Breer: Terrance Knighton A 'Valuable Piece' On Patriots Defensive Line
BOSTON (CBS) -- In the search for a Vince Wilfork replacement, the Patriots have looked to multiple avenues. They may have found the best candidate to replace Big Vince's giant presence on the defensive interior in signing former Redskins defensive tackle Terrance Knighton, the mountain of a man known as "Pot Roast" who chose the Patriots over the Washington Redskins.
NFL Network senior reporter Albert Breer joined Toucher & Rich Friday morning to talk about the move, and called Knighton "a valuable piece in the middle" of the Patriots defensive line. Whereas Wilfork played almost every snap clogging up the middle, the Patriots have had more of a rotational approach in recent years, and Knighton figures to be at the forefront of that.
"Throw [Knighton] in the rotation with Malcom Brown and Alan Branch, and you've got a good group of players that you can kind of rotate through there," Breer said.
While Breer agrees with many pundits that the Patriots have "done a really nice job" in the offseason and have arguably "won" NFL free agency, he still wonders how they will be able to generate as much of a pass rush with Chandler Jones no longer coming off the edge.
Still, with several key defensive players needing new contracts, Breer agrees that Jones was the odd man out.
"[Jones] was somebody who would demand the attention of the offense and now you're going to have to do a little bit more to generate a pass rush, but I think, overall, you look at it and I can understand why they decided to let him go," said Breer. "The main thing being, of course, that [the Patriots have] all those pieces on the defensive side of the ball and they weren't going to be able to sign everybody, so you want to get something for at least one of those guys."
Breer also talked about Colin Kaepernick's complicated situation and other stories around the NFL. Listen to the full podcast below:
