When it comes to the NFL Draft, there are players fans love for their team. Players analysts love for that team. And players the team loves as well. In the case of Georgia linebacker Nakobe Dean he checks all of those boxes, and then some, a seemingly perfect Patriot who learned recently he’d almost been playing in the Patriots system all along.
Appearing on the most recent episode of “The Next Pats Podcast," Dean tells host Phil Perry that he’s actually met with the Patriots twice to date; once at the NFL Combine, the other at the University of Georgia’s Pro Day. As to who he met with, Dean confirms it was with head coach Bill Belichick and Senior Football Advisor Matt Patricia, so the linebacker has indeed spoken with the top of the Pats coaching and draft braintrust, usually a good sign that a team has solid interest in a player. Outside of Dean’s accomplishments - national champion, Dick Butkus Award winner for best linebacker in college football - his unexpected familiarity with the Patriots defensive schemes would also make his transition to the pros and Foxborough specifically a bit easier.
“Everything we did they knew. It was all kinda from under the same tree.” said Dean about his defense and coach Belichick’s familiarity with it, adding that Belichick told him a certain check on a running play Dean diagnosed was in fact made up by the Patriots. One can imagine Dean’s incidental knowledge of the Patriots system would ease his transition to the next level and give him a leg up on a defense that’s looking to get faster and more explosive.
But Belichick, Patricia and Pats Nation aren’t the only ones potentially interested in Dean. ESPN Draft analyst Todd McShay, who last year correctly predicted QB Mac Jones going to the Patriots 15th overall, says Dean would be an ideal fit in New England.
On a pre-draft conference call, McShay said he’d “kill” to see Dean on the Patriots, adding, “There isn't a better player in this class in terms of football IQ. You match that IQ with what New England tries to do...they're so multiple and differentiate from week to week...that would be a lot of fun to watch."
Talk about a match made in football heaven. But will Dean still be available when the Patriots select 21st overall in the 2022 NFL Draft? He’s been mocked to the Patriots by some (WEEI’s Jermaine “Wiggy” Wiggins loves him, but he’s also a Georgia alum). McShay has Dean going 17th overall to the LA Chargers, while NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah has Dean 13th overall on his Top 50 board. Looks like the Pats would have to possibly trade up, or get lucky, if they want to add Dean to the mix.
Dean adds in the podcast that his mother, who called him a “math whiz” growing up, was a Patriots fan, a “big Belichick fan” (always a plus). He said that he’d like to be “the green dot” guy on the defense (meaning calling defensive plays), and that people doubting him because of his size will always leave him with “a chip on my shoulder”. Shoulders that carry quite a head for football and beyond as Dean is a mechanical engineering major at Georgia (he’s leaving following his junior year at school).
Motivated. Accomplished. Steeped in the system. Everything is there for Nakobe Dean to make a perfect Patriot. The only questions are if the team is as interested in him as we might believe them to be, and if they’re willing to make the move to bring him to Foxboro this April.
