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Why Matthew Judon believes Patriots’ defense is filled with ‘unicorns’
"We run the same play, but we just flip two guys and now it looks like a completely different defense."
FOXBORO — Mac Jones and the Patriots’ offense had a rough afternoon on the practice fields behind Gillette Stadium on Tuesday afternoon.
During multiple 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 drills, New England’s starters on offense struggled to orchestrate sustained drives down the gridiron.
Such a sequence might be a sign of things to come for other offenses set to face off against a versatile and deep Patriots defense in 2023.
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But cultivating a varied plan of attack against opposing offenses isn’t possible unless you’ve got the players in place that can carry out multiple roles.
“We have unicorns, for real,” Matthew Judon said of New England’s defensive versatility. “We got a guy like [Kyle] Dugger that can play on the line of scrimmage, at linebacker depth. He can play at corner, but he’s a safety. And we drafted players that can play from nose to middle linebacker. … So with that it’s not unusual.
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“You gotta get those players on the field, right? And so you find our coaches do a great job of finding any way to get those players in different packages on the field and put them in situations where they can compete and they can win. And that’s what they’re doing. … It’s gonna be easy for us to match up with any offensive personnel.”
Of course, the Patriots are no stranger to preaching versatility across their depth chart.
Julian Edelman went from a college quarterback to arguably the best postseason wideout in NFL history during his career in New England. Even last season, Marcus Jones — a cornerback — scored a receiving touchdown in December against the Bills.
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But on defense, having players capable of slotting in all over the field can create havoc on the opposite sideline when it comes to countering the various looks that New England’s roster can roll out.
“We can cover man-to-man, whether it’s a tight end, running backs, or if we’ve got to replace one of the corners,” Jabrill Peppers said of New England’s safety grouping. “And we’re real comfortable in the box. … “If we’re talking pre-snap, it might look one way to the offense.
“We run the same play, but we just flip two guys and now it looks like a completely different defense. So we just keep spinning the dial. We’ve got a lot of continuity going on.”
Devin McCourty’s retirement might create a leadership void in New England’s defensive backfield, but Peppers believes that McCourty’s absence from his usual spot at free safety will also open the door for more schemes and wrinkles from New England’s revamped, hybrid defense.
“We lost great leadership and communication in Devin, but it’s on all of us to pick it up. He led by example. … But you kind of knew where Devin was going to be most of the time,” Peppers said. “Yeah, he inserted, he rotated down, but for the most part, you knew 80-90% of the time he was going to be in the post. Now, you don’t know where anybody’s going to be.
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“One play, it could be Dugg, could be me, could be [Adrian Phillips], [Jalen] Mills. Marte could drop back there from the linebacker position. It’s a lot of different things that we can do, a lot of different tools the coaches got to play with.”
The 2023 Patriots’ defense may not be a conventional squad when compared to typical roster construction in the NFL. But with the addition of another adaptable asset in 2023 third-round pick Marte Mapu, it seems like New England is doubling down on a personnel grouping teeming with position-less players.
But if you ask Judon, players like Mapu, Dugger, and Peppers are just the latest in a long line of Patriots defenders that have given teams fits due to their multifaceted skillet.
“You have people like that here all the time. You have people like Jamie Collins or [Dont’a] Hightower and stuff like that,” Judon said. “It’s just new names. It’s just new names in that situation. And I’m not saying they’re gonna be as good as those guys or leave a legacy as those guys, but they have a chance. And that’s all you kind of ask for.”
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