Who the Patriots take at No. 23 overall in the NFL Draft is anyone's guess.
But, NFL Media's Daniel Jeremiah is one of the best in the business when it comes to analyzing the players in the draft, and also has some experience working in NFL organizations.
Appearing on a conference call Thursday, he was asked about who the Patriots could go after at No. 23 overall and he named Iowa edge rusher A.J. Epenesa. Jeremiah cited how he believes Epenesa's game really fits Bill Belichick and the Patriots' system.
"For me it's A.J. Epenesa," he said. "I went back and I've posted some of it, but I went back and looked at a lot of the notes that I had been given when I was with the Baltimore Ravens from one of our scouts who had been with Coach Belichick, and it was a presentation from 1991 on what Coach values at every position, and when it talked about edge rushers, it talked about his preference for size over speed out there and guys that can hold the point of attack in the run game and they can collapse the pocket, they're power players, and that to me, if you're drawing up a description of A.J. Epenesa that's who they were looking for.
"Now, that was 1991, a long time ago, but those Patriot defenses all seem to feature this type of a player, and then you add in to the fact that he played for Kirk Ferentz and Kirk Ferentz having a relationship with Coach Belichick, all this seemed like this guy was meant to be a New England Patriot. It just makes too much sense."
Besides pick No. 23, the Patriots have 12 overall selections in the draft, including three in Round 3.
