2017 Patriots position-by-position review: Health issues -- especially loss of Hightower -- dealt big blow to LB depth

With the Patriots’ 2017 season done, we’re going to take a look back at the team by position, and provide a few thoughts as to what the future might hold at that spot moving forward. To this point, we’ve covered the entire offensive side of the ball, and featured the defensive line on Monday. Now, it’s the linebackers.


2017 depth chart (regular-season stats via Pro Football Reference): Kyle Van Noy (58 tackles, 5.5 sacks), Elandon Roberts (45 tackles, two sacks), David Harris (15 tackles, 1.5 sacks), James Harrison (three tackles, two sacks), Marquis Flowers (23 tackles, 3.5 sacks), Trevor Reilly (four tackles) and Nicholas Grigsby. Dont’a Hightower (12 tackles, two sacks), Shea McClellin and Harvey Langi ended the season on injured reserve.

Contract status: Van Noy (signed through 2019), Roberts (signed through 2019), Harris (signed through 2018), Harrison (free agent), Flowers (free agent), Reilly (signed through 2018), Grigsby (signed through 2018), Hightower (signed through 2020), McClellin (signed through 2018) and Langi (signed through 2019).

Overview: We said the wide receiver group spent a lot of time fighting a battle this past year with one hand tied behind its back because of the losses of Julian Edelman and Malcolm Mitchell. The same is true for the linebackers. Hightower was in and out of the lineup for the first seven games before his season-ending pec injury, forcing Van Noy, Roberts and (later) Harris to play more snaps and have a greater role than anyone initially anticipated at the start of the season. McClellin wasn’t expected to play a major role on defense, but his loss robbed the Patriots of even more depth and veteran smarts. And Langi, who flashed positively in the preseason, was lost for the year after his car crash. While Van Noy emerged as a leader and defensive signal-caller, he was probably playing over his head for much of the season. And while Van Noy emerged as a leader, the loss of Hightower was palpable at times. His absence was felt primarily at linebacker, but it impacted the defense as a whole. His return will be big in 2018, but going forward, I’ll also echo the thoughts of the NFC personnel man we talked to, who said the Patriots have to get younger and faster when it comes to their front seven, specifically at linebacker.

Best Moment: I watch this play from the AFC title game where Harrison did something awful to Jacksonville left tackle Cam Robinson and I hear the voice of Liam Neeson from “Taken” in my head: “I don't know who you are. I don't know what you want. … But what I do have are a very particular set of skills, skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you.” If you’re a more literary type, you can go with this one from David Mamet: “Old age and treachery will always beat youth and exuberance.” Whatever your choice is, it’s almost unfair what Harrison does to the poor kid here.



There were other great plays over the course of the season, but given the situation, what was on the line and the fact that it was Harrison, this gets our pick for best moment.

Worst Moment: I forgot just how bad a lot of the defense was at the start of the season, particularly late in the opener against the Chiefs. And while we became friendly with Cassius Marsh in his brief stay with the Patriots, his gaffe was at the center of one of the worst defensive breakdowns of the season. To be fair, he was fundamentally thrown into the deep end of the pool and asked to swim, but on this play, he didn’t re-route Kareem Hunt, who came flying out of the backfield, and New England was scorched for a 75-yard touchdown pass. There were other guys like Van Noy who looked out of place, but as a whole, it was easily one of the worst plays of the season for the New England linebacking corps.



By the numbers: Per Pro Football Reference, Harrison played 40 snaps in five games with the Steelers in 2017. In four games with the Patriots (one regular season, three postseason), he played 158 snaps.

A few thoughts about the position: This position needs to look different in 2018. The return of Hightower will bring some instant credibility. He's one of the most important guys on the roster, one of the straws that stir the drink. (Whenever I start to question his impact, I think back to this interview he did with Greg early in the season. When he talks, people listen.) McClellin will certainly be a part of the rotation as well. If Van Noy can build on the positives from 2017, that’s a good start, and you can augment the back end of the depth chart with the likes of Flowers, Roberts and Langi, provided he’s near 100 percent. A source close to Harrison said there’s a “reasonable chance” he could return in 2018, but Harris may have played his last game as a member of the Patriots. Basically, if the group is healthy, it’s good. And when he’s healthy, Hightower is one of the best in the game. But the positional group needs some work between now and the start of the 2018 season.

(One other thing worth mentioning: Linebackers coach Brian Flores figures to be the guy who is going to take over for Matt Patricia as the defensive coordinator. Flores squeezed a lot out of this group in 2017 — it’ll be interesting to see what sort of direction the Pats go here if Flores is promoted.)

Chance Patriots address this position in free agency: Good. There’s not a lot of big names out there, but there are a few Patriots types who have been around a few years who might be capable of adding some depth, including Jonathan Casillas and Akeem Ayers. One name that certainly might be intriguing that has already been mentioned to me was Nigel Bradham, the sort of speedy off-ball linebacker capable of helping in coverage.

Chance Patriots address this position in the draft: Excellent. Forecasting what the Patriots are going to do in the draft can be a fool’s errand, but it’d be a big surprise if they didn’t address linebacker somewhere in the first two rounds. While he might not be there at the end of the first, several mock drafts have New England eying Alabama linebacker Rashaan Evans.