As of now, the Patriots have 12 selections in the NFL Draft, but have a large gap from No. 23 (Round 1) to No. 87 (Round 3).
Knowing how Bill Belichick operates, that likely will change come the draft and it should be expected a trade or two will take place in order to get a pick or two within those 64 picks.
Speaking on a conference call Monday, Belichick acknowledged those discussions likely won't take place for a few more days.
"That’s something we’ll have to take a closer look at," he said. "I think up until, I’d say, about, [inaudible] in a couple days, most of our folks are trying to learn as much as we can about the players, have them evaluated and valued properly and so forth. I think as you get in the final week or three or four days prior to the draft, then draft strategy and things like that starts to come a little bit more into focus because you have a better idea of what the options are and where you’d be comfortable doing certain things. And I think other teams are falling into the same category as we are, that they’re starting to figure out whatever their situation is.
"So, we have a lot of draft picks. Some of them are kind of more in a certain area. As you said, we have a little bit of a void there in the second round, although that player – (Mohamed) Sanu – filled a need for us, so that’s OK. But in terms of just the draft strategy and so forth, yeah, things start to pick up here in the next probably – I don’t know – around the weekend or maybe after the weekend in the two or three days leading up to the draft."
In Belichick's time with the Patriots, he has made 24 draft-day trades to move up, 27 draft-day trades to move down and 26 draft-day trades for future considerations.
Here's a rundown of the Patriots' current selections.
Related
