It’s the weird part of the offseason where the NFL teams can say just about anything they want to say about their players. Whether coaches are being honest or not, they can suggest they have big plans for just about any and every member of their 90-man roster. Every player seems to be in the best shape of their lives. Every player seems to be overflowing with potential.
But it’s rare for Bill Belichick to play this game. He’s the king of: “We’ll see.” Tom Brady? “We’ll see.” Lawrence Taylor? “We’ll see.” So it was strange to hear the New England Patriots coach acknowledge the potential of the team’s 2020 second-round pick, Josh Uche.
“I think he is a big piece of our defense,” Belichick said during a pre-practice press conference on Tuesday. “We’ll see exactly what it turns out to be.”
Belichick was agreeing with the assessment of his son Steve, who said something similar two weeks ago.
“Josh is another guy who’s doing everything right,” Steve Belichick said May 17. “He’s putting a lot of hard work in, and he’s setting himself up as well as he could to help us out on the field once we get to camp. It’s all just a building process, and he’s done everything right so far. I’ve got no complaints.”
It’s an interesting assessment of Uche, who played just 22% of the team’s defensive snaps. The team steadily decreased his role through the year, instead giving playing time to more-experienced linebackers like Dont’a Hightower and Kyle Van Noy. But Belichick cautioned a reporter against comparing Hightower and Uche.
“I think it’s a stretch to compare most everybody to Hightower,” the coach replied. “We’re talking about one of the best linebackers that’s ever played here.”
Fair.
Uche logged three sacks in 2021 — and all of them came in the first two weeks of the season. He then logged a total of 11 defensive snaps over the course of the team’s final two games (in Week 18 and in the AFC wild-card round). That’s a far cry from the guy formerly known and Mr. Febrauary, for his clutch postseason performances. Uche seemed to have a long way to go for a breakout season. But the Belichicks have faith.
