New England Patriots: What is the team’s 2019 NFL Draft strategy?
By Hal Bent
THE DRAFT’S DEFENSIVE LINE DEPTH:
The sheer abundance of talent on the defensive line in this year’s draft does not match the needs of most NFL teams. Of course, the top talent will be gone early with Nick Bosa, Quinnen Williams, Ed Oliver, and Josh Allen all being off the board early in the draft process. And with the desperate needs for many teams at wide receiver, tight end, cornerback, and quarterback of course, players at these positions will also likely come off the board early.
That list includes: quarterbacks Kyler Murray, Dwayne Haskins, and Drew Lock; wide receivers D.K. Metcalf, Marquise Brown, Parris Campbell, A.J. Brown, and Deebo Samuel; tight ends T.J. Hockenson, Irv Smith, and Noah Fant; cornerbacks Greedy Williams, Byron Murphy, and Deandre Baker; tackles Jawaan Taylor, Andre Dillard, and Dalton Risner; and interior offensive linemen Jonah Williams, Garrett Bradbury, Cody Ford, and Erik McCoy.
Most if not all of those players will likely be taken higher than their draft grades would indicate.
For the second-tier defensive ends and tackles (who are not truly second-tier, but grade that way because these positions are so very deep in 2019), that means a drop down the draft board. With the top-four defensive linemen off the board by No. 12 or No. 15 at the latest, first-round/early second-round talent like Dexter Lawrence, Christian Wilkins, Rashan Gary, Montez Sweat, Oshane Ximines, Jerry Tillery, Clelin Ferrell, Brian Burns, Jaylon Ferguson, L.J. Collier, D’Andre Walker, and Dre’mont Jones could be waiting far longer to get selected than they deserve to be.
Of course, one can never be truly sure what will happen until Draft Night. Every year in the NFL, there is an unexpected run at a position where players start flying off the board way too early at one position group, and it’s almost always a position of major need across the league.