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The New Engalnd Patriots have announced the signing the 1st round draft pick (29th overall) Dominique Easley.
#Patriots 1st round DL Dominique Easley signed a 4-year, $7.3M contract with a $3.63M signing bonus, source said. 80% of it is guaranteed.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) June 23, 2014
Easley suffered from two ACL tears in college at Florida. The first occurred in November of 2011, and Easley recovered well from the injury.
After his 2011 tear, the standout lineman not only returned for the 2012 season, but he played in and started 11 games—including the first game of the year in September.
In other words, he underwent surgery and completed his rehab in just over nine months—a very respectable timetable by anyone's standards.
The more recent ACL injury happened just over eight months ago, and Easley was a limited participant in mini-camp last week.
It has been speculated that the delay in signing the rookie was due to parts of the contract dealing with his more recent injury. With Easley now under contract, all of the rookies are signed well before training camp.
Dominique Easley was a dynamic play maker for Florida and could be used in a number of defensive fronts if healthy.