Rowe making case in race for third CB spot

FOXBOROUGH — Don’t do it. It’s only two practices. The pads haven’t even gone on yet.

That’s the internal monologue of any local football writer worth his or her salt who has watched cornerback Eric Rowe for the first two practices of Patriots’ camp. After all, some summertime stars have been known to fall off the radar screen once the regular season rolls around. And Bill Belichick’s point on Friday that the pads haven’t even gone on yet is another reminder that we should hold off making any serious evaluations until at least August.

But regardless of what the calendar says, even after a couple days of camp, it’s hard not to look at Rowe and see a guy making a compelling case to be the No. 3 cornerback, ahead of the likes of Jonathan Jones and Cyrus Jones. In two practices, he’s picked off a pair of passes and made a series of impressive plays, including one on Friday where he went up and swiped the ball from receiver Devin Lucien. On the play, it looked like Rowe had been beaten on a back-shoulder throw from Jimmy Garoppolo, but Rowe just went up and took it from him.

"I saw the ball in his pocket and I just kind of put my arm in there," Rowe said. "And [the ball] just happened to fall in my lap at the same time when I hit the ground.

“It’s kind of how I wanted to play it. I try to look for the ball, but I was a half-second late, but that's OK. I usually go for the pocket, try to punch it out, rip it out."

With Malcolm Butler and Stephon Gilmore ticketed for the outside, the 6-foot-1 Rowe — who lined up opposite bigger receivers for much of last season — wouldn’t seem like a fit for the slot, especially when you consider the fact that there are smaller, shiftier guys who also figure to be in the mix. That includes 2016 undrafted rookie Jonathan Jones, who has been the third corner through the first two practices.

But after practice on Friday, Rowe certainly sounded open to the idea, saying that he’s been “studying the slot role” and remains open to the possibility.

“I’m trying to be more versatile so I can go inside or out,” Rowe said. “In the spring, I kept telling the coaches, ‘Hey, I got the cornerback spot’ — not like I got it down 100 percent, but — ‘I [have] a much better understanding, you know? I’m studying the slot role. Try me out.’ They threw me in and I had a little bit of success. So it’s not like a focus focus, but for me, I’m trying to learn all the spots.”

Granted, the move from playing predominantly on the outside to becoming a slot corner isn’t an easy jump. In the slot, corners don’t necessarily have the luxury of using the sidelines as a safety net. Instead, it’s a rugged position that demands a different skill set.

But as a guy who made the move to corner as a pro after spending most of his college career at safety — and despite being bumped down the depth chart because of the Gilmore signing — he’s gotten used to adapting. After all, he seemed to do a pretty good job within the framework of the New England defense last season, and came on strongly down the stretch, playing 98 percent of the defensive snaps in the regular-season finale, 87 percent in the AFC championship game, and 65 percent in the Super Bowl.

"I feel like I have a lot to grow," Rowe said. "I feel like even coming into the league, I'm still behind in cornerback experience because I only had one year in college compared to usual corners. … So I feel like I have a lot of room to grow. Obviously I'm getting a lot better understanding of the position, kind of reading receivers' body language."