New on SI: Patriots Josh Uche Looks To Make Immediate Impact In Rookie Year

The Patriots expect big things out of second round pick Josh Uche in 2020.

The Patriots expect big things out of second round pick Josh Uche in 2020. Devon Clements joins Kaitlin O'Toole to talk about Uche's background and what he could bring to the New England defense. 

Read full video transcript here: 

Kaitlin O'Toole: Patriots linebacker Josh Uche is being referred to by some as a second day star. His combo of pass rushing expertise and overall athletic ability was too hard to pass up, so the New England Patriots traded up to acquire him in the second round. Joining me now is Patriot Maven Devon Clements. Devon, the Patriots are losing Kyle Van Noy and Jamie Collins this off season, so what does that mean for Uche and the production that we may see out of him this year?

Devon Clements: Well, because those two guys left, along with the Elandon Roberts, the linebacker, there's gonna be a lot of reps open for some of the younger guys like Josh Uche or Anfernee Jennings who they selected in the third round, to get reps this year. They did a full reboot. There's a lot of young guys on the roster. Those guys are going to get the opportunity to play in their rookie years. In terms of Josh Uche, depending on how they go about their defensive scheme this year, because they could potentially switch to a 4-3 instead of a 3-4, but either way, the Patriots are going to utilize his strengths like they do with any other player on the roster. So if that's the case in his rookie year, I think he's going to be a package guy who is a blitzer, gets in the interior lineman's face and uses his athletic ability to get around to the quarterback.

Kaitlin O'Toole: Can you tell us a little bit about Uche and his relationship with Coach Marti and the impact this coach has played on his career?

Devon Clements: Yeah. My conversation with Coach Marti was a fun one because it was one of those rabbit holes I went down that I wasn't expecting to go down. It was a conversation I had where going into it, I saw Josh retweet one of his posts on Twitter where they were working out together. So I figured that the relationship between Coach Marti and Josh was just something of, you know, offseason work out between Uche and a pass rush specialist. But it ended up being coach Marti was his high school defensive line coach and they've been very close to each other the past eight years to the point where Josh would go over Coach Marti's house and spend time with the family and kids. And it's really helped Josh develop a lot over the years. Coach Marti told me a story where Josh Uche went into his sophomore year, went into spring practices at Columbus High, which is where he transferred to his sophomore year, and the defensive coordinator there really wasn't sure where he was going to be put on defense because he didn't really fit in with the linebackers, which is where he was originally inserted to. Well, that's where Coach Marti stepped in, took him under his wing and put him in a three point stance at defensive end. And the rest is history. He's now a second round pick for the Patriots.