FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Patriots linebacker Elandon Roberts still considers himself a defensive player no matter how much more time he’s been getting at fullback.
His outfit showed it, too.
“I’m 100 percent a defensive player,” he said after practice Thursday, standing at his locker wearing a sweatshirt that read: “Beware of the Boggeymen” – a phrase coined by linebacker Dont’a Hightower, referring to New England’s top-ranked defense.
“But when it’s this late in the season and it’s playoff time and you’re taking this game like a playoff game, all your players have to be used,” Roberts said. “When I’m on the offensive side, I’m going to do what I can for those guys.”
The Patriots host the Miami Dolphins in the season finale Sunday, and Roberts could see more time with Tom Brady.
With the team’s running game sputtering midway into the season, Roberts was asked to jump over to the other side of the ball, taking a few snaps at fullback in a Week 7 victory over the New York Jets.
In five of the next six games, he had 16 total snaps at the position before collecting 10 and 21, respectively, the past two weeks, with the larger number coming when the team’s running game got on track in a victory over Buffalo last Saturday that clinched the Patriots’ 11th straight AFC East title. Tailback Sony Michel had a season-high 96 yards in the win over the Bills.
“It really isn’t any different,” Roberts said, pausing, before re-thinking his new role. “Well, it’s different. It’s the offense.”
Patriots coach Bill Belichick knows what Roberts means.
“It’s just the flip of middle linebacker, just on the other side of the ball,” Belichick said on Friday. “As a middle linebacker, you’re searching out the guy with the ball. As a fullback, you’re searching out one of the guys who’s trying to get the guy with the ball. He played some back earlier in his career, way back, so he had a little familiarity with it. Elandon has a great attitude. He will do whatever he can to help the team, whether that’s fullback, kickoff coverage, punt coverage, kickoff return, he’s been on all the special teams and all that. He’s very willing to do whatever he can to help our football team.”
Belichick has mainly used the 25-year-old Roberts against the run and on special teams since drafting him in the sixth round out of college in 2016.
Now, Roberts finds himself in a position that was a trouble spot after fullback James Develin was lost for the season with a neck injury in late September. Develin helped clear the way for Michel last season, especially when the Patriots won their sixth Super Bowl with a victory over the Los Angeles Rams.
Roberts said his approach to his new position hasn’t adjusted the way he’s played – mainly because he’s still hitting people.
“Nah, my mentality doesn’t change,” he said. “It’s going to be how it’s going to be. It don’t change. My mentality is my mentality. It’s not going to change. It’s a ‘Do your job’ mentality. Physicality is a part of the game. So that’s going to come with it regardless.”
But has he taken any kidding from his defensive teammates now that he’s spending more time with the offense?
“They never do,” he said. “They just know what it’s about – it’s a team sport and I’m helping out the offense, but I’m a 100 percent defensive guy.”
Roberts didn’t even get excited when he was originally asked to play behind Brady.
“It was cool,” he said. “It wasn’t like ‘Wow!’. It was ‘If you all need help, I’ve got ya.’”