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New England Patriots Must Finally Address Pass-Rushing Depth This Offseason

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By @petahrahgas

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Getty Images

This is the year the New England Patriots must finally address lack of pass-rushing depth. Bill Belichick, if you’re reading this (who am I kidding, of course you’re reading this) I apologize in advance for my tone throughout this article. I’m just a little upset you haven’t fixed this problem yet.

For at least two years now, the Patriots have rolled into the NFL season without an obvious third rotation guy at defensive end. Chandler Jones and Rob Ninkovich are clearly the top pass-rushers on the team and have played as one would expect their top rushers to play. But for the second year in a row, the Patriots didn’t give these two the proper depth that they need. Instead, the Patriots ran both players into the ground, and it was very noticeable when Jones went down with an injury as the Patriots’ pass rush suffered greatly. 

It suffered so badly in fact the Pats had to go out and acquire Akeem Ayers from the Tennessee Titans. Now obviously this worked out for the Pats as Ayers came in, made an immediate impact, and won the Patriots the Super Bowl — he stopped Marshawn Lynch at the one-yard line before Malcolm Butler’s game-clinching interception, which also won the the game. Had Ayers not worked out, however, the Patriots would have found themselves in a serious pickle. 

So Belichick, this year go out and sign a backup pass-rusher. Please. I’ll even put a cherry on top if that helps.

This free agency class does boast a fair number of elite pass-rushers, but most of the creme of the crop will either be re-signed/franchise tagged or slightly out of the Patriots’ price range. But there are still plenty of options for Belichick to peruse.

Obviously, first would be re-signing Ayers. The Patriots know what he can do and how he plays, so if both sides want to make a deal, I think that’ll happen pretty easily.

If the team wants to look outside of their own free agents, Pernell McPhee, who played outside linebacker for the Baltimore Ravens this past season, is my personal favorite target. McPhee finished the season with 7.5 sacks and was second in the league in pressures with 64, despite playing limited snaps. McPhee has shown to be excellent in a spell role, plus, an added bonus would be signing him away from those pesky Ravens.

If the Patriots go into another season without a suitable backup for Nink and Jones, they’ll risk overworking the two star defensive ends and the team’s pass rush will be living and breathing on the health of both players. The Patriots can’t do another season without a spell pass-rusher, so Belichick better make it a priority to go out and sign one.

Peter Rogers is a featured NFL writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @petahrahgas or add him to your network on Google

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