The end game with Dominique Easley didn’t turn out quite as the Patriots had hoped when they made the defensive tackle a first-round pick in 2014.
With a roster that was fairly well-stocked that year, coach Bill Belichick decided to take a chance by spending the 29th pick on a player who’d blown out both knees in college.
Without the major injury issues, the belief among draft experts was Easley might have been a top-10 pick based on his explosiveness.
After two years of on-again, off-again Easley, with teases of that bright promise sprinkled in between season-ending stints on the disabled list, the Patriots decided to cut their losses.