Getty Brian Poole
According to ESPN’s Mike Reiss, the New England Patriots worked out free-agent DBs Brian Poole and De’Vante Bausby. The Patriots don’t have a ton of depth in the secondary, and as Reiss mentions in his tweet, the coaching staff doesn’t appear to have a ton of confidence in Joejuan Williams.
As Patriots fans watch the team scramble to add depth at cornerback, it is hard not to wonder why the team didn’t work something out with Stephon Gilmore.
The Skinny on Brian Poole
Poole is not to be confused with a player whose presence is going to elevate the Patriots’ defense. However, he could potentially start at nickel or simply provide depth at a crucial spot.
Bent of Gang Green Nation had positive things to say about Poole’s coverage skills shortly after the veteran signed with the New York Jets.
Bent wrote:
Poole’s coverage numbers have been acceptable over the course of his career. In fact, his quarterback rating when targeted has been exactly the same as Buster Skrine’s over the course of their respective careers. The slot cornerback position is a thankless task, which will see even the better players at that position giving up catches to the top possession receivers in the league. Poole has surrendered a catch rate of 73 percent and actually gave up the highest catch rate in the NFL in 2017, although he was outside the bottom 30 in his other two years. He has only given up 10.4 yards per catch which stacks up well with other slot corners. He was actually 9th in the NFL in that category in his rookie year. Poole hasn’t given up a lot of big plays over the course of his career.
The talk of allowing big plays out of the slot leaves a bad taste in the mouths of Patriots fans after they watched CeeDee Lamb burn Jalen Mills for the game-winning touchdown in overtime of the Week 6 loss to the Dallas Cowboys.
The Skinny on De’Vante Bausby
Darin Alexander-Baydoun of Sports Illustrated evaluated Bausby’s potential impact ahead of signing with the Las Vegas Raiders in July and touched on Pittsburg State alum’s struggle to duplicate the interception numbers he generated in college.
Baydoun wrote:
Bausby, though, has not seen himself recreate the success he had at Pittsburg State, where he was the team’s resident ballhawk. It couldn’t be the furthest thing from it, as he has no interceptions in his NFL career compared to the 11 he had from 2011 to 2014 in college. Bausby just hasn’t had the role or opportunity presented to him to ever try to match those numbers.
Bausby feels like more of a long shot to make even the practice squad. He doesn’t have as much experience as Poole, but it depends on how much depth the Patriots are looking to add in the secondary.
The Lack of Depth at CB Makes Trading Stephon Gilmore a Questionable Decision
Would the Patriots be looking for depth and/or answers at corner if the team hadn’t traded Gilmore?
USA Today’s Henry McKenna hammered the Patriots for “mishandling” the trade of Gilmore to the Carolina Panthers.
He wrote:
Stephon Gilmore isn’t worth a sixth-round pick. He’s a former Defensive Player of the Year. He’s among the NFL’s best cornerbacks, even at 31 years old. It is plainly clear the New England Patriots bungled the situation with their top cornerback, leading to this bizarre breakup that ended with Gilmore being traded to the Panthers for a 2023 sixth-round pick.
As it stands, Jackson has been at least solid as the CB1, but after him, it appears there is a significant drop-off and that’s why the team is working out guys like Poole and Bausby.
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