Pats Pulpit
Previewing the Patriots safety heading into his ninth NFL season.
The New England Patriots defense will have a new look in 2025, but some of the old guard still remain. Among them is Jabrill Peppers, a starting safety who arrived in 2022 after stints with the Cleveland Browns and New York Giants.
Peppers has been a mainstay on defense since joining the Patriots, but he finds himself in a challenging position: he will need to prove himself coming off what might just have been the most challenging season of his career.
Name: Jabrill Peppers
Position: Safety
Jersey number: 5
Opening day age: 29 (10/4/1995)
Measurements: 5’10 7/8”, 217 lbs, 30 3/4” arm length, 9 5/8” hand size, 4.46s 40-yard dash, 35 1/2” vertical jump, 10’8” broad jump, 19 bench press reps, 9.10 Relative Athletic Score
NFL: Cleveland Browns (2017-18), New York Giants (2019-21), England Patriots (2022-) | College: Michigan (2014-16)
A five-star prospect and one of the highest-rated recruits in the nation coming out of Paramus Catholic High School in Paramus, NJ, Peppers received scholarship offers from some of the most prestigious programs in college football. Starting out as a cornerback, he steadily expanded his scope under head coach Jim Harbaugh and by his 2016 redshirt junior season was a do-it-all piece in the Wolverines’ secondary, on special teams and even on offense.
Named a unanimous first-team All-American and receiving several individual accolades including the Paul Hornung Award, the Lott Trophy, and the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year award, Peppers decided to forgo his final two years of eligibility. Despite having played only 27 games in college, he was selected 25h overall by the Browns in the 2017 NFL Draft and made an immediate impact on their defense.
Primarily aligning as a deep safety, Peppers showed promise in his first year as a system. However, his playing time decreased during his sophomore campaign and his role started to change: the Browns decided to use him all over their secondary and not in one pre-defined spot. He performed well, but was nonetheless traded to the Giants after his second season in a move also involving star wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr.
Peppers went on to spend three seasons in New York, and established himself as a quality box safety. The Giants consequently exercised his fifth-year contract option to keep him in the fold through 2021, but he suffered a torn ACL halfway through the season.
Even though he had started 59 games over his first five seasons in the league, Peppers experienced a slow free agency period in 2022. He eventually was picked up by the Patriots in early April, signing a one-year, $2 million deal to come to New England. That contract was the first step in what would become a solid tenure with his new club: over the next three years, Peppers added 26 more starts to his résumé as a jack of all trades in the Patriots’ defensive backfield.
Scouting report...
