Pats Pulpit
The New England Patriots pulled a surprise out of their hat on Friday, releasing safety Jabrill Peppers after three seasons. Seemingly locked into a starting spot all summer and a member of the team’s initial 53-man roster, the 29-year-old now finds himself cut for the first time in his nine-year NFL career.
Given Peppers’ history with the team and seemingly high value to the operation, the move is a big one for the Patriots. Let’s zoom out a bit and see what it means from a big-picture perspective.
With Peppers no longer part of the equation, the Patriots’ safety group is down to five players. The top options among them project to be Jaylinn Hawkins and Craig Woodson, who both climbed up the depth chart over the course of the summer.
Hawkins originally joined the team last year as a free agency pickup, and was re-signed to a new one-year, $1.8 million contract this offseason. Woodson, meanwhile, was selected 106th overall by the club in the fourth round of this year’s draft. Unlike Peppers, who effectively was inherited from the previous regime — more on that in a second — the two were actively made a part of their vision by head coach Mike Vrabel and defensive coordinator Terrell Williams.
As such, they seemingly emerged as better fits for what Vrabel and Williams want their safeties to do. What is that? Operate in space and cover ground in the passing game, something both have shown themselves capable of doing.
Peppers’ strengths, meanwhile, lie in the box rather than the open field. There still appeared to be a spot for him on the team to fill this role, but apparently the new brass had reached a different conclusion.
If you had to guess a week ago which one of Peppers or Kyle Dugger would be on the roster come Aug. 29, you probably would have said the former no questions asked. However, Dugger remains left standing on the Patriots’ 53-man team as.
That does not mean his job is secure, though. For starters, the team did actively and ultimately unsuccessfully shop him before the league’s roster cutdown deadline on Tuesday.
Still, for the time being, Dugger projects as one of the depth options behind the aforementioned Jaylinn Hawkins and Craig Woodson. He, second-year man Dell Pettus and core special teamer Brenden Schooler round out a room that suddenly looks a lot shallower than it did at the start of training camp.
Less than one year after he was first named a captain for the team, Peppers has now been cut. He is in good company: the Patriots’ original group of captains from a year ago is now officially entirely off the roster.
Peppers was the last man standing from a sextet that also featured quarterback Jacoby Brissett, center David Andrews, defensive lineman Deatrich Wise Jr., linebacker Ja’Whaun Bentley, and long snapper Joe Cardona. Brissett and Wise...
