Ras-I Dowling the Answer if Dennard is Out?
The big question in Patriot fans minds is what will become of Alfonzo Dennard on July 31st in a probation hearing when he could possibly be resentenced for his original crime in 2012 when he punched a police officer. The judge, on July 31st, could opt to revoke his original sentence (which was a slap on the wrist) as the prosecution requests or she could find him not guilty of violating his probation.
Since I have the feeling she will rule he violated probation, we have to look at the Patriots other options at cornerback for this season. The Patriots currently have five other cornerbacks that are all benefitting from this Alfonzo Dennard situation. The biggest beneficiary could very well be Ras-I Dowling as he has shown glimpses of potential, but suffered injuries which kept him from playing.
The biggest factor for Dowling is his health and right now he has no known injuries, which could spring him forward. The Patriots haven’t released Dennard yet and I don’t think they will unless the verdict comes back ugly. If Dennard misses just the first month or two of the season, the Patriots will likely hold on to him and Dowling could become the number two or three corner.
The stiffest competition for Dowling has to be Arrington, which the Patriots have shown that they really like. After handing Arrington a multi-year deal the same offseason as the one they let Welker go to an AFC rival. That shows that they have confidence in Arrington’s abilities at corner. Me, not so much.
Speaking of no confidence, I have very little in Ras-I Dowling. The guy can’t stay on the field and has shown very little on it anyways with just seven tackles and one pass defended in seven games. Moral of the story, the Patriots have a lot riding on what the judge rules in the Dennard case.
In a lot of ways, I think that the absence of Dennard affects the Patriots more than the absence of Hernandez. The Patriots had a lot riding on Dennard and he screwed it up, but now that free agency has grabbed all the good corners already, the Patriots have to ride him out.
The Patriots see Dowling every day in practice and I’ll take their word for it if they keep him, but I don’t like what I’ve seen out of him on the field. Other competition on the Patriots roster include new draft pick Logan Ryan, Marquice Cole and Stephon Morris with the possibility of McCourty being an option too. Dowling obviously has a lot to prove and plenty of competition.
Josh Brown
