{"id":26689,"date":"2025-06-24T14:35:34","date_gmt":"2025-06-24T14:35:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=26689"},"modified":"2025-06-24T14:35:34","modified_gmt":"2025-06-24T14:35:34","slug":"breaking-news-new-england-patriots-should-not-part-ways-with-veteran-lb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=26689","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING NEWS : New England Patriots Should Not Part Ways with Veteran LB"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,x_0,y_74,w_4860,h_2733\/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images\/GettyImages\/mmsport\/253\/01jyfj1cc4fjf94rnrwq.jpg\" alt=\"Los Angeles Chargers v New England Patriots\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-0\">The New England Patriots focused strongly on retooling the defense this offseason, parting ways with many established players from the former regime, with head coach Mike Vrabel adding the players that he knows will fit in his system, most of whom have already played for Vrabel in the past.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\">The Patriots specifically added to the defensive line, as they\u2019re looking to have a stronger pass-rushing attack with Vrabel running the show in New England. They\u2019ve added Milton Williams and Khyiris Tonga, and drafted Joshua Farmer and Bradyn Swinson.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\">With New England\u2019s new defensive concepts, they\u2019ve added Harold Landry III and K\u2019Lavon Chaisson to be pass-rushers who can get sacks and Robert Spillane to be the leader of the defense.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"inline-text-3\">Patriots Need to Keep Anfernee Jennings for Next Season<\/h2>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\">The way things went during OTAs and minicamp, Anfernee Jennings could be on the roster bubble heading into the season, and it doesn\u2019t make much sense as to why he\u2019s falling down in the depth chart and not working much with the first defensive group, as Karen Guregian noted.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\">\u201cDuring OTAs and minicamp, however, Jennings appears to have fallen way down in the depth chart. He\u2019s been nowhere near the first or second unit. His precipitous drop is curious, to say the least. He doesn\u2019t fall into the ladder category, with most captains from the recent past being shipped out. Based on his usage, or lack thereof, Jennings could be a prime cut candidate.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\">Jennings hasn\u2019t necessarily lived up to the expectations of being drafted in the third round of the 2020 NFL Draft, but he is a good football player who can do a lot of things well for this new and improved defense.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\">In 2024, Jennings started 16 games and finished third on the team with 78 tackles, and he had the least amount of missed tackles out of the other two top linebackers from last season, with Jahlani Tavai and Christian Elliss:<\/p>\n<ul id=\"inline-text-8\">\n<li>Jahlani Tavai: 115 tackles (8 missed, 6.5%)<\/li>\n<li>Christian Elliss: 80 tackles (6 missed 7.0%)<\/li>\n<li>Anfernee Jennings: 78 tackles (4 missed, 4.9%)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\">Jennings also had the most pressures (14) and hits on the quarterback (9) out of any of the linebackers in New England last year. According to Pro Football Focus, Jennings\u2019 56 solo tackles ranked first in the NFL out of 211 edge defenders.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-10\">During his time in New England, Jennings has showcased more as a run-stopper than a pass-rusher. But in this new defensive system, he\u2019ll need to be able to get to the quarterback more than he\u2019s ever done before.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-11\">Jennings is strong and physical and does a great job of setting the edge and not allowing runners to turn the corner to get upfield. He ranked third with 41 total stops and seventh with 15 total assists last year.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-12\">With the right coaching, Jennings could prove to be a valuable edge defender this season. He has the aggressive qualities and overall stature that Vrabel likes in his linebackers.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-13\">Although Jennings didn\u2019t get much work with the first defensive unit during OTAs and minicamp, it\u2019s fair to say that the <em>jury is still out<\/em> on Jennings until the pads come on in training camp. He\u2019s the type of player in a position that requires legitimate live reps to truly evaluate what he can bring to the table for this team.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-14\">I believe Jennings will have a role on the Patriots this season. He just needs the opportunity to prove himself to the new coaching staff in training camp.<\/p>\n<figure><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The New England Patriots focused strongly on retooling the defense this offseason, parting ways with many established players from the former regime, with head<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26691,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26689","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-new-england-patriots"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>BREAKING NEWS : New England Patriots Should Not Part Ways with Veteran LB - Breaking News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/breakingnews.azontree.com\/?p=26689\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BREAKING NEWS : New England Patriots Should Not Part Ways with Veteran LB - 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