New Patriots center Russell Bodine was hand-picked by former Bengals offensive line coach Paul Alexander as a fourth-round selection in 2014 and he coached Bodine all four seasons before both moved on after 2017. Bodine was part of a great Bengals offensive line — Andrew Whitworth, Kevin Zeitler, Clint Boling and Andrew Smith — I wrote about for Sports Illustrated in 2016 but Bodine was known as the weak link of that group.
I caught up with Alexander, who is a colleague of Patriots line coach Dante Scarnecchia (they did not talk prior to the trade — "That's not unusual with them," Alexander said), to discuss Bodine's strengths, weaknesses and how he'll fit into the Patriots' system and work with Tom Brady.
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General thoughts on Russ Bodine, your experience with him and how he’ll fit with Dante Scarnecchia and what the Patriots do?
he did 42 reps on the bench at the combine
6-3, 310
How will he be working with Tom Brady with protections and checks at the line?
Does he have any ability to slide over to guard in a pinch?
He did what he did in Cincinnati and he didn’t exactly sign for top dollar in Buffalo (two years, $5 million) so he wasn’t exactly coveted … where is he deficient?
According to ProFootballFocus.com, his pressures numbers weren’t that bad…
You saw him in Buffalo, where was he mentally?