1 – When talking about a team’s “needs” heading into the NFL Draft, there is usually focus on specific positions. For the Patriots this spring that had many fixated on potential picks at cornerback, linebacker, offensive line and wide receiver.
But, according to Patriots director of player personnel Matt Groh, New England seemingly had more general needs in mind during the talent evaluation process – toughness and speed. That played out in the team’s picks over the course of three days of draft action, striking early for the former and often for the latter.
“If you value toughness, which we do, you value guys like Cole Strange,” Patriots director of player personnel Matt Groh said after taking the Tennessee-Chattanooga offensive lineman with the 29th pick in the first round.
There have been lots of comparisons between Strange and former Patriots guard Logan Mankins not just thanks to both being late first-round picks, but also because of their style of play that includes obvious toughness and physicality.
With the Patriots second-round pick New England took wide receiver Tyquan Thornton, who ran the fastest 40 time (4.28) in his position group at the Combine. Later, Groh and Co. selected South Dakota State running back Pierre Strong, also the fastest at his position at the Combine.
It’s certainly not an accident that the Patriots drafted two of the fastest players available this weekend, especially after Groh noted in his pre-draft press conference the team’s desire to add to its overall level of speed.
“Number one thing is you've got to consider what the player does and how the player is going to help you. You want to get faster. Just like if you want to get tougher, you'd better get tough guys. You want to get faster, you'd better get fast guys,” Groh declared again on draft weekend. “I don't know how many guys out there are faster than Tyquan. So, we're really excited to be able to add him and his explosive play making. He is fast. To be able to get some toughness and some athleticism on the first night, and I think these other two guys, Tyquan and (third-round CB/returner) Marcus Jones, they're certainly tough guys, too, but at their positions, at the skill positions, they are fast.
“At certain positions, there's only so many ways to handle speed, and these guys wake up every morning and they're fast.”
Tough football players and fast football players, that’s what the Patriots were looking for in the 2022 NFL Draft.
“A wise man once told me, you want to have a tough team, you'd better have tough players. We're always looking to add tough players and speed,” Groh said.
2 – The catchword to describe the Patriots 2021 NFL Draft was collaborative. After a series of poor drafts, New England was supposedly taking a more collaborative approach to the process with guys like Dave Ziegler, Groh, Eliot Wolf and Matt Patricia voicing their opinions in a personnel department that had seen longtime top Bill Belichick advisor Nick Caserio move on to the Texans.
And it seemingly worked. Mac Jones, Christian Barmore and Rhamondre Stevenson brought impact rookie talent to New England last fall.
This year’s draft class has a more classic Belichickian feel to it in terms of players from smaller schools coming earlier in the process than many analysts and other teams may have projected.
While Belichick is indeed the Patriots general manager and the man with the final say in all personnel matters, something Groh definitively pointed out in his pre-draft press conference, there is still supposedly very much a group effort going on in the New England war room these days.
“That's the word. It's collaborative,” Groh said of the Patriots draft process. “We've been putting in a lot of hours as a large group, dwindling that down to a smaller group. But it's a group, and we're all working together trying to see the differences, respect each other's differences, if those differences are really going to hinder the player from having a role on our team, and it's been great to have players where we're on a consensus opinion.”
3 – While Thornton may have elite speed in terms of his 40 time, his quickness isn’t quite up to the Patriots usual standards, having run a 7.25 in the 3-cone drill at his pro day. As such, Groh was asked about the early Thornton pick seemingly straying from the Patriots past “prototype” at the position.
“I don't exactly know what the prototype is,” Groh said. “But I'd say a guy -- two guys who have played together, both played the position, a little bit differently, but I don't think Randy Moss really looks a whole lot like Wes Welker, but they're both good players and they both have really good skill sets. So, we've really just got to focus on the skill set and how it's going to apply to what we want to do offensively at that position. Yeah, he's a little bit longer, a little bit leaner, but with his speed, he can certainly open some things up for us offensively.”
4 – Many were surprised that the Patriots did not address the linebacker position early in the draft, and actually never took a single player at the spot in 10 picks over the course of seven rounds.
After passing on top linebacker prospects early in the draft, such as Utah’s Devin Lloyd, and watching Georgia’s Nakobe Dean slide down the board over the first two days, Groh was asked about the decision in relation to New England’s current crop of relatively young talent at the position. The group does include recent draft picks such as Anfernee Jennings, Josh Uche and Cameron McGrone (who missed 2021 while injured), as well as veteran options like Raekwon McMillan, who’s also returning from injury, and trade addition Mack Wilson.
“Really excited about that group,” Groh said. “Excited to see Cam McGrone was able to get on the (practice) field a little bit last year, excited to see him be in an expanded role. He's kind of an additional draft pick. You can kind of put him along there with the three guys that we've been able to add here today along with some of the other guys from last year. That all kind of counts to getting younger, getting faster, being a tough team. So being able to add Mack Wilson, I know a lot was going on in free agency, and it was a trade and not a signing, but I think that was a really important part of adding some depth to the linebacking corps along with being able to get Ja'Whaun Bentley back. Really excited to have him and his experience, as well. I think we've got a lot of names there and a lot of experience, and mix in some youth, so I think it's a good group.”
Sounds like the Patriots are counting from development within the roster to lead the transition at linebacker with veterans such as Kyle Van Noy and Dont’a Hightower no longer on the current roster.
5 – A year ago the Patriots stuck primarily with major programs from major conferences in the draft. The 2021 New England draft class got to the sixth round before it included a player from somewhere other than Alabama (2), Oklahoma (2) and Michigan.
This year was quite different, starting with the Strange pick from FCS Tennessee-Chattanooga in the first round. Later picks brought Strong from the FCS level in the fourth round and Division II defensive lineman Sam Roberts from Northwest Missouri State in the sixth round.
“There's players everywhere, and it's our job to go find them,” Groh said, noting that some FCS programs aren’t far behind FBS programs at this point. “We've got to cover every school and be on top of wherever there's a player. We're going to go find them and we're going to get to know them, and we've got to see how they would fit into our program and then what skills they have. It's not just the Alabamas and LSUs. We're happy to have a player from LSU and Arizona State and some of these big-name programs, but it ultimately comes down to the kid and the skill set and how they're going to fit in, into our culture and into our scheme.”
6 – In general the overall 2022 draft class was a larger and older group thanks to the COVID pandemic and players getting extra years under their college belt. That showed up in the Patriots draft class which included a number of players who are already 24 years old (CB Jack Jones) or will be later this year (Cole Strange, Marcus Jones, Pierre Strong).
While there is no question this is an older group of rookies for the Patriots, and for many teams, it’s not something that seems to be a concern for the team and may even be seen as a positive.
“At a certain point, it becomes a factor,” Groh said. “Whether a guy is 23, 24 years old, we're talking about a year here. Yeah, it's great he's had that much more time for development, for experience. I mean, it goes both ways. If you're drafting a bunch of 20- and 21-year-olds, you're going to get questions about maturity and inexperience. If you're drafting 23- and 24-year-olds, it's not really a big gap I'd say. Once you start getting to some of these older players, it's a factor that you keep in mind, and I think the position plays a factor in that. But don't really think there's that big of a difference between some of those age groups that we're talking about.”
7 – Between Strange in the first round and Michigan offensive lineman Andrew Stueber in the seventh round, New England added a total of 10 drafts picks to its roster over the weekend of work. The class includes three offensive linemen, two cornerbacks, two running backs, a wide receiver, a quarterback and a defensive lineman. Of the group, only Strange would seem destined to be an immediate contributor this season (and maybe Marcus Jones as a returner, though he’s rehabbing from surgeries on both shoulders this winter) with the rest of the class jockeying for rosters spots, roles and playing time. That certainly leaves open the possibility that New England could still be on the lookout to fill perceived needs at both cornerback and linebacker with would-be veteran contributors. Bill Belichick often emphasizes that roster-building doesn’t end with free agency or the draft, rather it’s a year-round process that certainly continues well into the summer and training camp. With that in mind cornerback and linebacker, with consideration for a veteran tackle, remain New England’s biggest needs as we hit the month of May.
