New England Patriots rookie linebacker Josh Uche has high expectations entering the 2020 season.
Dont’a Hightower was the final piece to drop in the Patriots’ linebacker group from last season, leaving John Simon as the leading veteran. Uche from Michigan was New England’s second pick in the draft this year, followed by Anfernee Jennings from Alabama. Both rookie linebackers will be expected to make huge contributions for the Patriots, but Uche’s ceiling seems to be a bit higher.
His potential appears to be high enough to earn the NFL’s Defensive Rookie of the Year award — well, at least to NBC Sports’ Peter King.
Here’s what King wrote in a recent column.
The 60th pick in the draft is intriguing because he’s a little undersized (6-3, 230) and he played only 53 percent of the defensive snaps at Michigan last year. He may not play more than that in Foxboro, but his production around the edge could mimic Kyle Van Noy’s last year in the best season of Van Noy’s life. The Michigan tape of Uche suggests the versatility and production Bill Belichick demands from his linebackers.
Steve Belichick spoke to reporters on Tuesday about the rookie linebackers, saying the Patriots have put everything that they could handle on them.
“They’ve been doing everything we ask them to do. We ask a lot of our players to do a lot in terms of versatility and being able to handle multiple roles,” Steve Belichick said Tuesday. “Those guys work hard in the meetings, trying to pick up everything that we’ve put on their plate. … They’ve spent time working outside, working inside, covering, rushing. Everything that we ask our linebackers to do, we’ve put on their plate, and we’ll see what they can handle.”
Hopefully for New England, Uche can blossom into the player he’s projected to, shoring up the shoddy depth at linebacker.
