New England Patriots: Seven-round 2019 NFL Mock Draft

Round 2, Pick 56: Nasir Adderley, S, Delaware

The biggest knock on safety Nasir Adderley isn’t anything to do with his skills, abilities, or intangibles as a football player. Quite simply, it’s that he played for an FCS school against inferior competition for four years with the Delaware Fightin’ Blue Hens.

Now obviously there are plenty of players from FCS schools who went on to do great things in the NFL. Carson Wentz, Khalil Mack, and former Patriot Malcolm Butler are just a few of the first names that come to mind, as all have had their moments of glory and appear well on their way to long and prestigious NFL careers.

Still, it’s often more difficult for talented players to make the jump from FCS competition to NFL competition than it is for some of their teammates who come from FBS programs.

The leap from college to the pros is never easy in the first place, but no one can deny that it’s probably a whole heckuva lot easier to go from playing for Alabama against Clemson in the National Championship Game and then transitioning to the NFL… than it is to go from playing for Delaware against James Madison in the FCS Playoffs and then transitioning to the NFL.

Adderley is still a fine football player though with killer instincts for where to be on the field at any given time to make a play. His physical skill set should make his indoctrination to the NFL game easier, and he’s proven already that he can play against some of the best college prospects in the nation – albeit in a small sample size – through his participation in the Senior Bowl.

If Belichick wants to start grooming a safety of the future to replace Devin McCourty (who flirted with retirement this offseason), he could do a lot worse than Adderley in this year’s draft.