{"id":194962,"date":"2025-07-10T01:47:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-10T01:47:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/194962\/"},"modified":"2025-07-10T01:47:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-10T01:47:09","slug":"pro-football-focus-ranks-patriots-secondary-as-top-five-unit-in-nfl-nbc-sports-boston","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/194962\/","title":{"rendered":"Pro Football Focus ranks Patriots\u2019 secondary as top-five unit in NFL \u2013 NBC Sports Boston"},"content":{"rendered":"

If the New England Patriots are going to show significant improvement and actually be in the mix for a playoff spot<\/a> in the AFC late in the 2025 NFL season, the defense has to play at an elite level.<\/p>\n

And that’s not a crazy expectation for this group.<\/p>\n

The Patriots spent a ton of money in free agency<\/a> to bolster their talent and depth on defense. Among the most notable additions were defensive lineman Milton Williams, linebackers Harold Landry and Robert Spillane, as well as cornerback Carlton Davis. <\/p>\n

One specific area of the defense where the Patriots could really shine is in the secondary. <\/p>\n

In Pro Football Focus’ latest offseason position rankings, they rated the Patriots’ secondary as the fifth-best unit in the league<\/a>, trailing only the Houston Texans (No. 4), Denver Broncos (No. 3), Kansas City Chiefs (No. 2) and Baltimore Ravens (No. 1).<\/p>\n

“Despite the Patriots\u2019 struggles in the post-Bill Belichick and Tom Brady era, their defense remains a strength,” PFF’s John Kosko wrote. “Budding star Christian Gonzalez leads the group after missing most of his rookie season in 2023. His 78.2 coverage grade last season was outstanding for a de facto rookie year, and the Patriots added Carlton Davis in the offseason to bolster the cornerback room. <\/p>\n

“Jabrill Peppers has quietly put together a quality career, earning overall grades above 82.3 in each of the past two seasons. Dell Pettus also looks like an undrafted gem, excelling in PFF\u2019s advanced coverage metrics and posting a 73.9 overall grade as a rookie.”<\/p>\n

The key to the group is Gonzalez, who had a breakout Year 2 and was voted to the All-Pro second team. He also received a ton of praise from rival coaches and players, including Aaron Rodgers and Tyreek Hill<\/a>. Gonzalez is the Patriots’ best player and it wouldn’t be surprising\u00a0if he made first team All-Pro in 2025.<\/p>\n

Davis was an excellent pickup in free agency. He played very well for the Detroit Lions last season and has Super Bowl-winning experience from his time with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Davis and Gonzalez should be one of the top cornerback duos next season.<\/p>\n

The Patriots also need a bounce-back campaign from both of their starting safeties — Kyle Dugger and Jabill Peppers. But even if that scenario unfolded, we could still see plenty of rookie safety Craig Woodson<\/a>. He had a strong rookie camp in May.<\/p>\n

A lot of things need to go right for the Patriots to be a playoff team next season. The defense being a top 10 unit would be among the most impactful. And with a defensive-minded head coach in Mike Vrabel running the show in Foxboro, the chances of New England improving on that side of the ball are pretty good. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If the New England Patriots are going to show significant improvement and actually be in the mix for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":194658,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2050],"tags":[6032,7,838,1167,249,2326,2094,6,208],"class_list":{"0":"post-194962","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-england-patriots","8":"tag-christian-gonzalez","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-mike-vrabel","11":"tag-new-england","12":"tag-new-england-patriots","13":"tag-newengland","14":"tag-newenglandpatriots","15":"tag-nfl","16":"tag-patriots"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/114826421829395526","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194962","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194962"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194962\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/194658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194962"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194962"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194962"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}