Bill Belichick generally is a well-traveled and well-connected person from February through April.
One person he didn’t get in contact with was the coach of the man he just used a first-round pick on.
The New England Patriots pulled two vintage moves Thursday night by trading back and selecting a player that was on few folks’ radars as a first-round pick. They drafted Cole Strange, an offensive lineman from the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga, who many thought would be a second- or third-round pick.
Sean McVay’s reaction tells you all you need to know about the surprise of the move.
Another surprise: Rusty Wright, the head coach of the Mocs, told WEEI’s “Gresh and Keefe” that he actually didn’t have any communication with Belichick during the pre-draft process.
“You know, he was one of the few (NFL coaches) I did not (talk to)," Wright said. "Maybe someday down the road he will, if he knows where Chattanooga is.
“It was mostly the scout guys. We had a couple of different scouts here at a couple of different times and that was the biggest thing. When we had a pro day there were a couple of guys down here, but there were so many people down here for pro day I can’t keep them all straight. But yeah, they did their homework and really took their time and made sure it was right for them, and evidently it was.”
In a way, that only further should emphasize how much the Patriots, especially the scouts, seemed to like Strange. If they felt comfortable enough to select him without getting any insight from his coach, then they must’ve really been enamored with him as a player.
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