Since coming into the league as an undrafted free agent in 2009, Michael Bennett has really had to prove to people that he deserves to be in the league. The Seattle Seahawks signed him for his first stint. The team released him, and he was picked up by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers where he learned to become a better player. In 2013, he returned to Seattle and was a key contributor to a Seahawks defense that ranked tops in the league in many statistical categories. That was also the same Seattle team that dominated and held a Peyton Manning led offense to only eight points in a Super Bowl victory over the Denver Broncos. On March 7th, 2018, Seattle agreed to trade him to the Philadelphia Eagles. A year and a day later, he’s been traded again. This time, to the defending Super Bowl champions. The New England Patriots.
This guy may not get a lot of the praise and recognition like a Von Miller, Aaron Donald, Khalil Mack or J.J. Watt would, but he just goes about his business and does what he must do on the field. He’s a very disruptive player who finds himself all over the place. He’s a dynamic football player who plays his position with great leverage and with his quickness, he slips free so many times to get to the quarterback. He’s one of the smartest defensive players we have in the game right now. He studies and prepares himself. Mike can also tell you what play is going to be ran before the ball is snapped and that’s exactly why he’s in the backfield as much as he is. Not only is he a good pass rusher, he’s excellent when it comes to shutting down the run. He displays a violent quickness with his hands, and I can give you a perfect example of this. I remember back during the 2016 season on a Thursday night against the Los Angeles Rams. He had Tyler Higbee lined up on him. Mike simply threw Tyler like he was nothing and shut down Todd Gurley in the backfield. During his time with the Seahawks, I often referred to him as the guy that stirred up the drink for the Seattle defense.
I like this move quite a bit for the defending champions. They get a guy who’s great when it comes to stopping the run along with a pass rusher, something they haven’t had since 2016 when Chris Long was a member of the team. When you think of many New England defenses, they’ve always had that guy who could get to the quarterback by any means. I’m excited to watch this Patriots defense in 2019.
