Return of Dont'a Hightower a welcome sight for Patriots defense

FOXBOROUGH — It’s hard not to look at Dont’a Hightower this spring and feel that some sense of … order … has been restored in New England.

Last year, the Patriots’ linebackers — for so long, the heart of the New England defense — were forced to play without the Alabama product from late October through the rest of the regular season and into the playoffs. New England can preach next man up all day, but playing without Hightower for that long a stretch was like going into a heavyweight fight with one arm tied behind your back.

From his perspective, it was tough to sit and watch.

“It hurt,” Hightower said Thursday when asked what it was like to miss the postseason last year. “It sucked.”

Not having Hightower was a practical, on-field loss. The former Pro Bowler is a 6-foot-3, 265-pound presence who can rush from the edge, serve as a thumper in the middle and orchestrate the A gap blitz to perfection as needed. All while serving as the defensive signal-caller. Basically, he’s a foundational element vital to the success of the Patriots' defense.

But it also created a genuine leadership void. Spend five minutes talking with him -- or to his teammates about what he means to the rest of the roster and the locker room --  and you can understand there’s a gravity to his words. His teammates listen to him the same way they listened to Vince Wilfork and Willie McGinest. He has a presence on and off the field that can’t be duplicated. In that way, his absence was palpable.

Now, to see him back on the field doing football things — even in shorts and helmets — is an encouraging sight for New England fans. It’s incredibly early, but from talking to people around the league, it’s clear the expectations around his return are simple: he’ll stabilize the defense, and serve notice that the Patriots’ linebacking corps will be a more competitive group than it was last year.

“He’s a tough SOB,” said one NFC personnel man. “With his instincts, tackling and rush skills, things should definitely stabilize for that group this year.”


“It’s been awesome,” veteran safety Devin McCourty told BostonSportsJournal.com of Hightower’s return to the field. “He’s in the middle of our defense most of time, and that gives us great communication and leadership. It’s been great (having him back) because I think we got better last year throughout the year — and now adding him back, it just makes us better.

“Then, there’s simple fact that he’s really good. That helps us out the most.”

On Thursday, Hightower was moved to a handful of different spots at the second level. He spent time in the middle and on the edge as part a front seven that included a rotating cast of characters, including Trey Flowers and newcomer Adrian Clayborn on the other side. He looked nimble, except for an occasional stop to stretch his right leg, and showed a nice burst rushing and his agility when it came to coverage work.

Maybe the most important thing? His presence creates a domino effect -- as we saw Thursday, his return means more depth, and will allow the rest of the linebackers to return to more natural, complementary roles.

Ultimately, while Hightower wouldn’t commit to saying that he was 100 percent as of yet, he didn’t appear to be limited at all.

“I’ve been doing everything since OTAs started,” Hightower said. “I’m still rehabbing and still getting my extra lifts and all that other good stuff in. But as far as how I feel, I feel good.”

Of course, durability has always been an issue with the 28-year-old Hightower. He’s played a full 16-game season just once, and has missed 27 games total in his six years in the league.

But the truth of the matter is that when he’s been healthy, the defense has been healthy: Two of the last three times he’s played in the postseason, the Patriots have won the whole thing. While it’s not the only reason, it’s not completely coincidental. Given his track record of coming up big in big games — stopping Marshawn Lynch late on the goal line in Super Bowl XLIX, sacking Matt Ryan in the fourth quarter of Super Bowl LI — it’s only natural to think what might have been if Hightower was on the field for Super Bowl LII last February.

“To say me playing in (that) game, that would have changed a big output of the game, that’s definitely not what I’m saying,” he said. “Philly is a damn good team and they went out and they proved that. But, man, it hurt.”

Instead of focusing on Philly, for Hightower, it was about rehab. In the past, several players who have been on the shelf for an extended stretch used the time away to hone their game in other areas — additional film study, picking the brains of their teammates, or simply added time with the coaches. Hightower told me he was able to incorporate all three in the eight months since he went down, and he believes it helped the rehab process.

“I watched a lot of film of myself,” Hightower said. “I saw a lot of things that I need to work on. DeMarcus Covington (a defensive coaching intern) did a great job with that as far as in our linebacker room, helping us. One of the things I wanted to be able to work on and learn a little bit more about was man-to-man coverage, and we were working more on that — why we’re running this certain style and why our philosophy is what it is.

“So a little bit deeper than ‘What is Cover 2?’ or ‘What is Cover 5?’ or ‘Why do we run that?’ (It’s) picking some of the offensive guys’ brains — (Brian) Hoyer, (Tom) Brady — like, ‘Whenever we’re in Cover 2, what are you looking at? If we’re doubling over here, what are you looking at?’ It definitely made me sit back and want to learn a little bit more about the game so that can help me get back and be able to move a little bit quicker than what I am.”

Ultimately, if the 2018 Patriots are able to build a championship defense, they’ll need a cornerstone like Hightower. While there’s a long way to go between now and the start of the season, Thursday revealed the fact that the foundation looks a lot sturdier than it did at the end of last year.