Ronnie Perkins discusses transition to different role with Patriots
New England Patriots rookie defensive end Ronnie Perkins spent all three years at Oklahoma on the defensive line.
Perkins, who was drafted in the third round, had 16.5 total sacks in college and his only two goals were to stop the run and sack the quarterback. The Patriots are looking to transition the 6-foot-2, 253 pounder into an outside linebacker who occasionally drops back into coverage. He’s been working with linebacker coaches Steve Belichick and Jerod Mayo, rather than defensive line coach DeMarcus Covington.
While speaking with reporters, Perkins alluded to the idea that he’ll pick the new role up pretty quickly.
“I’ll say I have a good athletic background that allows me to transition into stuff like that,” Perkins said, transcribed by NESN. “It’ll allow me to transition into coverage easily just because I had a tight end background, so I’m kind of good with footwork and everything, so that’ll help my transition to linebacker.”
Perkins has incredible personnel around him with the coaching staff and players like Dont’a Hightower, Kyle Van Noy and Matthew Judon.
“Pretty much everyone in our room has been around for a real long time,” Perkins said. “Coach Mayo, he played in the system, Steve, he’s been around the system his whole life, and then you got guys like Hightower and KV, they’ve been in the system for a long time. So I’ve got some great guys to learn from every day.”
Per NESN, Perkins said he has been studying some of the Patriots greats at his position.
“I see just a lot of stuff that I can do that they can do better just because they’re experienced and everything,” Perkins said. “So this my first crack at the NFL, so still kind of — I’d probably say at a little nervous point, should I do this or think too much? So just watching those guys and seeing how they do stuff without thinking just helps me a lot.”
Perkins and second-round pick Christian Barmore should add a strong presence to the Patriots’ front seven.
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