During his time with the Green Bay Packers, outside linebackers coach Mike Smith saw the team ink Za\u2019Darius Smith to a four-year contract despite his previous role in Baltimore being that of \u201conly\u201d a situational pass rusher.<\/p>\n
Taking on a bigger role in Green Bay\u2019s defense, the Smith exploded onto the scene recording 26 sacks over the next two seasons to pair with two Pro Bowl appearances \u2014 all under the Patriots new assistant coach\u2019s tutelage.<\/p>\n
Now in New England, Smith is hoping to watch a similar story unfold with K\u2019Lavon Chaisson.<\/p>\n
\u201cI like finding those free agent guys \u2013 Za\u2019Darius when he was in Baltimore. Maybe he didn\u2019t play as much,\u201d said Smith, who specifically noticed Chaisson mixing in more power rushes last season in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n
\u201cI saw [power]. I saw the athleticism. I saw how he plays. How physical he is. We get guys to sit \u2014 how violent we play, there\u2019s nothing pretty about pass rush. Nothing pretty about it. Watch Maxx Crosby. Watch Nick Bosa. Watch Za\u2019Darius, any of these guys. They\u2019re violent human beings. Just building stuff off of that. You can put the tape on and see how athletic this kid is. You can find some gold, some guys like that in free agency that can help.\u201d<\/p>\n
A first-round pick by Jacksonville in 2020, Chaisson totaled just five sacks over his four seasons with the Jaguars before opening last year on the Raiders practice squad. Elevated to the active roster during in the season, Chaisson flashed posting a career-high five sacks over the final six games of the regular season.<\/p>\n
That led to the veteran pass rusher signing a one-year deal with the Patriots in free agency, where he has now built off his late-season surge.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe thing about KC is he\u2019s smart. He\u2019s a vet. He\u2019s seen it. Loves the game of football. The way he works, the way he prepares,\u201d Smith said. \u201cHe\u2019s one of these guys that you talk about stuff, and he gets it pretty quick. A lot of these guys you get in free agency and get them on 1-year deals, and they\u2019ve got something to prove. I think he\u2019s got a chip on his shoulder, and he\u2019s got something to prove \u2013 getting a home and being somewhere is a big thing for him. He\u2019s playing well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chaisson has been one of the Patriots best defensive players throughout training camp, spending plenty of time in the backfield around quarterback Drake Maye. This week, Chaisson spent a pair of practices as New England\u2019s top edge rusher opposite of Harold Landry as he continues to look at home in Mike Vrabel\u2019s defense.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust going out and having fun and playing ball, not getting too caught up in the schematics or anything else,\u201d Chaisson said last week in Minnesota. \u201cEnjoying the game again, treating it like a child\u2019s game \u2014 going out there, enjoying the smell of the grass and pads clacking. I think that\u2019s been the big emphasis that\u2019s been helping out for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"During his time with the Green Bay Packers, outside linebackers coach Mike Smith saw the team ink Za\u2019Darius…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":303341,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2050],"tags":[7,1167,249,52113,57412,20133,2326,2094,6,208],"class_list":{"0":"post-303340","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-england-patriots","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-new-england","10":"tag-new-england-patriots","11":"tag-new-england-patriots-first-read","12":"tag-new-england-patriots-free-agency","13":"tag-new-england-patriots-training-camp","14":"tag-newengland","15":"tag-newenglandpatriots","16":"tag-nfl","17":"tag-patriots"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115061360262096850","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303340","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=303340"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303340\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/303341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=303340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=303340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=303340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}