Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Williams has some upside and looks like a terrific vertical threat with his speed, but the issue with Williams is the fact that he isn’t much good at anything other than being fast and stretching the field vertically. Williams’s route-tree is pretty limited, and he is a very inconsistent pass-catcher. He isn’t a terrible pick for the Pats in the late third-round, but I would have preferred a different big-play receiver there in Marshall’s Aaron Dobson. Musket Fire readers often ask me about Dobson, and I want the Patriots to draft this guy in the third round; I view him as a superior prospect to Williams. Dobson can make his fair share of plays.

The other pick made by the Patriots in the third round of this mock is the selection of LSU defensive end Sam Montgomery to boost the pass rush. The Patriots took two wideouts and addressed the interior of the defensive line in the second, so now NFL Mocks believes the Patriots will look to help out the outside pass rush and get a guy in Montgomery who could get some time filling in for Rob Ninkovich at left end.

Montgomery is a quality pick in the late third round, because he’s below his market value and has some upside that could be worked with for the Patriots. The Pats could use his raw ability to get after the passer, and I don’t mind this pick at all. The one thing that I can’t seem to get over about this mock draft is the fact that the Patriots were never able to address the cornerback position. Should they have taken Blidi Wreh-Wilson (ended up at 77 to the Miami Dolphins, who took both Connecticut Huskies CBs) instead of Kawann Short in the late second? Sound off in the comments section.

By the way, I would have rather had Stedman Bailey over Williams, and I’m torn between Bailey and Dobson. Any thoughts on which of those two receivers is the better prospect?

You can follow Joe Soriano on Twitter @SorianoJoe.

Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports

The Patriots two biggest needs in the draft seem to be at wide receiver and cornerback, so it is certainly good for the Patriots to snag a guy at each position. Wreh-Wilson was the pick for the Pats with Johnthan Banks already off the board in Reiss’s mock draft, and Jamar Taylor was also snapped up early in the second round. Wreh-Wilson has excellent length and more than adequate speed, but he has poor ball skills and looks like a CB who can only have considerable success in zone coverage. He’s not your traditional Pats corner in that sense, but he does have the type of length the Pats like. I don’t know if the Pats take into consideration that he’s a local prospect, but maybe that has helped seeing how the Pats have a better handle on Wreh-Wilson and would know how to use him best.

Reiss’s selection of Wheaton to the Patriots was interesting, because he decided to take Wheaton over Keenan Allen. He has Allen falling all the way down the final pick in the second round, and I highly doubt that ends up happening. If it does, then the Baltimore Ravens need to be extremely thankful.

Allen’s draft stock has fallen far too hard, especially since he is at the very least one of the best three wide receivers in this draft class. I like Wheaton and view him as the best vertical threat in this draft, but there is no doubt in my mind that Allen is the better player. He has way better hands, runs much cleaner routes, and he has the versatility to play in the slot and on the outside. That seems to be a trait that the Patriots are putting more weight on these days.

You can follow Joe Soriano on Twitter @SorianoJoe.

Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

The former Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator and current Patriots assistant told Schefter that Mallett would be the starting quarterback with a few other NFL teams if he was on those teams. One of them? The Kansas City Chiefs. My buddy and I ran through the teams that we think Mallett could start on, and we named the Jacksonville Jaguars, Arizona Cardinals, Buffalo Bills, New York Jets, Oakland Raiders, and Cleveland Browns as a few other teams who could potentially start Mallett.

The fact that the Patriots are this high on Mallett means that it will be tough for a team to meet their price tag in a trade, so it seems like Mallett will be sticking with the Pats. I’m certainly fine with that.

2. Alabama Crimson Tide players are being weighed in at the 2013 NFL Combine, and right tackle D.J. Fluker reportedly checked in at 339 pounsd, per Daniel Jeremiah. This confirms that Fluker will want to stick at the tackle position in the pros, because he lost a little over 15 pounds from his Senior Bowl weight. That’s a lot of work Fluker put in during just the span of a month, and Mike Reiss suggested that the Patriots could take a close look at Fluker in the late first-round if he’s available and, most importantly, if some unforseen event prevents the Patriots from locking up Sebastian Vollmer.

3. Buffalo Bills assistant GM Doug Whaley aired some of his grievances (like the Chiefs John Dorsey and other execs) about the lack of a quarterback in the 2013 NFL Draft with “the total package”. The Bills currently have a well below-average QB situation with Ryan Fitzpatrick and Tarvaris Jackson, and Doug Marrone said that both players would compete for a starting gig in Buffalo. Buddy Nix slammed Fitzpatrick on a few occasions in the middle of the season for “not being the answer”. The Bills don’t have anyone on the roster who can be the answer, so they might be inclined to take a QB in the second-round. There’s some value to be had there if, as Whaley said, a QB can be developed by the team. But I have a hard time seeing the Bills trotting out Fitzpatrick and Jackson as their lone QBs next season.

4. Todd McShay had the New England Patriots going the best-available approach in his mock draft, as he had them selecting UNC Tar Heels guard Jonathan Cooper. While Cooper is a terrific player with elite ability at the guard position, I just don’t see the need for a guard with a solid Pats interior. Cooper checked in at 6’2 1/8″ and 318 pounds.

5. WEEI wonders if UConn CB Blidi Wreh-Wilson could be a fit for the New England Patriots in the second or third round of the draft, and the piece notes that ESPN ranks him as their second-best corner. To me, that’s a very confounding place to put him. Johnthan Banks, Xavier Rhodes, and Desmond Trufant are three players who are clearly better in my mind. Sure Wreh-Wilson has upside, but that means he hasn’t done a lot of anything yet.

That holds true for Wreh-Wilson, because all that length and athleticism didn’t translate to much production last season for the Huskies. His ball skills aren’t overly impressive, and his ability in man coverage is below-average. There is some upside there and he would be a nice third-round pick as a developmental guy, but Wreh-Wilson has no business being ranked that high by ESPN.

You can follow Joe Soriano on Twitter @SorianoJoe.