Linebacker Brandon Copeland has come to an agreement with the Patriots on a one-year deal, per Jim McBride of the Boston Globe. Copeland can receive up to $1.1MM in the deal, according to NFL Insider Adam Caplan.
Over his four-year career, Copeland has split his time with the Lions and Jets. While he has only started 14 games over his four-year career (10 of which came in 2018), he has appeared in 60 games accruing 107 tackles, 14 tackles for loss, and 7 sacks.
In 2019, with the Jets, Copeland received a 58.6 player grade from Pro Football Focus, which was the 49th highest grade of 89 qualified linebackers.
Typical under the radar Belichick signing. Good size at 6’3” and 263 lbs. is a good run stopper and has shown some pass rushing skills in last two seasons when given an opportunity. Also a good special teams player. He cones from a football family. His grandfather is Roy Hilton, a long time pro with the Colts in the 70’s. Copeland is not going to the Pro Bowl but he adds depth at a low cost and can play a role in the linebacker rotation.
You’re overthinking their rebuild plans..
Lol
All the signings in the world won’t make up for the most important one that they let go to Tampa.
Blame Brady for that, not NE.
Why is there blame? It’s a free choice to make.
Wow, if Copeland is 49th out of 89 qualifiers (42 total tackles, 12 games with 3 started) as a backer….would really like to see the stats on the those who graded worse than him!
Good luck with a Jets throw away.
They are such keen evaluators of talent.
There have been other Jets throw aways that have been successful with the Patriots. A recent example with the Lions is Kyle Van Noy. He was a first or second right pick who struggled with Detroit. BB traded a low draft pick for him and he was a big part of their defense in the last 3 years. As a free agent he just signed a contract with Miami for $51M with $30+ guaranteed. If it were not for what he learned and applied in NE, there very little chance he gets that large contract.
I’ll bet many of the comments about the Van Noy trade were similar to some here.
Guess only time will tell whether this signing has value or not.