Previewing & Projecting the New England Patriots 2016 Draft
Thursday, April 28, 2016
While the NFL Draft starts tonight in Chicago, the draft for the New England Patriots won't start until Friday night's second round.
The Patriots enter this year's NFL Draft without a first round pick due to the punishments handed down from deflategate and with the 60th pick, will not pick until late in the second round.
"I don’t think it really changes the overall philosophy. You still go through the same process. The reality is that our process really hasn’t changed this year relative to what we’ve done in previous years. We have the picks that we have and we go through a similar process," said Patriots director of player personnel Nick Caserio in his pre draft press conference.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTWhile there is no first round pick, the Patriots have 11 picks from the 2nd round through the 7th round with no picks in the 4th or 5th rounds, at least at the moment, as those were traded away to Chicago for Martellus Bennett and Houston for Keshawn Martin respectively.
"The reality is that the draft – there’s depth across all positions – I mean everybody always looks for what positions of strength, where is the draft deep. There’s depth throughout the entire draft. You can really find players all the way from round one through seven," Caserio added.
The Patriots picks are as follows: 2nd round - 60th, 2nd round - 61st, 3rd round - 91st, 3rd round -96th, 6th round -196th, 6th round - 204th, 6th round - 208th, 6th round - 214th, 6th round 221st, 7th round - 243rd, 7th round- 250th.
Impact of Tom Brady's Suspension
On Monday, the Patriots as well as everyone else, found out that quarterback Tom Brady will be suspended for the first four games of the season.
Prior to that, there was rumor that backup quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo could be a trade chip in this draft.
Now with Brady suspended, it is unlikely that the Patriots would trade Garoppolo and may even look at drafting a quarterback.
On top of that, the Patriots will be in the market for a veteran quarterback to come in and either play or back up Jimmy Garoppolo for the first four games of the season, which hurts New England's ability to keep an extra depth player and counts against the salary cap.
Remember, in preparation for a possible Brady suspension last offseason, the Patriots brought in Matt Flynn, but he never saw any action.
The Patriots in the 2nd Round
Historically, the Patriots have come up big in the second round.
In 1974 the Patriots drafted linebacker and now Patriots Hall of Famer Steve Nelson with the 34th pick. In 1982, the Patriots drafted linebacker Andre Tippett, now a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
More recently, the Patriots selected Lawyer Milloy in the second round of 1996, wide receiver Deion Branch in 2002 and tight end Rob Gronkowski in 2010. Other notable second round picks include Patrick Chung, Jamie Collins and Jimmy Garoppolo.
Projecting the Patriots 2nd Round Draft
Here are a couple of projections on who the Patriots will take in the draft.
New England is projected by Sports Illustrated to take outside linebacker Jordan Jenkins out of Georgia with the 60th pick. Jerod Mayo retired in the offseason so the linebacker position could be one of need.
Drafttek has the Patriots taking cornerback Kendall Fuller out of Virginia Tech with pick number 60 and running back Devontae Booker out of Utah with the 61st pick. New England is pretty loaded at the running back position, but could always use the extra help in the secondary.
Fox Sports has projected the Patriots to take linebacker Joshua Perry out of Ohio State with the 60th pick and guard Joshua Garnett out of Stanford with the 61st pick. As Patriots fans witnessed last season, you can never have enough offensive linemen it seems like.
Walterfootball.com is projecting the Patriots to take Kenneth Dixon, a running back out of Louisiana Tech at the 60th pick. They then project New England to take Le'Raven Clark, an offensive tackle out of Texas Tech with the 61st pick.
The second and third rounds of the NFL Draft are set for Friday night. GoLocal will have the 3rd round projections for the Patriots on Friday.
Football season is 19 Sundays away.
Related Slideshow: The New England Patriots - Greatest Team Ever
The New England Patriots have won their fourth Super Bowl in the Brady/Belichick Era by defeating the Seattle Seahawks 28 - 24 in Super Bowl XLIX in Arizona. With that win, the Patriots have now put themselves in the conversation as being the greatest team ever in NFL history.
Here are ten reasons why they are in fact the greatest team.
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