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New England Patriots: Easley a “Locker Room Cancer”?

By Matthew Rewinski

Sep 7, 2014; Miami Gardens, FL, USA; New England Patriots defensive tackle Dominique Easley (left) and defensive tackle Vince Wilfork (right) both take the field before a game against the Miami Dolphins at Sun Life Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 7, 2014; Miami Gardens, FL, USA; New England Patriots defensive tackle Dominique Easley (left) and defensive tackle Vince Wilfork (right) both take the field before a game against the Miami Dolphins at Sun Life Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Boston Globe’s bombshell report on Dominique Easley’s release from the New England Patriots gives us a bunch of clues about  who called Easley a “locker room cancer”.

If you had to bet the rent, and you had to guess which member of the New England Patriots was getting cut this offseason, raise your hand if you would have guessed that it would be 2014 first-round draft pick Dominique Easley?

Yeah, that’s what I thought.  Same here.

It didn’t take long after the second-year defensive lineman was cut for the speculation to start that something was rotten in the state of Denmark.  Teams don’t just fire someone on a dirt-cheap rookie deal that had multiple years and an option year left, especially a player of Easley’s caliber that looked like he was well on his way to terrorizing AFC East quarterbacks for years to come.  The Boston Globe report that dropped Wednesday night said his injury history was just one thing irking the Patriots, and Easley was borderline insufferable in all kinds of ways.  Among his problems:

"-Showing up to rookie minicamp unable to practice with injuries from pitbull bites on his ankles, arms, and wrists, and he kept the team in the dark about the incident;-A pending lawsuit from when his dog attacked a friend and allegedly causing permanent scarring;-A couple other potential lawsuits;-Reportedly acting like an “entitled kid” and acting “very disrespectful and irresponsible”;-Ignoring the team’s directions when it came to rehabbing his (numerous) injuries;-Not traveling with the team to the Super Bowl in 2015 (who does that?!?)"

In other words, yeah, he turned out pretty much like almost every other Urban Meyer Florida Gator.

Cue up Adam Demamp running and screaming “They are who we thought they were!”

One little bit of the Globe story, though, makes you do a Scooby-Doo double take when you read it again.  Here’s the exact quote:

"“Saw that coming,” one of Easley’s former Patriots teammates said upon hearing the news. “Injuries and locker room cancer.”"

First of all, ouch.  The Patriots locker room is notoriously tight-lipped when it comes to saying anything at all, let alone about each other.

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Second of all, if it’s a former Patriot that played with Easley, that means we can narrow it down to a pretty specific group of players.  It’d have to be someone who was on the roster in 2014 and/or 2015, and (obviously) isn’t on the team anymore.

We can also assume that it’d be a defensive player, since they would have spent way more time with Easley in meetings, film study, drills, and all that stuff.

Is this important?  No, not really, but hey, it’s Friday, and if someone ticked off a teammate that badly, on a team that’s well-renowned for keeping everything in-house, admit it, you’re interested.

So – and this is PURE speculation – here’s who that leaves.

Vince Wilfork, Darrelle Revis, Kyle Arrington, Akeem Ayers, Brandon Browner, Chandler Jones, Jerod Mayo, Sealver Siliga, Chris Jones, Casey Walker, Tavon Wilson, Bradley Fletcher, Akiem Hicks, and Dekoda Watson.

Out of those guys, we can safely rule out Revis.  There’s no way that the Globe could have gotten a comment from one of New York’s biggest sports stars in the few hours between Wednesday afternoon and Wednesday night.

Wilfork and Mayo are out too.  Again, speculation, but both guys were well-known locker room leaders, team captains, and “glue guys”, to the point where Belichick described Jerod Mayo as “…professional, but he also has a good rapport with all the players and coaches”, and a “glue chemistry guy”.  When Vince Wilfork left town last year, Belichick gushed over Vince’s “…great leadership on and off the field”.

Doesn’t sound like either of those guys are the type to be out there badmouthing a 24-year-old player.

That leaves Arrington, Browner, Ayers, Chandler Jones, Siliga, Chris Jones, Wilson, Fletcher, Hicks, and Watson.

And I’m all out of guesses after that.  But given that most of these guys either just signed brand spanking new contracts, like Akiem Hicks cashing in with the Bears or Tavon Wilson signing with the Lions, or are still out looking for gigs, like Brandon Browner and Bradley Fletcher, the fact that anyone thought Dominique Easley was enough of a locker-room cancer to outright call him one – on the record – should tell you all you need to know about why he’s no longer a Patriot.

Isn’t drama fun?

And isn’t it that much more fun, now that it’s someone else’s problem?

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