Roll Tide to New England
A young, defensive player from the University of Alabama is making an early impact on defense. Does that sound familiar? It should. Alabama has turned into “D-U” over the past few years. With players like Marcell Dareus, C. J Mosley, Courtney Upshaw, Ha-Ha Clinton-Dix, Dre Kirkpatrick, and of course, the older of the two stellar New England Patriots linebackers, Dont’a Hightower. According to Devin McCourty and Mike Reiss, we may be able to add Cyrus Jones to the list very soon.
The physical Alabama Corner is already participating in drills with Pro-Bowl corner Malcolm Butler.
New England loves to draft versatile players, and Jones is no exception. At 5-foot-10 inches and 200 pounds, he is long and lean. He is also athletic enough to have the Patriots consider him as a kick and punt returner. Cyrus Jones has to be talented in the return game, think of who the New England Patriots have available to play that position: Julian Edleman, Danny Amendola, Legarrette Blount, Dion Lewis (maybe) and several others.
Some players, along with the coaching staff have noticed Cyrus Jones’ superior play. Devin McCourty compared the Alabama defender to his new teammate Dont’a Hightower.
Hightower has been a big time defender since he came into the league in 2012. He and Jamie Collins have gotten the New England defense into the “best line-backing corps” conversation. Since coming into the league, Hightower has over 300 tackles and 14.5 sacks. In 2014, Dont’a Hightower started for New England and had a career-high six sacks as New England won a Super Bowl. At Alabama, Cyrus Jones had 108 tackles and seven interceptions, and he returned four kick-offs for touchdowns.
If Cyrus Jones really is similar to Dont’a Hightower, the New England secondary should be just fine.
Thanks to A/P Photo/Steven Senne for the Jones picture, and the Washington Post for the Alabama Photo
Is Cyrus Jones going to be the new Hightower? Let me know on Twitter! @petereddy19993
The physical Alabama Corner is already participating in drills with Pro-Bowl corner Malcolm Butler.
New England loves to draft versatile players, and Jones is no exception. At 5-foot-10 inches and 200 pounds, he is long and lean. He is also athletic enough to have the Patriots consider him as a kick and punt returner. Cyrus Jones has to be talented in the return game, think of who the New England Patriots have available to play that position: Julian Edleman, Danny Amendola, Legarrette Blount, Dion Lewis (maybe) and several others.
Some players, along with the coaching staff have noticed Cyrus Jones’ superior play. Devin McCourty compared the Alabama defender to his new teammate Dont’a Hightower.
Hightower has been a big time defender since he came into the league in 2012. He and Jamie Collins have gotten the New England defense into the “best line-backing corps” conversation. Since coming into the league, Hightower has over 300 tackles and 14.5 sacks. In 2014, Dont’a Hightower started for New England and had a career-high six sacks as New England won a Super Bowl. At Alabama, Cyrus Jones had 108 tackles and seven interceptions, and he returned four kick-offs for touchdowns.
If Cyrus Jones really is similar to Dont’a Hightower, the New England secondary should be just fine.
Thanks to A/P Photo/Steven Senne for the Jones picture, and the Washington Post for the Alabama Photo
Is Cyrus Jones going to be the new Hightower? Let me know on Twitter! @petereddy19993
