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Keion White of the New England Patriots.
A New England Patriots player who went viral for his stone-faced reaction to being drafted in the second round two years ago, and explained later that “I’m a very big business person, so I’m not too big on the glitz and glamour of football,” is about to find out about how the business of football works — the hard way.
At least, that’s how it seems for Patriots third-year defensive end Keion White, after he was made a healthy scratch just hours before New England’s Sunday game against the visiting Cleveland Browns.
“White’s inactivity with the NFL trade deadline coming up on November 4 makes him a potential player to watch in the coming days,” reflected SB Nation Patriots correspondent Bernd Buchmasser. “Fact is, the Patriots are not afraid of making moves to strengthen the state of their defensive edge.”
One of Belichick’s Final Draft Picks
White was selected in what turned out to be the final draft for legendary Patriots coach Bill Belichick, who also served as the team’s general manager. The draft turned out to be one of the more fruitful ones of Belichick’s later years with New England, yielding not only White, but All-Pro cornerback and first-round pick Christian Gonzalez, and receivers Kayshon Boutte and Demario “Pop” Douglas.
But White appeared to fall out of favor early with new coach Mike Vrabel even before this current season got underway, with his practice reps sharply cut back in training camp and the preseason.
At the time Vrabel explained the reduced role for White, saying that he “wanted to see him work on some things and continue to develop and try to continue to improve… That’s kind of our whole job is to be ready to play and prepared until told otherwise. Just try to work on some things that we had been talking about and do it in game action.”
But White’s role simply continued to diminish.
First Heathy Scratch of White’s Career
“Entering training camp as a starter on the edge opposite Harold Landry, he eventually lost his position to free agency pickup K’Lavon Chaisson and has been a role player ever since,” Buchmasser wrote. “In total, White has appeared in five of the Patriots’ first seven games and registered no sacks and just three quarterback pressures. He also missed one game each with an illness and elbow injury, respectively.”
With his name on the inactive list Sunday, White has now missed three of the Patriots eight games. The healthy scratch was the first of White’s career. “This is another sign that points to the Pats looking for pass-rushing help before the trade deadline,” wrote Athletic Patriots correspondent Chad Graff on Sunday.
“That would seem to point to the team’s plans for him ahead of the trade deadline, but they will run into a big problem if they hope to move him in the next week,” added Sara Marshall of the Patriots site Musket Fire.
White’s lackluster, at best, performance makes him an unattractive trade target — unless another team believes that a change of scenery could rejuvenate the third-year edge rusher from Georgia Tech. If not, and the Patriots use the trade deadline to acquire another defensive end, White could find himself a candidate to be cut from the team altogether.
Jonathan Vankin JONATHAN VANKIN is an award-winning journalist and writer who now covers baseball and other sports for Heavy.com. He twice won New England Press Association awards for sports feature writing. He was a sports editor and writer at The Daily Yomiuri in Tokyo, Japan, covering Japan Pro Baseball, boxing, sumo and other sports. More about Jonathan Vankin
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