Pats Pulpit
Devin McCourty knows a thing or two about playing safety in the NFL. Over his 13 years in the league, he appeared in 229 games and helped the New England Patriots win three Super Bowls.
So, when he takes to social media to say a rookie “plays like a 10-year vet,” it is not some random Joe Schmo giving his opinion.
The rookie in question is Patriots fourth-round draft pick Craig Woodson, who played a critical role in New England’s divisional playoff win over the Houston Texans on Saturday. Playing all but five of his team’s 75 defensive snaps, he registered two takeaways and therefore had an active hand in his team giving up only 16 points on the day.
It was the latest step up for a player whose quick development has been a factor in the Patriots’ defensive success so far this year.
“Very consistent. Continues to improve,” said head coach Mike Vrabel on Monday. “He takes coaching. He practices hard every day. He’s really been a good tackler for us. It was good to see him make some plays on the football yesterday, catching the tipped ball and then being a factor on some other throws where he got some PBUs — we had 14 PBUs [Sunday]. So, the more times you touch the ball or hit the quarterback, those are good for the defense.
“But he’s an easy guy to coach, he’s very coachable. You don’t have to explain things too many times to him, he usually tries to get it. He makes mistakes, but not too many, and rarely makes the same mistake twice.”
Woodson spent his entire six-year college career at Cal, and was ultimately selected 106th overall by the Patriots in this year’s draft. Joining a veteran room headed by multi-year starters Kyle Dugger and Jabrill Peppers, early projections had him as a rotational option and possible core special teamer.
However, Woodson quickly outgrew those expectations. In fact, his progress over the summer might very well has been what directly led to the Patriots first demoting and later trading Dugger as well as outright releasing Peppers before the season opener.
Vrabel and the coaching staff clearly were high on the 24-year-old, and he kept proving them right. While not immune from rookie growing pains, he remained on an upward trajectory and along the way became a mainstay and surprising veteran presence on the defensive side of the ball. In fact, no other player on the Patriots’ defensive roster has played more snaps than his 1,080 through 19 games (and that’s not counting his 75 special teams snaps over that same span).
For Woodson, they key to his growth lies in one thing: confidence.
“Just trusting myself, just having confidence out there,” he said. “I think it’s getting easier with my teammates supporting me and having the coaches have my back. So, just trusting the plays that I see and then improving; my tackling and communication have gotten a lot better.”
His improvement culminated...
