Who steps up on Rob Ninkovich’s absence for Patriots?
Who will step up in the absence of Rob Ninkovich for the New England Patriots? An offseason trade and an under-the-radar draft pick could combine forces…
The New England Patriots’ defensive front will be without Rob Ninkovich this season for the first time since 2008, when he was on his second stint with the New Orleans Saints.
The former fifth round pick out of Purdue (2006) by the Saints was let go by New Orleans and spent 2007 with the Miami Dolphins before returning to the Saints in 2008. The Patriots picked him up in 2009, and he enjoyed a marvelous career there, which included two Super Bowl titles.
Ninkovich’s stellar career has come to a close, per reports:
Sources: Longtime Pats DE Ninkovich to retire https://t.co/EOIgkolYWd #Patriots pic.twitter.com/v3uEznp5hD
— ESPNBoston (@ESPNBoston) July 30, 2017
Ninkovich never made a Pro Bowl, which is criminal considering the number of clutch plays he made for the Patriots over the years.
Statistically, he never really put up the type of numbers that would cause anyone to lose their breath or anything. What he has always been for the Patriots is consistent, and he was the quintessential Bill Belichick player, who could do pretty much anything the team asked him to do.
Need a defensive end? Ninkovich did it. Need him to drop into coverage and make a play? No problem? Play inside linebacker? You got it.
The Patriots relied heavily on Ninkovich through the years, but at 33 years of age and two titles later, he has decided to call it a (great) career.
Now what?
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The Patriots made a trade this offseason with the Carolina Panthers for defensive end Kony Ealy, who will likely assume a good amount of the responsibility, but the Patriots are going to be replacing defensive ends by the dozen it feels like this offseason.
Ninkovich actually only played about 44.3 percent of the snaps last year defensively, with Chris Long leading the way among their defensive end group at 64.91 percent.
Behind Long was Jabaal Sheard at 55.51 percent.
There will be plenty of snaps to go around, so obviously Ealy will eat some of them up along with rookie Derek Rivers, a third round pick that I personally thought had some first round potential. Rivers may be more the versatile defensive end/linebacker type like Ninkovich was in comparison to Ealy, but the Patriots have added options this offseason.
Ninkovich enjoyed a phenomenal career, but his unique production at a number of positions could prove more difficult to replace than we think.