If you’ve been watching the New England Patriots intensely for the next month, you may have seen an unknown player patrolling defensive passes.
It is insufficient in size (5 feet 8 inches, 180 pounds), wears an unwanted T-shirt number (No. 41) and spent the first part of the season buried at the back of a loaded intensity board featuring Stephon Gilmore, JC Jackson, Jason McCourty and Jonathan Jones.
It may also be the most recent un written discovery of the Patriots.
This player is Myles Bryant, a rookie, multi-talented DB who began to forge a modest role in the Patriots’ best school.
In Sunday’s victory over the Arizona Cardinals, Bryant played a career-high thirteen shots and participated in two positive plays, sharing a take-down with a defensive take by Adam Butler and teaming up with McCourty and Butler in the red zone to prevent him from preparing the game. New England purpose line pivot support.
The 22-year-old Washington player has recorded only 48 career shots (33 in defense, 15 on special teams) and has had some setbacks along the way, however, head coach Bill Belichick likes what has been noticed so far.
“I think he has some versatility,” Belichick said Wednesday in a video conference. “We’ll see how it goes, but he’s done a lot of smart things so far. He hasn’t really been in the limelight under heavy fire; it’s more situational roles and things like that. But he did a smart homework with them. “
After distinguishing himself in the field of education, Bryant started the season on the practice team and was promoted to the list of 53 men after Week 1. He had to wait almost two months for his NFL debut, which nevertheless took place in the week. 8. With Gilmore offside due to a knee injury, Bryant played three defensive shots in a away loss to the Buffalo Bills.
“I’m a big fan of Kobe Bryant,” Bryant said Wednesday at his first virtual meeting with journalists since the summer, “and I saw a date where he said a lot of men care about inheritance, and when they care about inheritance, they do everything wrong All you have to do is move on to paintings every day and focus on your weaknesses and check them out.
“I used this time and used those tips for my weaknesses. When I looked up, it was week 8 in Buffalo and I was in a position to play. So I’m just thinking about that mindset: going one and both days and getting better, and looking to stack days in the most sensible of each other and learn, put me where I needed to be.
Bryant has played primarily as a cornerer in the camp, however, with the Patriots well equipped in that position, he has assumed a variety of other roles since his deyet on November 1, betting from deep loose to deep forged for supporter and advantage player in England’s New Third Pack.
Learning various positions can be tricky for young players, but Bryant, whom Jason and Devin McCourty have dubbed “I. T. “after Isaiah Thomas, former Boston Celtics star and compatriot Washington Husky, had an advantage.
“Actually, I was lucky,” he explained, “since my (college) coaches stayed here (with the Patriots for) some springs, so they took some concepts and installed them for their defense. We might have had other terms, but they’re more or less the same concepts. This fun worked great for me, being just a Swiss knife without a date.
The Patriots’ best school is an incredibly flexible group. Jones and Jason McCourty divide the time between the corner and the deep. Adrian Phillips and Kyle Dugger are hybrid security/supporter. Devin McCourty plays loose and strong. Gilmore and Jackson are outer corners that can also be aligned in the groove. Gilmore has neutralized the closed wings of the elite in the past.
“(I’m) learning from as many guys as I can, ” said Bryant. “Jon Jones. Stephon Gilmore. Devin McCourty. JMac. JCA All those guys play in other positions. What do you do when you see that? OrArray ‘What have you done to get to the position you’re in now?’, be a sponge. I check to get as much data as I can and only check output to hold on to it. “
After seeing his first NFL action against Buffalo, Bryant played 11 defensive shots against the New York Jets in week nine and six against the Baltimore Ravens the following week. the inactive list, however, after a healthy scratch, returned to the arizona opposite lineup and saw its biggest workload to date.
Aside from his appearances in the game, Bryant’s duties this season have also been to emulate cell quarterbacks and some of the New England reconnaissance team’s field media.
“We’ve been pretty lucky this year at the best school from a fitness perspective, and we have a smart intensity there,” Belichick said. “We were in a pretty smart physical state. But (Bryant) had a smart education camp and we got hit on the list. We just didn’t get many chances to play it. The boys in front of him played well at their chances.
“But he learned a lot. He is very attentive and asks many smart questions . . . and has a clever ability to apply them on the right stage and do well in the box in practice and in their opportunities in the game. “. They were limited, but they remained positive for the same thing he did in practice. “
Despite their long history of high-level defensive draft breaths (Duke Dawson, Cyrus Jones, Jordan Richards, Ras-I Dowling, Tavon Wilson, Terrence Wheatley, etc. ), the Patriots were phenomenal in locating DB’s ability after the draft. The list of good fortune over the years includes Jackson, Jones, Malcolm Butler, Kenny Moore, Cre’von LeBlanc and Randall Gay.
Bryant has not yet shown that he belongs to this group, but he has had a promising start. You can also watch his role expand this week if Jackson, who just practiced Wednesday due to a hip injury, simply doesn’t play on Sunday. opposite the Chargers of Los Angeles.
“He’s a wise player, a speed, very difficult, ” said Gilmore. “He learned all the other positions and I think he’s helping us a lot. It comes when it’s called and makes us coins, right position.
“I think he still has a lot to learn, yet he’s getting better every week and he’ll help us in the future. “