With Ja’Whaun Bentley now on the IR, the New England Patriots needed some boost on defense. John Simon will look to make an impact for the Patriots after being signed this week.
The New England Patriots were dealt a major blow on Wednesday. The team announced that stud rookie linebacker Ja’Whaun Bentley would be headed to Injured Reserve. After such a poor effort from the defense in Week 3, this definitely wasn’t what you wanted to hear.
New England isn’t stacked in the linebacker department. Dont’a Hightower appeared to be the leader on the depth chart, but his performance this season says otherwise. Bentley was the leader on the field with the green dot on his helmet.
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After Hightower, you have guys like Kyle Van Noy and Elandon Roberts. No offense to these guys but I don’t have a lot of confidence in them. They have never been true stars and have struggled like the rest of the defense.
Now I think Van Noy could step up due to all the injuries. In Van Noy’s first full season with the Patriots, he had 5.5 sacks and 58 tackles.
So the Patriots decided to go out and bring in Josh Simon to try and help the Patriots pass rush. The Pats are currently ranked 31st in sacks this season. The only team they are ahead of is the Oakland Raiders and that’s because they traded away their best pass rusher.
So here are the 3 things you should know about John Simon.
1. He had a dominant senior season at Ohio State
Simon went to school at the Ohio State University. In his 4 years at the school, he racked up 154 tackles and 20.5 sacks.
Most of these came in Simon’s Senior season. In 2012 Simon had 44 tackles for 9 sacks and he had a forced fumble. Simon’s efforts earned him Big Ten player of the year honors.
As you can see Simon is a solid threat off the edge. Another impressive thing from his college days is his ability to make tackles in the backfield. Over 30 percent of Simon’s tackles were in the backfield.
Simon’s efforts in college got him drafted in the 4th round of the 2013 draft by the Baltimore Ravens. Simon has struggled to find the same success that he had in college. Maybe now that he is on the New England Patriots he will find a way to perform like he did at Ohio State.
2. Simon has struggled to find a home
In Simon’s 5 year career he has played on 3 different teams. He has never been able to find stability in his career.
Simon started his career in Baltimore where he spent two seasons. The team that drafted Simon was disappointed and it makes sense. In 7 games, Simon had 4 tackles.
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After that Simon headed to Houston. He spent the majority of his career with the Texans and was much more successful.
Simon played 38 games in Houston and had 75 tackles, 10 sacks. He also forced a fumble and had an interception.
It makes sense that Simon was successful. The Houston Texans had a great defense. Simon was apart of J.J. Watt’s best seasons.
Last season Simon played with the Colts and took a bit of a step back. He is now another player that can have a career rebirth in New England. The Patriots sure need him to.
3. Simon could have an impact right away
We all know how rough the New England Patriots defense has been this season. They are one of the worst defenses in the NFL.
The Patriots pass rush has been almost non-existent. You can’t have 4 total sacks in 3 games. Especially when they have only come from two players.
Simon may change all of that.
The Patriots need to be recharged and reenergized. Having an outside guy come in and be successful could give everyone else a morale boost.
Also, I think that Simon could just be a good player. He has been able to rack up sacks and even score some touchdowns in the NFL.
A change of scenery may boost Simon’s play. He will be with the best coaches and should thrive in Brian Flores aggressive defense.
We will have to wait and see what Simon does, but the Patriots definitely some sort of a spark. John Simon could light the fire that ignites the New England Patriots for the rest of the season.