The Patriots were extremely busy on Friday night during the NFL Draft.
They made a few trades and in the end walked away with five players -- two in the second round and three in the third round.
Speaking on a video conference after the draft, director of player personnel Nick Caserio discussed all the players the team added.
Here's what he said.
Safety Kyle Dugger, Lenoir-Rhyne, No. 37 overall: "Dugger, obviously small school, but pretty explosive player. Big, he's tough, he's fast, he's smart. He has some four-down type elements. Return to playing in the kicking game. Played well at his level of competition. Held his own at the Senior Bowl against better competition. One of the things you like to see or you look for is the player like that with that background to see how they hold up in that environment. He acquitted himself fairly well. A fairly mature kid. He's a little bit older, 24 years old. A player that we liked and went ahead and picked him."
EDGE Josh Uche, Michigan, No. 60 overall: "Then we kind of came back in here to the bottom of the second round with Uche. Uche, actually going back to last year, when you look at their defense, Uche's role was a little bit bigger this year. (They) actually had another kid, Mike Danna who transferred from Central Michigan. Their defense has been pretty good. Coach (Don) Brown and their staff have done a great job. Moved around the front a little bit. Played in the perimeter. They used him some at 'Mike' linebacker. Used him in some sub situations. He's been asked to do a number of different things in a good defense. They played him at linebacker at the Senior Bowl. Has a variety of different things that it looks like he can do. Obviously hasn't been in our system. I'd say he and (Anfernee) Jennings are similar but they're different as well. They both have played on the end of the line of scrimmage. They've come and played inside off the ball. They're a little bit different."
EDGE Anfernee Jennings, Alabama, No. 87 overall: "Jennings, just shooting over to him quick, he was another sort of sit-and pick. That 87th pick was really one of our original picks, I believe. Obviously he comes from a great program with a lot of great players. Coach (Nick) Saban, what he's done at Alabama, I mean, hard to match what he's done. They put out a lot of good players. You saw it in this draft. However many players they had drafted, it was a lot, which it usually is every year. This kid is a really tough, tough kid. A little bit bigger in terms of size than Uche. Jennings is 255, 260 (pounds). Uche kind of 240, 245. Different defenses. But had some elements where they were used kind of similarly. Jennings has a background playing a couple different spots. Really tough, good leadership. They're call-them-into-the-line-of-scrimmage type players, front seven type players. How they'll project into our system we'll see. Obviously we're pretty multiple up front, multiple schemes on defense, so these guys have been asked to do a number of different things in their respective systems."
Tight end Devin Asiasi, UCLA, No. 91 overall: "Asiasi started his career at Michigan, transferred to UCLA. Really this was his first year where he had pretty substantial production. This kid has good size, runs well for his size. He's pretty tough. He has some technique things he certainly can work on as on on the line of scrimmage blocker. Has a background with Coach Kelly. He certainly was a good resource for us on that one."
Tight end Dalton Keene, Virginia Tech, No. 101 overall: "Kind of an interesting guy, an underclassman. Really played essentially from day one, a three-year starter. Really had to kind of search for some things with him on tape. He took advantage of his opportunities. A couple of things that stood out were just some of his catch-and-run type plays. Good size, 6-foot-4 and change, 255, 260 (pounds). Fairly athletic, tough kid, smart kid. Was asked to do a number of different things in their offense. Kind of double up at the position there, but two young players that hopefully when we get the opportunity to work with them can make some progress. I think with all these players, the expectations are the same. It's just really to come in and assimilate with the program."
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