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Pees Regrets Moving Brooks Around

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If rookie safety Terrance Brooks could go back in time, there is little doubt he would choose to hit the “re-do” button on his 2014 season.

From struggling through picking up the playbook during training camp to finding himself in John Harbaugh’s proverbial doghouse after giving up a long touchdown pass in the New Orleans game, if time travel were possible, he’d be the first in line.

Yet for all the missteps along the way, many rookies suffer during their first year in the NFL, and it wasn’t all Brooks’ fault. Injuries continue to happen at an alarming rate this season in the Ravens secondary, which forced defensive coordinator Dean Pees to figure out which pieces to fit into the puzzle on game days.

Brooks failed to see the field on defense until Week 4, and played in just 245 defensive snaps before suffering his season-ending PCL injury against Jacksonville last week. He finished the season with 19 total tackles (16) solo, allowed eight completions in coverage (12 targets), had one pass defended and allowed one touchdown, per Pro Football Focus.

With hindsight always being 20/20 and Brooks out for the remainder of the season, defensive coordinator Dean Pees offered his early assessment on Brooks and took full responsibility for the rookie’s rough start.

“I think there’s some times with Terrence … As a rookie, we moved him around a little bit,” said Pees. “Probably in retrospect, I probably would have gone back and maybe just put him in one place and just left him there and let him soak. But we tried to teach him a bunch of different things. I’m not sure that was the best for him. I’ll take the blame for that.

“I think he’s going to be a really good football player, a really good football player.,” the Ravens defensive play caller responded about Brook’s future. “He’s smart, but the game was a little different for him. And then when you’re trying to learn a couple different spots, it kind of even became harder. When we had injuries, we moved guys here, moved them there, [and] that’s tough on a rookie. I think a year from now, I think you’ll see a really consistent player.”

It’s not all on Pees by any means – players still have to play but it is on the coordinator to put them in the best position to succeed. No one can predict injuries but the front office knew of the suspect secondary unit and failed to do anything about it until it was too late.

That won’t be the case in 2015.

Brooks will return healthy and will be given his shot again, but don’t expect the brass to sit around waiting in the meantime.

In fact it could be the first year in memory that the Ravens decide to throw the “best player available” mantra aside – at least in the first few rounds – and draft for need, with an already tight salary cap laying in wait for next season.

[RELATED: Ravens Face Tough Salary Cap Decisions]

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