FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- The New England Patriots released veteran defensive tackle Terrance Knighton on Monday, a move that was foreshadowed in the third preseason game when Knighton didn't play on defense. Knighton seemed to sense his release was imminent after the game and said he still believes he has a lot of good football left in him.
The release has sparked the obvious question on Twitter:
Knighton took the high road with his comments. Why do you think he didn't make it Mike? #IWantedNewEnglandPotRoast https://t.co/lEZGRAwIB8
— Anthony Curtis (@AnthonyCurtis68) August 29, 2016
@MikeReiss what was the problem? As a fan it seemed to be a signing that would make team better.
— PaulM23 (@PaulM8712) August 29, 2016
@MikeReiss Any idea why he didn't play (i.e. why he didn't fit their plans)? Young guys just looked good already? Problems with him?
— sTim (@timjahr) August 29, 2016
Knighton was a class act in his time with the Patriots and showed up to training camp in good enough physical shape to pass the team's conditioning test. Knighton's conditioning had been an issue at times in the past.
So his release from the Patriots is less about those factors and more about how the adjustment to the team's two-gap defensive scheme was a challenge for him.
A two-gap technique requires defensive tackles to get their hands into the breastplate of an offensive lineman and control them while playing with patience and being responsible for the gap to each side. It is a technique Knighton had not played in the first seven years of his career with the Jaguars (2009-12), Broncos (2013-14) and Redskins (2015). In signing Knighton, the Patriots were projecting that transition could be made. But similar to their 2013 trade for defensive tackle Isaac Sopoaga, it didn't work out.
ESPN analyst Tedy Bruschi once passed along a simple way of highlighting the key to look for when determining if a two-gapping defensive lineman has carried out the responsibility, saying that if a TV viewer sees the numbers on the back of his jersey, it's a troubling sign because the defensive tackle has been turned and thus wasn't controlling the blocker.
For Patriots followers who might have the time to re-watch Knighton in the first two preseason games, especially against the Bears on Aug. 18, this would stand out in film review and reinforce how the transition to the two-gapping technique was off to a slow start.
To a lesser degree, Knighton's release is also tied to the progress of rookie defensive tackle Vincent Valentine, the third-round pick out of Nebraska who started Friday night and played with notable power at times. Free-agent signing Markus Kuhn, who played the first four years of his career with the New York Giants, is also making a case to be part of the backup mix behind 2015 first-round pick Malcom Brown and veteran Alan Branch.
