rugby Team. He\u2019s been a fixture here but his absence could open the door for another player who steps up in training camp.<\/p>\n

Kamu Grugier-Hill could be one of those players. An undersized, athletic demon on special teams, he could easily carve out a role for himself on defense as well. He\u2019s one of those LB\/S hybrids that teams are filling their rosters with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nBrandon King had a solid rookie season competing on Special Teams. (SBalestrieri\/PatsFans Images)<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Outside Looking in\u2026. Longshots: Vinnie Sunseri, Brock Vereen, Cedric Thompson<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sunseri is an intriguing player, someone I was hoping the Patriots would take a look at in 2014 when he was taken by the Saints in the NFL Draft. He\u2019s the son of the Raiders\u2019 coach Sal Sunseri and was lauded by his teammates at \u2018Bama as being a coach on the field. An excellent special teams\u2019 leader, he is also injury prone. He blew out an ACL in his senior season, had his rookie year cut short with a broken arm and missed all of 2015. This may be an audition of another kind. He may end up being a coach in the not too distant future, and maybe Belichick is building off of some first-hand knowledge of him.<\/p>\n

Vereen was signed to the Patriots practice squad in November after being released by the Bears and then the Vikings. After the season was over, he signed a future\u2019s contract for 2016. Vereen can play safety and has filled in at slot corner. He\u2019s considered a core special teams\u2019 player and served as a gunner for a bit this spring. He is a longshot to make the roster.<\/p>\n

Thompson spent all of 2015 on the Dolphins\u2019 practice squad after being drafted by Miami in the 5th<\/sup> Round of the 2015 NFL Draft out of Minnesota. He wasn\u2019t resigned and the Pats signed him to a future\u2019s contract. The 6\u20190, 212-pound safety is another longshot to make the roster given the depth.<\/p>\n

Check out our earlier primers on the running backs<\/a>, wide receivers<\/a>, tight ends<\/a>, offensive line<\/a>, defensive line<\/a>, linebackers<\/a> and the cornerbacks<\/a>. \u00a0And be sure to keep tuned into PatsFans.com during training camp as we\u2019ll post daily updates from down in Gillette.<\/p>\n

Follow me on Twitter\u00a0<\/em>@SteveB7SFG<\/em><\/a>\u00a0or email me at\u00a0<\/em>stevebpatsfans@gmail.com<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Listen to our\u00a0<\/em>Patriots 4th<\/sup>\u00a0and 2<\/em><\/a>\u00a0podcasts on blog talk radio as the writers Russ Goldman, Derek Havens and I from\u00a0<\/em>PatsFans.com<\/em><\/a>\u00a0discuss the latest Patriots news Wednesdays at 12 noon.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

McCourty is the quarterback of the secondary, a co-captain of the team and the glue that holds everything together on the backend.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":343,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[185,886,833,892,799,48,34,849,1052,1096,121,353,23,26,44,70,352,8,848,13,1097],"class_list":["post-6992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-2015-nfl-season","tag-2016-nfl-combine","tag-2016-nfl-draft","tag-2016-patriots-draft","tag-2016-patriots-roster","tag-53-man-roster-projection","tag-bill-belichick","tag-brandon-king","tag-brock-vereen","tag-cedric-thompson","tag-devin-mccourty","tag-duron-harmon","tag-jordan-richards","tag-nate-ebner","tag-new-england-patriots","tag-nfl","tag-pat-chung","tag-patriots","tag-patriots-safeties","tag-tom-brady","tag-vinnie-sunseri"],"yoast_head":"\nPatriots Training Camp Primer - 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