New England Patriots Kyle Arrington on his pick of Drew Brees

New England Patriots cornerback Kyle Arrington (25) is called for pass interference against Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Mike Williams (19) during the first half at Gillette Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark L. Baer-USA TODAY Sports

New England Patriots slot CB Kyle Arrington is kind of your stereotypical Patriots player. He doesn’t get much national attention, he does his job solidly, and he works about has hard as anyone else. I always joke with Patriots fans that the easiest ways to get Bill Belichick to talk for a long time at a press conference are by asking him about game strategy or about Kyle Arrington and Devin McCourty. Arrington is one of those slot corners who is even easier to overlook than your average slot corner, because so much of his game is predicated on run defense and covering short-area routes that don’t get much press.

But as we saw in his rookie year, Arrington has the knack for the big play. He’s already had a hand in multiple fumbles this season, and he came away with a clutch pick off of Drew Brees when Brees was trying to get the ball to star TE Jimmy Graham. He spoke about the interception on WEEI’s Mut and Merloni, “Brees, I guess he was going through all his progressions. The D-line was able to get some pressure on him, so he was I guess he was trying to get rid of the ball to Graham. It was kind of a higher throw. And I know as big as Jimmy is, I’m like, ‘Hopefully he’s not that big,’ so I kind of just played the overthrow.”

Arrington is enjoying another good season, as he has been tight in coverage and continues to make big plays in the slot. Although his pick against the Saints was his first INT, he has five passes defended already this year and has had 11 and 13 passes defended in each of his past two seasons. I found it interesting that Arrington was leery of Graham’s size, because Arrington is definitely a smaller corner (but he makes up for it with his physical play).

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