Throw away everything that you think you know.

"My good friend Mark Daniels of the Providence Journal noted something interesting on Twitter today: there are a ton of rumors that the New England Patriots could take a cornerback very early in the 2019 NFL draft.Excuse me?I listed cornerback as the second-smallest need for the team roughly a week ago. The Patriots have First Team All Pro cornerback Stephon Gilmore under through 2021 N'Keal Harry Jersey Patriots , quality veteran Jason McCourty under contract through 2020, and rising stud J.C. Jackson just finished his rookie season. When 2018 second round pick Duke Dawson can’t crack the line-up because of all the talent ahead of him on the roster, and when that talent should be back for at least two more years, cornerback should be a pretty small need.Or at least that’s what I thought. NESN’s Doug Kyed, FMIA’s Peter King, and MMQB’s Albert Breer disagree.I can already hear the groans since the Patriots haven’t had much success with early round defensive backs. Bill Belichick has drafted a defensive back in the first or second round 11 times since 2000 and it hasn’t been pretty.Devin McCourty (2010 first round pick) is the only clear-cut success after switching from cornerback to safety, while Patrick Chung (2009 second round pick) only panned out in his second-go-round in New England. The next best defensive back is...Brandon Meriweather (2007 first round pick)? Eugene Wilson (2003 second round pick)?The others include Terrence Wheatley (2008 second round pick), Darius Butler (2009 second round pick), Ras-I Dowling (2011 second round pick), Tavon Wilson (2012 second round pick), Jordan Richards (2015 second round pick), and Cyrus Jones (2016 second round pick). It’s too early to evaluate Duke Dawson (2018 second round pick), but the track record is not great.In fact, I’d argue that the team’s track record in the third and fourth rounds is far stronger. Players like Asante Samuel (2003 fourth round), Ellis Hobbs (2005 third round) Youth N'Keal Harry Jersey , James Sanders (2005 fourth round), Logan Ryan (2013 third round), and Duron Harmon (2013 third round pick) all have a case to be considered selections just as good as the non-McCourty top picks (if you only look at Chung’s first stint).When multiple, well-connected writers like King, Breer, and Kyed are sharing the same rumors, there’s probably some fire to this smoke, and so it’s worth looking at the defensive backs that could fit the criteria laid out.Breer highlights what Belichick said about needing big defensive backs to cover the big receivers about the enter the league, and I wonder if Belichick has a new role in mind for his defense. Chung played some defensive end and outside linebacker for the Patriots last season, in addition to covering players in the slot and at safety, and I wonder if the team would want a larger player than Chung to take that hybrid role.New England added Obi Melifonwu, a 6’4, 225 pound safety, to the roster last year and that could be the blueprint: a player big enough to stand their ground on the edge of the line of scrimmage and athletic enough to cover running backs and tight ends.There are a couple players that might fit that mold. Breer points out 6’4, 210 pound Vanderbilt defensive back Joejuan Williams Color Rush N'Keal Harry Jersey , who could be a pick in the first three rounds, while I would also point out 6’2, 215 pound Kentucky cornerback Lonnie Johnson, who ESPN’s Mel Kiper had going to the Patriots in the third round in his latest mock draft (my analysis of which has not aged well). I would add in 6’2, 205 pound Penn State cornerback Amani Oruwariye as another day 2 option, too.I don’t know if the 6’2, 185 pound Greedy Williams fits the mold, but there are a bunch of cornerbacks that could be available at the end of the first round for New England. There is a lot of depth at defensive tackle and pass rusher that could push some good players down the draft board. Perhaps that’s what the Patriots are keeping their eye out for.I still think the Patriots should use their first round pick on one of the elite defensive tackles that should still be on the board, or on a quarterback to get that fifth-year option, but now I’m convinced that the Patriots will use one of their early draft picks on a defensive back. Hopefully they’ll have better luck than in their other recent drafts.Somehow, the Texans defense was amazed at how quickly Patriots QB Tom Brady gets rid of the football It is only partially true that football games are won or lost during the week leading up to them – you can have the best battle plan but still have to execute it. That being said, the team that is better prepared for a matchup ahead is often the one to come away from it victoriously. Enter the New England Patriots’ week one opponent, who was beaten by a final score of 27-20: the Houston Texans.Houston, employing ex-New England offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien as its head coach and featuring a staff filled with former Patriots assistants and players, certainly did its homework. However New England Patriots Jersey 2019 , the team apparently was still caught of guard by just how quickly quarterback Tom Brady was able to get rid of the football as an NFL Films clip captured by independent NFL reporter Dov Kleiman shows:“That ball’s coming out so quick, it’s like: you want to rush, but...,” defensive edge Angelo Blackson told his teammates Brandon Dunn and D.J. Reader. Dunn answered that the team just needs to keep rushing. Blackson, who had a deflection that led to an interception early in the contest, then answered that rushing is still a futile endeavor: “If you’re rushing you ain’t never gonna... you know what I’m saying?”Over the years, Brady has become famous for his quick release and how the Patriots are able to use it to counter teams with potent pass rushers – just look at Super Bowl 49 as an example, when New England’s quick strike approach wore down the defensive line. On Sunday against the Texans, the team used a similar approach as Brady’s average time from snap to throw was just 2.57 seconds.The 41-year old was still sacked twice during the game, but the overall pressure was not enough to disrupt the rhythm of New England’s passing offense on a consistent basis: on the day, Brady was pressured only five times in total – the aforementioned D.J. Reader accounted for three of those pressures with two sacks and a quarterback hit, with star pass rusher J.J. Watt producing two hits.The rest of Houston’s talented front seven – including Angelo Blackson – came up empty. While New England’s offensive line played a big role in that, so did Brady’s lightning-quick release. One would think that a team with that many former Patriots on its pay roll would not be surprised by the latter. But here we find ourselves for some reason.