The Patriots' drafting was one of the biggest topics of Robert Kraft's meeting with the media last week where he admitted it's been less than in recent years, and he's seen a different approach going into the draft this spring.
We wrote over the weekend it's hard to imagine Bill Belichick making a drastic change after 20 years, but Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated offered a nugget that maybe things might be a little different.
Breer wrote Monday morning his sense is Belichick is being "more collaborative" this year. The Patriots coach is not only listening to his top guys like Dave Ziegler and Eliot Wolf, but also scouts like Matt Groh.
Also included in the story is in the past Belichick held meetings with scouts in December and January and pretty much took over things from there, while most teams have draft meetings with scouts in February and April.
Breer bought up how scouts felt like "gatherers" and became frustrated, which was a reason why the scouting department has seen so much turnover in recent years. N'Keal Harry was discussed, as many scouts preferred Deebo Samuel and A.J. Brown, but Belichick liked what he saw from Harry from his top-30 visit and ultimately selected the Arizona State product.
We'll see how all this plays out over the course of this month, but maybe Kraft was onto something when he said he's seen a different approach.