Mingo making an impression with Pats

From ESPNBoston

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- New England Patriots linebacker Barkevious Mingo made a strong first impression in his first game with the team, totaling six tackles and two quarterback hits in Thursday's presason finale against the New York Giants.

But behind the scenes, he had already won over Bill Belichick because of his intelligence and work ethic.

"He lived in the facility last week," Belichick said.


When the Patriots returned home, players had an off day, but Mingo "spent the whole day in the facility with the coaches going through material to get caught up."

"He's shown a lot of commitment to try to pick up the new information and try to understand what we're doing, watching the films of games we played to understand the techniques and how we're playing things and all that," Belichick continued. "He worked really hard, took a lot of plays in practice to get somewhat comfortable with what we're doing. It's obviously going to be a work in progress here, it's only been a week, but he's smart, he learns well, and he works hard. So check all those boxes."

Mingo (6-foot-4, 240 pounds) had reason to smile after, saying, "It’s a new team. These guys want to see what I can do. I want to see what I can do in this defense."

During his pregame interview on 98.5 The Sports Hub, Belichick was complimentary of Mingo's versatility and physical traits.

"It's good to work with him. I think he'll help us. He's long, has good length, he's fast, he picks up things quickly, asks a lot of good questions. You don't have to keep going over the same information with him. Once you give it to him, he has it and then you go on to something else. He has good retention, good instincts, and I think he understands football.

"He's played a lot of different positions -- linebacker, defensive end, off-the-ball linebacker, on-the-ball linebacker, he's played a number of spots in the kicking game. I think he's capable of having some versatility and helping us in different roles. We'll see how all that turns out, but I'd say I've been impressed with him personally -- his intelligence, his communication, just being alert on everything."