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Well here's your New England Patriots draft. Overall, extremely happy with the values. A lot of picks to make though, holy shit.
1-032. Johnathan Abram, S, Mississippi State
2-056. Zach Allen, ER, Boston College
2-064. Kahale Warring, TE, San Diego State
3-074. Max Scharping, OT, Northern Illinois
3-098. Gerald Willis, DL, Miami
3-102. Miles Boykin, WR, Notre Dame
4-135. Jarrett Stidham, QB, Auburn
6-207. Dontavius Russell, DL, Auburn
7-241. Karan Higdon, RB, Michigan
7-248. Cole Holcomb, LB, North Carolina
7-254. Nik Needham, CB, UTEP
The Patriots never really have big needs when it comes to the draft because they sign so many mid-tier free agents but there's a few upgrades I felt they needed to focus on and the losses on the D-Line were pretty big.
Patrick Chung hasn't been very good the past couple years so I think an upgrade is in order there and if Abrams is there at 32 then he makes a ton of sense. He's my #1 SS in this draft and on most pundits boards because he can do everything. He's not the playmaking coverage type that Thornhill is but he's better in the box, precisely where the Pats need him.
Zach Allen was a huge value in my mind at 56 and is a guy I see replacing Trey Flowers.
I think Kahale Warring is a guy that doesn't get enough love at TE but he's been climbing boards steadily and should be a day 2 pick. The Pats will love his complete game, size, and measurables. The only thing that could have hurt that team more than losing Gronk would be losing Brady, so they have to replace him early.
After losing Trent Brown to free agency and the uncertainty regarding Isaiah Wynn's health, I had to give the Pats some insurance at LT and Scharping is exactly the type of player Bill goes after on the OL.
The Pats lost Malcolm Brown in the middle of that DL as well, so snagging Gerald Willis in the late 3rd and Dontavius Russell in the late 6th are guys I think could help there. Both were really solid values so I'm happy I waited for things to fall there.
The Patriots ALWAYS need WR help and it's rare that they address it in the draft, but I think they almost have to this season because they lost so much. I picked up Miles Boykin in the late third as a guy that seems to fit their metric for 3-cone.
After that, Stidham was a steal at QB in the latter part of the 4th and is at least a good backup if he can't become the heir to Brady.
Higdon was a value pick at RB as a backup to Michel.
Holcomb is a guy that probably goes in by the end of the 5th and is athletic and is a damn good, instinctive player to boot.
Needham is another guy that I think goes by the end of the 5th. He is sticky in coverage and great in press, plus he ran in the 4.3's at his pro day at 6'0" 190.
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