Patriots player profile: Marte Mapu has potential, but the clock is ticking

Previewing the Patriots safety heading into his third NFL season.

Safety was a supposed strength for the New England Patriots heading into 2024. However, a mix of injuries and off-field issues decimated the group for much of the season and led to some underwhelming results.

A bounceback is therefore in order, for both the group as a whole and its individual members. Among those seemingly under some pressure is third-year man Marte Mapu.

Hard facts

Name: Marte Mapu

Position: Safety

Jersey number: 15

Opening day age: 25 (11/8/1999)

Measurements: 6’2 1/2”, 230 lbs, 78 3/4” wingspan, 33 1/2” arm length, 9 3/8” hand size, N/A Relative Athletic Score

Experience

NFL: New England Patriots (2023-) | College: Sacramento State (2017-22)

A two-way player at Hawthorne High School in Hawthorne, CA, Mapu served as quarterback, wide receiver and defensive back. Despite his versatility and production, he was unranked as a recruit and only saw a handful of FCS school express interest in bringing him aboard. Among them was Sacramento State.

Mapu first arrived on campus in 2017 but redshirted his freshman season. The other five years of his career as a Hornet can be split into pre- and post-Covid-19.

In 2018 and 2019, he primarily played as a role player and saw action in 16 games with two starts. After the 2020 season was cancelled due to the pandemic, he became a mainstay in the team’s secondary and started all 25 of his games between 2021 and 2022. His final season was his best: after registering 76 tackles, two interceptions and a blocked field goal, Mapu was named the Big Sky Defensive Player of the Year.

While he still flew under the radar given his comparative small school status, the Patriots opted to select him 76th overall in the third round of the draft. Since then, he has seen action in 27 games and registered a pair of interceptions as well as four forced fumbles.

Scouting report

Strengths: Standing at 6-foot-3 and measuring 230 pounds — a 13-pound increase from before the draft — Mapu offers a combination of solid size and good baseline athleticism. While not a speedster in the backend, he has good burst out of his stance as well as quick feet to click and close or drop back from his initial alignment in zone coverage. He has also shown himself capable of taking on bigger players in man-to-man, particularly tight ends.

A versatile player capable of lining back deep and closer to the line of scrimmage either as a slot defender or to a lesser degree an extra body in the box, he has been praised for his drive and work ethic behind the scenes. Mapu also has shown himself an able communicator at the heart of the Patriots defense, as well as a player with natural instincts and a feel for playing the ball: he is competitive at the catch point and has the punch and grip strength to pry it loose.

Weaknesses: Mapu is certainly an able athlete, but not particularly suited to go up against smaller and/or shiftier receivers in man coverage. His play strength and ability to shed blocks are also not where they need to be, limiting his effectiveness as a run defender. In general, playing in the box versus the run is not his strong suit: he lacks the awareness and discipline, and takes questionable angles to the ball.

The latter also contributed to him struggling with tackling accuracy; Mapu has a career missed tackle rate of 15.2 percent. He also is still developing his processing and understanding of route combinations and misdirection concepts. In many respects, he therefore is still a raw player.

2024 review

Stats: 10 games (9 starts) | 486 defensive snaps (43.5%), 113 special teams snaps (25.9%) | 42 tackles, 9 missed tackles (17.6%), 1 TFL, 2 forced fumbles | 27 targets, 20 catches surrendered (74.1%), 189 yards, 1 INT | 3 quarterback pressures (0.5 sacks, 2 hurries) | 4 special teams tackles, 1 forced fumble | 1 penalty

Season recap: After seeing action in all 17 games as a rookie, Mapu’s sophomore year was disrupted by a calf injury that he suffered in training camp and that landed him on injured reserve to start the regular season. He sat out four weeks before returning to what had become a different-looking safety group by Week 5: with starter Jabrill Peppers on the commissioner’s exempt list following an arrest in early October, Mapu immediately took on a starter role in the secondary.

In his first game back from the injury, he played all 78 defensive snaps in a 15-10 loss to the Miami Dolphins plus 15 more in the kicking game. He did have some rough moments particularly against the run, but also registered a career-best seven combined tackles as well as a forced special teams fumble.

Mapu kept his starting role for the next five weeks, and rarely left the field over that span even as he was dealing with a neck injury originally suffered in Week 6 against Houston. He also played the best football of his career up until that point even though his stats — 24 tackles, 0.5 sacks, 2 passes defended — did not necessarily stand out.

His neck, however, was a problem. He either suffered a new injury or aggravated the old one in Week 9 against the Tennessee Titans (he still ended up playing 76.6 percent of defensive snaps that day), and as a consequence had to miss the Patriots’ win over Chicago in Week 10. When he returned the following Sunday, he played one of his worst games of the season in a 34-15 blowout loss in Miami.

With Peppers returning to the team after that game against the Dolphins, Mapu headed to the bench. He sat out the next two games as a healthy scratch and only returned in Week 16 against the Buffalo Bills — when he registered his only interception of the season — because Peppers had injured his hamstring.

With the starter sidelined for the final three games of the season, Mapu was back in the lineup. He continued mixing flashes of difference-making ability with uneven tackling and awareness issues.

2025 preview

Position: Multiple safety | Ability: Fringe starter/Role player | Contract: Signed through 2026

What will be his role? Mapu has been a multiple safety ever since joining the Patriots in 2023, and he will likely continue wearing several hats under a new coaching staff in 2025. Whether he will challenge the likes of Kyle Dugger and Jabrill Peppers for starter reps will be seen, but with fourth-round rookie Craig Woodson in the mix will face some added competition to do so. As a result, he projects as a matchup player with spot-starter and special teams upside.

What is his growth potential? Two seasons into his career, Mapu has yet to put it all together to become a reliable player in the secondary. If he can improve his consistency especially against the run and as a tackler, however, he does have the athletic tools and apparent communication skills to develop into a starter further down the stretch.

Does he have positional versatility? While there are questions about his ability to play in the box as a linebacker type given his inconsistency versus the run, Mapu is a generally versatile player. He can play deep and in the slot (against the right matchups), and also has the experience of 330 career special teams snaps split between five units.

What is his salary cap situation? In Year 3 of his rookie contract, Mapu is currently counting $1.517 million against the Patriots’ cap. That number is pretty straight forward: it consists of a $1.26 million salary as well as a fully-guaranteed $261,583 signing bonus proration.

How safe is his roster spot? With the Patriots overhauling their defensive coaching staff, Mapu’s outlook is unclear. He has the talent to be a contributor, but won’t have an automatic job just because of his draft status or flashes of encouraging play. That is particularly true given that New England did not just add the aforementioned Craig Woodson to the mix, but also free agent Marcus Epps (signing) and Jaylinn Hawkins (re-signing).

Summary: Entering his third season in the league, Mapu has clear room for growth but also definitive potential. The key to unlocking the latter will lie in his usage as well as his ability to keep developing his football IQ and run fits. There is reason for optimism based on his 2024 season, but the clock is nonetheless ticking with a new staff and some added competition in town.

What do you think about Marte Mapu heading into the 2025 season? Please head down to the comment section to share your thoughts.