After weeks and weeks of speculation about whether or not his roster spot in New England was a lock, Kony Ealy was cut by the Patriots after he received little to no interest in the trade market in the days leading up to his release. Ealy had apparent issues with coach Bill Belichick at the very start of training camp and there were previous reports that he was an overall difficult person when he was with the Carolina Panthers, so his stay in Foxboro wasn’t necessarily a pleasant one.
Ealy needed to prove himself in order to make the 53-man roster, being a 25-year-old with a new team at a sensitive position like defensive end, and he tremendously disappointed. The Patriots “tried him in their scheme” but Ealy wasn’t “a similar style to Ninkovich so it didn’t work out”. After the team lost the aforementioned Rob Ninkovich to retirement plus rookie Derek Rivers to season-ending knee surgery, Ealy needed to step up in practice and the preseason, but he never truly did. He had his bright moments, but the majority of his moments were underwhelming.
New England traded for Ealy back in March, dropping only eight spots in the second round in the upcoming draft to see what they could get out of the kid. It was a low risk situation, so I don’t believe many will be losing sleep over his failure of a tenure with the Patriots. He had issues learning new schemes and playing foreign roles in Carolina and was a very stubborn learner; things that don’t mix well with a team like the Patriots. I’m sure that the team was well aware of the situation but just wanted to see what he had to offer, which you can’t blame them for. He has so much potential at his age; there’s no harm in testing the waters.
Ealy’s worst flaw is his inconsistency. His lone brightest moment in his career was in Super Bowl 50 when he recorded 3 sacks (tied for Super Bowl record), 4 tackles, an interception, forced fumble and fumble recovery in just 23 snaps. Other than that, he’s had a rather lackluster career. He only has 14 sacks to his name and has never started more than 9 games in a single season.
The Patriots did gauge the trade market for Ealy, but there was no interest so they went ahead and cut him. They know they made a mistake in originally trading for him, quickly knew it wasn’t going to work out, gave him a few chances and finally simply let him go. Other teams would be ashamed to admit that they messed up and would go ahead and keep him around to try to prove something, which is not smart. New England owned up to it and they’re probably a better team without him. There’s no use in letting a player stay if he’s going to hurt your team.
Ealy has been on the bubble for quite some time now, but it was blindingly apparent that his time was done in the northeast when he played into the fourth quarter of the third preseason game against Detroit. That essentially foreshadowed his imminent departure from the team.
As for where the Patriots stand, there are legitimate concerns about the defensive end position as of right now. New England has Geneo Grissom and of course Trey Flowers to fall back on, but as for depth, there’s little to nothing. The Patriots were apparently recently experimenting with Dont’a Hightower at DE during practices, so be prepared for anything as the season opener inches closer and closer.
At the end of the day, this is the Patriots we’re talking about, of course, so there’s no need to go into panic mode. Things aren’t necessarily going to plan, but the Patriots are always built for these things to happen. It may take a few weeks for this young defense to settle in and for everyone to figure out their personal roles, but let’s be real, New England is still going to have home field in the playoffs and are still cakewalking to Minnesota come February.
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