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Joe Lefeged
Player - Joe Lefeged
Height - 6'0
Weight - 205lbs
Position - Safety
College - Rutgers
Class - Senior
Born - Germantown, Maryland
Career Statistics
2007 - 38 Tkls, 3 sacks
2008 - 72 Tkls, 1 sack
2009 - 35 Tkls, 1 sack, 1 ff, 1 int
2010 - 84 Tkls, 2 sacks, 4 ff's, 1 int
Accolades:
- 2007 Freshman All Big East
- 2007 Freshman All American Honorable mention
- 2010 All Big East 2nd Team
- 2010 Jim Thorpe Award Semi Finalist
- 2010 Rutgers team captain
Where he fits in New England
Safety is very quietly creeping into a legitimate team need in my opinion. We've had some big plays made by our safeties over the course of this year, Chung played lights out in the early half of the season, Sanders has made several huge interceptions. However, Meriweather has underwhelmed in coverage all season, Chung has not been able to stay healthy, and despite being a decent contributor this year, the jury still appears out on James Sanders. Especially in this forum. Enter; Joe Lefeged. Rutgers 4 year Senior and defensive leader this past season. Other then Jared Page, we do not have very much depth at the position. That said, Lefeged will not be a "Depth" selection. This guy will be a force on Sundays for many years.
Upside :
Lefeged is not going to be the leagues biggest or fastest Safety. But he has the ability to be one of the better ones. He is an absolutely field maven similar to the style of Pat Chung. He has terrific range despite what would be considered average speed to a safety. He is a better tackler the Chung was coming out of Oregon and equal to him in his ability to make plays. He is an extremely solid player physically that finishes his tackles very well. During his junior and senior seasons he totally 5 forced fumbles and 2 blocked punts. Tenacious to say the very least. Lefeged is a special teams stand out and RU, something highly valued by Bill Belichick, he's been an excellent return man during his collegiate career, he owns a 26.6 KR average and as a senior returned kicks 38 times for 948 yards. The other big intangible for being a Patriot is your ability to be a leader, something Joe Lefeged embraced this past season after being named a team Captain.
Lefeged quote on being a leader -
| Joe Lefeged wrote: |
| " I’m a leader on this football team now,” Lefeged said. “How I approach that will be a mixture of a lot of guys I played with, going back to guys who were on the 2006 team. If I have to be vocal I will, but I don’t think you always have to be that way. Devin McCourty was a great leader, and he didn’t say a lot. He led by example." |
Lefeged and former teammate Devin McCourty
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