Brandon Browner’s Suspension is No Problem For New England Patriots
By Connor Fulton
@ConnorFultonRS
Adam Hunger-USA TODAY Sports
When the New England Patriots acquired Brandon Browner over the offseason, a fair amount of head scratching ensued around the NFL. And rightly so; the Patriots won’t have Browner for the first four games of the season. But being the football genius that he is, Bill Belichick went out and nabbed the veteran cornerback because he knew that the suspension is largely irrelevant.
Even without Browner, the Patriots have an elite cornerback group. Of course, Darrelle Revis draws the most attention, but youngsters Alfonzo Dennard, Logan Ryan and Malcolm Butler offer much promise entering the season. And don’t forget about trusty slot corner Kyle Arrington.
If you trace down the Patriots’ schedule, it becomes pretty clear that the team doesn’t really need Browner in September. The Pats face the Miami Dolphins, Minnesota Vikings, Oakland Raiders and Kansas City Chiefs while Browner is suspended. None of those teams instill much intimidation in the passing game. Revis will handle the likes of Mike Wallace, Cordarrelle Patterson, James Jones and Dwayne Bowe; Dennard, Ryan and Butler will pick up the slack.
But as you look deeper into the Patriots’ schedule, there are some tough passing opponents, including the Cincinnati Bengals, Chicago Bears, Denver Broncos, Indianapolis Colts, Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers. The Patriots’ brain trust were fully aware of this uptick in competition as the weeks progress in 2014, and that’s why they went out and got a big corner.
So really, the Patriots are perfectly fine without Browner for the first four games of the season. They can more than make do with the talent they have on the depth chart. In fact, Browner’s suspension has a silver lining in that it is a guarantee he won’t get hurt in September. In other words, the Patriots can count on having their 6-foot-4, 220-pound hulk of a cornerback when they face A.J. Green in Week 5 or when they encounter Brandon Marshall and Alshon Jeffery at the end of October.
In addition, Browner’s absence essentially allows for a month-long tryout for the aforementioned young corners on the Patriots’ roster. Without Browner in the lineup, Dennard, Ryan and Butler each have opportunities to see significant playing time, and in turn, to develop. No matter how you slice it, the Patriots have a ton of options within their cornerback group. In today’s pass-heavy league, that is a winning formula.
Connor Fulton is a Patriots writer for RantSports. Follow him on Twitter @ConnorFultonRS, or find him on Google.
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