{"id":7664,"date":"2016-08-30T05:00:13","date_gmt":"2016-08-30T09:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patsfans.com\/patriots\/blog\/?p=7664"},"modified":"2016-08-30T05:16:15","modified_gmt":"2016-08-30T09:16:15","slug":"mingo-will-be-an-intriguing-piece-to-the-patriots-defense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patsfans.com\/patriots\/blog\/2016\/08\/30\/mingo-will-be-an-intriguing-piece-to-the-patriots-defense\/","title":{"rendered":"Mingo Will Be an Intriguing Piece to the Patriots Defense"},"content":{"rendered":"

Athletic Freak will play Linebacker in the Patriots System<\/h2>\n

The Patriots have some players who won\u2019t be sleeping much on Monday night, sweating over the league mandated cut-down to 75 players on Tuesday by 4 p.m. Newly acquired LB\/DE Barkevious Mingo won\u2019t be getting much sleep either, but he\u2019s not worried about his status. He\u2019s a lock. But he\u2019s far behind his contemporaries in learning the Patriots defense. So he\u2019s burning the midnight oil trying to get up to speed in Bill Belichick\u2019s defense.<\/p>\n

Bill Belichick and defensive coordinator Matt Patricia love versatile players on the perimeter that can rush the passer, and drop into coverage. Their defensive end\/linebacker hybrids allow them to disguise coverages in the secondary and bring QB pressure from a variety of different positions. They just got themselves a very intriguing piece. But first\u2026he has to learn the playbook.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard,\u201d he said. \u201cThese guys have got a couple months on me. It\u2019s a challenge, but the guys here are really helping me come along, tell me the right directions and just get me ready to play.\u201d Bill Belichick said much the same thing in his Monday morning press conference, stating that Mingo was far behind his teammates.<\/p>\n

\"Mingo<\/p>\n

Mingo is an athletic freak who was drafted in the 2013 NFL Draft by the Browns with the #6 overall pick but never lived up to his draft status. Part of the reason was that with the constant turnover with the Cleveland coaching staffs, he was constantly asked to do different things, having to always learn a new system, and frequently for coaches who didn\u2019t use him properly.<\/p>\n

The 6\u20194, 245-pound Mingo had an incredible performance in the 2013 NFL Combine. \u00a0He ran a 4.58 time in the 40-yard dash, a 37-inch vertical leap, a 128-inch Broad jump and an excellent 6.84 time in the 3-Cone Drill. But the Browns coaches never fully realized his potential.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a huge challenge,\u201d he said. \u201cNot knowing going into a year what\u2019s going to be the playbook, who\u2019s going to be the coach, how you\u2019re going to be used. But it\u2019s part of the game we chose to play.\u201d Asked about what his strengths were, he said, “I was asked to do a lot of that over there, and rush the passer still, definitely, and cover tight ends.”<\/p>\n

The Patriots made it clear to Mingo, he\u2019s going to be a linebacker in their system. With edge rushers Jabaal Sheard, who Mingo credited with being a mentor in his rookie season, Rob Ninkovich, Chris Long, Shea McClellin and Trey Flowers the team has excellent, versatile players who can rush the passer or drop into throwing lanes.<\/p>\n

On one such play on Friday night, Long dropped along the line of scrimmage, unseen by Cam Newton, he deflected a pass up in the air that was picked off by Devin McCourty.<\/p>\n

Mingo joins Jamie Collins and Dont\u2019a Hightower as the linebackers who can support the rush defense, cover the tight ends or blitz the quarterback from a variety of different positions. Opponents throwing the ball will find a difficult task in identifying where the pass rush is coming from and where the coverages will be rolling to. Having a pair of linebackers as athletic and fast as Collins and Mingo\u00a0presents the coaches with some interesting and very intriguing possibilities.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very exciting,\u201d Mingo said to the media on Monday. \u201cThis team is stacked at every position. You have guys on the outside that can cover, you have interior guys that are holding gaps and linebackers that are hitting those gaps and making big plays. I\u2019m just happy to be a part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mingo, like Sheard and Dion Lewis, came from the losing atmosphere of Cleveland where the Browns won 14 games in his three years there. The Patriots won 13 just last year alone. The irony was not lost on him as he said, one minute he was preparing to play for the Browns against the Bucs and the next, he\u2019s boarding a plane joining the most successful franchise the past decade.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a huge culture shock,\u201d Mingo said Monday about coming over to New England. \u201cI\u2019m just excited to be a part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Patriots don\u2019t care where he was drafted or that he didn\u2019t live up to his Top 10 draft billing in Cleveland. Like McClellin who came over under similar circumstances from Chicago this season, they\u2019re only interested in a talented player learning his role. They don\u2019t expect him to play like a Top 10 draft pick in 2016. What they do expect is for him to learn the defense and do his job. He can be a valuable cog in what makes this intriguing defense a Top 10 unit in the NFL this year. That\u2019s the Patriots way.<\/p>\n

Mingo is definitely going to be one of the players to watch as he finds his feet here. It may take a few weeks, but this defense is shaping up (on paper) to be one of the most versatile groups that Belichick has had in New England. And that\u2019s saying something.<\/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":"

\u201cThese guys have got a couple months on me. It\u2019s a challenge, but the guys here are really helping me come along, just get me ready to play.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":7665,"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":[11,10],"tags":[799,48,1114,34,929,154,19,16,288,44,70,8,38,850,36,861,35],"class_list":["post-7664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-patriots-commentary","category-patriots-news","tag-2016-patriots-roster","tag-53-man-roster-projection","tag-barkevious-mingo","tag-bill-belichick","tag-chris-long","tag-donta-hightower","tag-geneo-grissom","tag-jabaal-sheard","tag-jamie-collins","tag-new-england-patriots","tag-nfl","tag-patriots","tag-patriots-edge-rushers","tag-patriots-linebackers","tag-rob-ninkovich","tag-shea-mcclellin","tag-trey-flowers"],"yoast_head":"\nMingo Will Be an Intriguing Piece to the Patriots Defense<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"\u201cThese guys have got a couple months on me. 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