Patriots: Needs and potential targets on Day 3 of 2020 NFL Draft

The New England Patriots enter the third and final day of the 2020 NFL Draft with six selections remaining — and a host of outstanding needs still.

No team is ever going to come out of the NFL Draft with all their holes plugged and their needs addressed, but some teams definitely will be in better shape than others.

The defending world champion Kansas City Chiefs, for example, didn’t have a lot of work to do coming into this event to begin with. They managed to re-sign all their outstanding wide receivers during free agency, retained most of their championship-caliber defense, and of course still have stars like Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce returning.

The Chiefs’ selection of LSU running back Clyde Edwards-Helaire in the first round was just a classic case of the rich getting richer. It’s the kind of luxury pick the New England Patriots used to be able to make regularly when they were coming into NFL Drafts fresh off winning Lombardi Trophies.

The Pats aren’t fresh off winning another championship though, and for the first time in decades, they have serious needs to fill. They entered Friday armed with a boatload of picks to combat various needs around the roster, and for the most part, they were successful in addressing some of them.

New England took Lenoir-Rhyne safety Kyle Dugger in the second round with their first selection of this draft.

Though safety wasn’t an immediate need for 2020, it certainly is a need for this team in the long-run. The Pats shipped off Duron Harmon last month, and while Devin McCourty, Patrick Chung, Adrian Phillips, and Terrence Brooks represent a solid starting quartet at the position, all of those players are on the older end of the age spectrum in NFL years.

The Patriots then traded back into the second round to select Michigan linebacker Josh Uche. Uche, like Dugger, figures to be more of a developmental prospect, but it’s possible he could see starting reps this season in the absence of Kyle Van Noy and Jamie Collins, both of whom left in free agency.

Uche will compete with Alabama draftee Anfernee Jennings, who the Pats took not long after him in the third round on Friday night. Both come from blue-blood college football programs but neither one of them was a star on their respective squads for more than a year.

While Uche is more of a pure pass-rusher and sack artist, Jennings projects as more of a traditional edge-setter and run-stuffer.

The Patriots finally addressed their glaring weakness at tight end on Friday night as well, double-dipping at the position when they took UCLA’s Devin Asiasi at No. 91 and then Virginia Tech’s Dalton Keene 10 picks later at No. 101 overall. Of the two, Asiasi projects as the more likely candidate to receive major playing time in 2020.

Even still, the Patriots desperately needed help at tight end, and while the two players they selected weren’t necessarily the names many draft pundits and prognosticators had associated with New England, Patriots head coach Bill Belichick has never been known to stick to the script when it comes to meeting expectations. His draft board always seems to look very different than everyone else’s.

Now that the Patriots have taken measurable steps to address their depth issues at linebacker and tight end — not to mention infused their safety position with some youth and talent — where do they need to work on Day 3?

As of this writing, New England has six picks remaining: one in Round 5, four in Round 6, and one in Round 7.

Quarterback

Patriots Director of Player Personnel Nick Caserio essentially tipped his hand Friday night and acknowledged the obvious when he told the media that New England plans to draft a quarterback at some point on Saturday.

It appears the only two questions are who and when.

Joe Burrow (Bengals), Tua Tagovailoa (Dolphins), Justin Herbert (Chargers), Jordan Love (Packers), and Jalen Hurts (Eagles) are all gone. That leaves Jake Fromm (Georgia), Jacob Eason (Washington), James Morgan (Florida International), Anthony Gordon (Washington State), and Nate Stanley (Iowa) as the best remaining QB prospects still available in Rounds 4-7 of this draft.

Expect the Patriots to select one of them today, unless they really go off the beaten path and take someone else that most experts think will go undrafted.

Offensive Lineman

The Patriots could probably take someone at center, guard, or tackle, and no one would think the pick is amiss.

Their presumptive starting five this season, from left to right, is Isaiah Wynn (LT), Joe Thuney (LG), David Andrews (C), Shaq Mason (RG), and Marcus Cannon (RT). On paper and on the field from what we’ve seen in each of those players’ careers thus far, that’s one of the better offensive lines in the league.

The problem for New England is that each of those guys comes with his own sets of concerns or question marks.

Wynn is a former first-round draft pick from just two years ago and he’s barely managed to see much playing time due to injury. Andrews missed all of last season with blood clots in his lungs. Cannon has battled injuries and illness as recently as last year, Mason regressed a tad last season after an excellent 2018 campaign, and Thuney — though exceptional — is still the subject of trade rumors due to his massive cap hit this season if he remains on the franchise tag.

New England should definitely try to find depth for all these positions in the draft — particularly by taking someone with the versatility to play multiple positions along the line. Good options include Wisconsin’s Tyler Biadasz, LSU’s Saahdiq Charles, and Washington’s Trey Adams.

Defensive Tackle

While the Patriots took aim at linebacker, safety, and defensive end/edge with some of their hybrid selections Friday night, they still need more depth at the big-bodied positions in the center of their defensive line.

Lawrence Guy and Adam Butler are the starters in there, and both are terrific. They’re also both relatively healthy with little injury history between them, which is a good sign.

Still, New England should look to find someone who can replace the departed Danny Shelton, who signed with the Lions in free agency. Candidates include Utah’s Leki Fotu, Penn State’s Robert Windsor, and LSU’s Rashard Lawrence.

Kicker

Stephen Gostkowski is gone, another casualty in the massive youth movement happening around Foxborough this offseason. He joins a short list of other Patriots legends (Tom Brady, Rob Gronkowski) who have officially moved on from New England to other ventures this spring.

Who will kick for New England this season? Nick Folk is an option. Georgia Southern’s Tyler Bass could also be taken — he’s ESPN’s highest-rated kicking prospect in this draft. Other possibilities include UCLA’s JJ Molson and Georgia’s Rodrigo Blankenship.