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?
I think he’s a perfect fit. Let me say this: he’s one of the toughest human beings I’ve ever been around. Personality-wise, he’s kind of like a Dirty Harry or John Wayne type of guy. Few words, strong backbone personality, decisive type. I think he’s a perfect personality for center. Sometimes he can be a bit abrasive because he’s so frank. But that’s what I liked in him most. He has incredible strength (he did 42 reps on the bench at the combine) and toughness and smarts, and he communicates well. And he does all that. I think he really fits in well with what they do. I think he’s a good pickup for them. He’s not really a wide-zone guy. He’s more of traditional, NFL-style blocky, big — he’s big for a center (6-3, 310) — and he already plays with the type of temperament and tenacity that the Patriots are really known for.
How will he be working with Tom Brady with protections and checks at the line?
He’ll be outstanding. He’s in the upper tier in football intelligence. It’s one of his strengths. He’ll see safety rotations and linebacker shifts. He’s decisive. We had very, very few mental errors when he was our center. One of the strengths that I liked about him — and you mentioned that maybe I liked him more than the public did — was because I saw what he did behind the scenes. He was smart, communicated, tough, displayed toughness and if I had to think of what I envisioned him to be, he is that.
Does he have any ability to slide over to guard in a pinch?
Yeah, he played guard early in his career at North Carolina. I’m sure he could play guard. It’s a little different timing. He doesn’t have particularly long arms which you’d rather have at guard, but as sixth or seventh guy, sure.
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?
He’s not exactly nifty ... is a word I’d use. Change of direction is average, athleticism in space … those kinds of things are average. Scouts like to see the athleticism and all that. To me, the center’s most important job physically is if he blocks the guy on the nose, the noseguard. And he does that very well. He’s better at controlling big nose men, that’s his strength. What he’s not as good at is chasing linebackers. I’d say that’s fair.
According to ProFootballFocus.com, his pressures numbers weren’t that bad…
We had a really good pass blocking line but he was probably the lowest among our starters in terms of that. He handles the bull rush really well. He has a little bit more of an issue on twists and blitzes and things that happen quickly. I’m sure he’s aware of that.
You saw him in Buffalo, where was he mentally?
Yeah, we talked. He was frustrated he was second-team and I guess to my eyes I would be a little frustrated too. But everyone looks for different things in a guy.