Patriots hire Dont'a Hightower to be linebackers coach
- Thread starter soxhop411
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He hung out with his wife and child back in Tennessee. Took vacations. Just follow boomtower on IG to catch up on his life.
Good culture fit, will be able to work well with the players since he's not far removed, was one of the smartest/coachable/dependable players in Patriots history. Played for both Belichick and Saban which are two of the best defensive minds in NFL history and was the MLB for both which says a hell of a lot about him.
And also if a MLB is getting hired to his first NFL coaching job by another MLB, it’s a good sign.
With an honorable mention to Brandon Browner for his block that enabled Malcolm Butler to make the interception.
I love this hire--big Hightower fan.
Love this move. Great player, great mind, hopefully a perfect fit. I’m enjoying this offseason so far. The coaching hires have been really good.
He always seemed to do a good job with the green dot and Mayo spoke of him glowingly in the past so there’s reason to think he can lead the linebackers group and hopefully develop into an important part of the staff
Having two of the biggest plays of Pats Super Bowl history and having played alongside Mayo is a nice bonus
Having two of the biggest plays of Pats Super Bowl history and having played alongside Mayo is a nice bonus
He made huge plays against both Seattle and Atlanta. He was missing, if I recall correctly, against Philly. Aside from Butler and Edelman not playing (obviously for different reasons), that was an enormous loss.
Brown seemed perfect as a WR coach too. I like the hire but let's see how it unfolds.
This is the only thing giving me pause. Otherwise, I love Hightower the player and I am excited to see him as a coach.
Don’t care about the unknowns, Hightower deserves a massive cupcake tray to welcome him home.
Also, our coaching staff is stacking pretty good in the, “My coaching staff could kick your coaching staff’s ass” competition, so we’ve got that going for us.
Also, our coaching staff is stacking pretty good in the, “My coaching staff could kick your coaching staff’s ass” competition, so we’ve got that going for us.
I'm not sure how fans are supposed to judge position coaches. I guess Troy Brown isn't great because our WRs aren't great? On the other hand, Pop stepped right into a Troy Brown-like role and immediately shined. Maybe Troy helped with that? It's doesn't have to be his fault that Tyquan Thornton is terrible and JuJu is washed.
Always loved Hightower. I don't care if this fails. (And the team's stakes are pretty low at the position coach level.) I love that he's back and wants to be here.
Wow. While the offensive coaching staff looks solid, though with a big TBD caveat, I'm loving how things are coming together on the defensive side.
And against the Rams (2 sacks). In the 2nd half of the dynasty, no one in the front 7 got up for super bowls as consistently as Hightower. Who knows if this works out, but it's good to see another big name on the sidelines.
Yeah I have a hard time holding terrible QB play and poor WR talent against Troy.
The funny thing about Hightower’s career is that Chandler Jones was heralded as the much sexier pick that year as an ever-elusive pass rusher and DH had kind of a slow start (some issues with the scheme and what he was being asked to do IIRC) and then just got better and better.
Breer says that Hightower may just be ILB coach and they are going to get an outside guy as well.
https://x.com/AlbertBreer/status/1756056483891154978?s=20
https://x.com/AlbertBreer/status/1756056483891154978?s=20
Why not? I don’t think many people — here or elsewhere — had any issues with the pats D ever. His success rate with street free agent CBs was insane.
There was talk on a lot of the podcasts that Brown wasn't seen by people in the building to be doing a good job. I'm going by that. Now Douglas did great so maybe there's a role for slot WR coach, I don't know.
My major point is that just because the guy was a great Patriots player doesn't necessarily mean his a going to be a good coach.
Quite true.
That said, BB linebackers have had a hell of a run:
Pepper Johnson
Brian Cox
Mike Vrabel
Jerod Mayo
Are there others I am missing?
Edge guys seemed to do better under BB then elsewhere. KVN was taken off the scrap heap and became solid (twice, though he has kept up that solid play). Tully Banta Cain turned a 5 sack season into a FA contract from SF, did nothing there (4 sacks in 2 years), then came back and put up a 10 sack season.
Gotcha. Well I think TBC may be coaching at a high school somewhere.
(Actually, per his LinkedIn, he interned with the 49ers and is now starting something called the BFL - (beach football league... apparently he never crossed paths with Robert Edwards) soon)
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The OCD in me is kicking in with the Highower in the thread title.
The more coaching that these guys get with links to the Super Bowl eras the better. Instant respect from the younger players while still showing continuity to what worked is not a bad thing.
The more coaching that these guys get with links to the Super Bowl eras the better. Instant respect from the younger players while still showing continuity to what worked is not a bad thing.
Doug Kyed took the time to put all of the best quotes from that game into one article.
https://nesn.com/2017/02/best-lines-from-patriots-falcons-on-inside-the-nfl-super-bowl-li/
