Brace on board
The Patriots have signed another draft pick, locking up nose tackle Ron Brace. Brace's agent, Nate Haber, announced the news via his Twitter feed, saying that Brace had agreed to a four-year deal with the club with roughly $2.82 million in guarantees.
With the uncertainty surrounding nose tackle Vince Wilfork, who is in the last year of his deal and is seeking a new contract with the Patriots, making sure that Brace was signed on time and ready to go for training camp was important.
Brace, a Boston College standout, was the Patriots' second overall selection in the 2009 draft and the second of the team's four second-round picks, taken with the 40th overall selection. The Patriots now have deals for three of their four second-round picks and four of their top five selections.
The team has not struck a deal yet with safety Patrick Chung, the team's top overall selection and the first of its four second-round picks, taken No. 34 overall.
The 6-foot, 3-inch, 330-pound Brace is a native of Springfield and attended Worcester Burncoat High School. He teamed with BC's B.J. Raji, a first-round pick of the Green Bay Packers, to give the Eagles one of the top interior defensive line tandems in the nation last season. BC led the Atlantic Coast Conference in rush defense last season.
Brace started 37 straight games at BC. Last season, he had 27 tackles, a career-high three sacks and was second on the team with 11 tackles for a loss.
The Patriots' picks without a deal at this point our Chung; linebacker Tyrone McKenzie, a third-round pick who is out for the season after tearing his ACL during rookie mini-camp; fifth-round offensive lineman George Bussey, who is close to a deal and long-snapper Jake Ingram, a sixth-round pick whose agent, Wynn Silberman, said he thought there would be an agreement in the next week or so.
Update: (10:44 a.m.): Nate Haber, Brace's agent, emailed this quote in response to two questions about the signing.
"Ron's very excited to get his deal done with the Patriots," said Haber. "It's a dream come true for him. We have a lot of respect for their organization, and we look forward to watching Ron develop in New England."
Comment
Permalink
Email
Never seems to amaze me how well run an organization NE is. I hope the fans do not take it for granted. Brace, Tate, Chung, Edelman, Vollmer.....on and on.....and already three 2nd round picks for next year. If you cannot appreciate this, you are not a football fan. If you hate it, you are jealous, but still admire the genious behind these selections.
More Great news....oh man the season keeps getting better & better & it hasn't even started yet!!!! Now lets get the rest of those loose ends signed & have a intense yet HEALTHY training camp with no more injuries like the one to McKenzie!!!!!
Floyd Reese likes to sign those contracts, he must have come back from his vacation in a great mood.
Mike, with all these signings of their draft picks, aren't the Patriots over the 80 man roster limit? Did I miss some cuts while I was away for the past month?
Why Twitter, BTW
Big Brace is the guy that counts early. On the first goal line stand of the season, he's going in there next to WIlfork. For that matter, neither the Bills nor the Jets are known for their quarterback's proven proficiency at the NFL level, so maybe Brace will start in the 4-3 or even the 5-2.
I hope his arrival does not mark the end of the Wilfork era. I would love to see these two big men continue to create havoc on the defensive line.
Brent, I agree with you. The Patriots had a very good draft. I can say they had the best this year. As a Steelers fan we execute the draft very good and produce very productive players, especially in the first round....Roethlisberger, Polamalu, Heath Miller, Holmes.etc etc etc......I am very excited to see our draft class and last years as well since we got no production from any of our picks this past year. I am big fan of Chung and looking forward to seeing if he gets any playing time this year..
I'm a huge Pats fan but let's wait a few yrs before we say how good this draft was. You never know until you actually see these guys play.
I'm as excited as anyone about Patriots season, but I got lost right about when there was mention of a 5-2... I have to hope you're thinking that's exclusively a goal-line / 4th-and-1 defense...
Anyhow, Brace looks like a very big man.
Love to see a new signing every day because that means we will have no hold-out problems starting training camp... But I would love more if one of these days I read: "Wilfork signs 5-year deal" or something like that.
Is it me or do I think Brace will have a better career than his college line-mate Raji drafted by Green Bay. Raji only played one year, is that correct?
can someone please get rid of the LARGE staff of running backs we have and the tight ends we don't use? We have Welker... nuff said.
steerlersfan.....
agreed. I was actually hoping the Pat's would have gone after Ziggy Hood. Never happened. Probably not a good fit for us.
Belichick is going back to his roots; namely strengthening both sides of the ball. With young blood on the O line and D line, it helps our depth going into November and December. Don't forget Pryor. He was a second team All-SEC in a very tough conference and unlike Dwayne Robertson, I think this guy might surprise people and contribute next year.
We need Chung in camp and signed however. Safety is still an issue in my mind and the reports on him are very good. Let's hope it gets done sometime next week.
The Patriots' 5-2 defense was hand-crafted for the Pittsburgh Steelers' run-happy offense, with their big line, occasionally a big back, and a big quarterback. Patent-pending. I don't know if anyone else has tried the 5-2.
Patriots need to sign Favre or Vick. Brady is not bionic. They could not give him super powers and one roll the knee will be one too many! The backups stink! One last note, PLEASE don't sign Seau or McGinnest! Why not resurrect Grogan while you're at it?
brent
Ziggy Hood will play DE for us..2 of our 3 defensive lineman are free agents, so he would be replacing keisel most likely. We are in same boat as far as free agents after next season...Casey Hampton is a free agent, just like Wilfork. 3-4 nose tackle is so important in the 3-4 Defense. I don't know what were going to do. I believe Brance might replace Wilfork...we will see....can't wait for FOOTBALL
I didn't think an opinion could get any stupider than the one in post 13, but I guess I didn't figure on Cohas chirping in again @ post 17...give it a rest dude (or whatever you are)
The running-back-by-commitee is gonna wreak havoc with DC's this season & when the hot0hand is found, it'll be utilized.
Same with the TE situation, as they are all very different in their approaches & utilization. Whatever 3 are kept (or maybe 4) it's gonna give DC's fits trying to game-plan, without knowing which idea BB has up his sleeve for that week.
And as far as Favre & Vick coming to Patriots is concerned...you've truly proven you're a moron we don't need to see future comments from.
Go to the knitting or pie-making blogs, or something please. You're bound to hurt yourself here.
BTW cohas - what makes you so sure the back-ups stink? It seems to me most people (you were probably one of them) said the same thing about Cassell last year...and in just a couple Months, he turned himself into a franchise QB worth more than you'll ever probably dream of making...
This blogger might want to review your comment before posting it.
Patriots Twitter
ask reiss
Questions will be considered for Mike's mailbagbrowse this blog
by categoryINside Boston.com