If you’ve been here for a while, you know that I’m not the biggest draft guy. There’s so much information we don’t know about these guys, especially the character stuff that really determines what kind of NFL player they will be, that really digging into these guys is kind of futile if you’re not going to make it your full-time job. So I prefer to take the Patriots’ obvious positions of need — edge, offensive tackle, receiver and tight end, with a sprinkling of a few other positions like linebacker, guard and safety — look at some tape, and tell you the guys I think make sense for the Patriots and their schemes. So first up is edge, followed by some Patriots draft intel/thoughts as we get closer to the draft on Thursday.
Going to bypass the top guys like David Bailey (to me, he’s clearly the top guy), Rueben Bain, and Keldric Faulk (not a great fit), and go from there. I’m ranking them in terms of what the Patriots like to do in their system — Eliot Wolf: “Pass rush, speed and violence, explosiveness, first step quickness, the ability to win in multiple ways. You can’t just be a run around the hoop guy at this level,” — not by where they will go in the draft:
Cashius Howell, Texas A&M (6-2½, 257, no 40): This is more the Patriots’ style. He’s got explosiveness. He’s violent, twitchy. He’s versatile, has bend and quickness. Lines up on both sides, gap penetrator. To me, he looks like the prototype for the Patriot system.
R Mason Thomas, Oklahoma (6-2, 242, 4.67): A Patriots-type player. Violent, explosive, twitchy, little undersized, but that hasn’t scared me away. He’s got a good first step. He’s got some power. Yeah, this guy is up the Patriots’ alley. He would fit in their scheme.
Malachi Lawrence, Central Florida (6-4 ½, 253, 4.51): Definitely violent. Good quickness. A good athlete, I would say his motor is inconsistent; sometimes his feet stop. But I mean, when his mindset is right, he’s pretty impressive off the edge. He’s got some power, good play strength, quickness, good prospect for the Patriots.
