Jean Francois tackles playbook
FOXBORO — The signing of veteran defensive lineman Ricky Jean Francois on Tuesday was designed to give the Patriots needed depth up front.
“He’s been on several different teams, played in different systems, played 3-4 end, played inside on the guard,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said Wednesday. “We’ll see how it goes.”
In 115 career games, primarily as an interior lineman, the 6-foot-3, 313-pound Jean Francois has 236 tackles, 12 sacks, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery. He also had 1.5 sacks in 11 playoff games.
Reinforcements are needed as defensive tackle Malcom Brown has not practiced since suffering an ankle injury in the 23-7 win over Atlanta on Oct. 22 and appears on his way to missing a second straight game on Sunday night in Denver.
It also made defensive lineman Geneo Grissom expendable. He was released to make room on the 53-man roster for tight end Martellus Bennett, who the Patriots claimed off waivers from Green Bay yesterday. Grissom, a third-round pick out of Oklahoma in 2015, appeared in four games this year, making one tackle.
The Pats currently have eight defensive linemen with Brown and Cassius Marsh appearing on the injury report. Marsh has been a limited participant each of the last two days with a shoulder injury.
Jean Francois was released by Green Bay on Nov. 1 after appearing in six games this year. New England is his fifth stop during a nine-year career that started as a 2009 seventh-round draft pick of San Francisco out of LSU, where he played both football and track.
“I was just happy the team picked me up,” he said. “I was just chilling out, packing up my stuff leaving Green Bay and coming back home and got the call. I was like, ‘Time to come up here and learn a new playbook.’ ”
Jean Francois, 30, described himself as a hard worker and is currently trying to get up to speed. He has been picking the brains of fellow defensive linemen Alan Branch and Lawrence Guy, a teammate in Indianapolis in 2013.
“Each team is different learning the terminology, almost like you know English but somebody is telling you French now and you’ve got to learn French,” said Jean Francois. “It’s ongoing. The biggest thing is I’ve got to learn that playbook. Anything can happen. They can throw me in the fire and I don’t know that playbook, and I don’t want to mess up something they already have going. The playbook is my best friend right now. That’s my wife, my girlfriend, that’s my everything.”
His immersion should be aided by the Patriots spending next week at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs before heading down to Mexico City to face the Raiders.