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DL Rheams Among First 3 Rookies To Sign. Only 17 days remain til camp opens up this offseason and still the Patriots have only signed 3 of their 10 draft picks. The Patriots are being careful on their rookie contracts because they still have LB Ted Johnson to sign before next season. The Patriots signed defensive tackle Leonta Rheams yesterday. Rheams is now the third rookie to sign, after TE Rod Rutledge and C Jason Anderson. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Leonta was selected in the fourth round of this year's draft, and can prove to be a vital part in the Patriots defensive front. The Patriots have an enormous amount of talent at the defensive lineman position, along with plenty of veteran presence. Leonta will be backing up veteran Henry Thomas as well as Mark Wheeler. Draft Analysis... The 6-foot-2-inch, 280-pound Rheams played at the University of Houston, where he started 32 straight games and recorded 154 tackles during his four-year college career. He did not work out at the combine because of a knee scope, but he should recover fully by training camp this July. He was a three year starter for Houston, but was bothered in 1997 by the knee injury and only had 34 tackles, 20 TFLs and 4 sacks. He has decent size as an inside player and plays with some natural strength and leverage. He has a pretty good pop and explosion at the POA and can hold his own along the LOS. He does a decent job stacking inside and seems to play the run a little better than the pass. He has some quickness off the ball, but has not developed any sophisticated pass rush moves and does not really excell as a one gap type penetrator. He is a little incosistent in his effort and seems to be a guy that wears down and struggles at the end of games. He will play well for a while and then disappear for stretches.He is not a very exciting or big play type guy, but he is steady inside, especially versus the run. If his knee is okay and he can improve his endurance, he could develop into a decent NFL run stuffing type backup. |
