The Patriots have had some notable misses in the second round of the NFL Draft over the last decade-plus, especially when it comes to defensive backs.
One of the biggest was Ras-I Dowling, whom Bill Belichick and Co. selected with the first pick of the second round back in 2011. Dowling wound up playing just nine games in two seasons in New England, suffered a pair of season-ending injuries, and then got cut prior to the 2013 season. He played just three more NFL games after that.
Apparently that pick was close to going very differently, though. According to a new feature on The Undefeated about the Seahawks' selection of Richard Sherman on its 10-year anniversary, Sherman's agent had told him that the Patriots were deciding between Sherman and Dowling to kick off Day 2 of the draft.
Sherman was considered something of a wild card at the time, and was ranked as anything from a second-round pick to a fifth- or sixth-round pick. He had started his college career at Stanford as a wide receiver and played offense for two years before switching to cornerback for his final two college seasons.
Sherman ended up falling all the way to the fifth round, where Seattle eventually took him 154th overall.
Sherman, of course, went on to have a much better NFL career than Dowling and pretty much every other corner selected that year. He has played 139 games over 10 seasons, made five Pro Bowls, and been named a First Team All-Pro three times. He helped lead the Seahawks to the franchise's first Super Bowl title in 2013 as a member of the "Legion of Boom" secondary.
Sherman and the Patriots' paths crossed in the Super Bowl the next year, with New England coming out victorious thanks to Malcolm Butler's last-minute interception on the goal line, which led to this famous reaction from Sherman:
Sherman, now 33, has spent the last three seasons with the 49ers and is currently a free agent.