Patriots: 3 UDFAs who could dominate training camp
By Adam Weinrib
2. Bill Murray, DT
William & Mary’s Bill Murray could easily make the Patriots.
An FCS defender who earned routine accolades for being an all-conference grinder? Yeah, surely Bill Belichick won’t look towards William & Mary’s Bill Murray to fill some serious gaps on the defensive line.
Murray is a special teams dominator as well as a D-Line standout; he blocked four kicks in 2019, leading all of Division I. Of course, that grunt work stands in addition to his more typical beasting — Murray led his team with 11 tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks last season, too, as W&M sprinted to the finish.
Clearly, Belichick likes the kid. If that weren’t obvious from his FCS pedigree, the fact that he earned the second-highest bonus of any UDFA should have clued you in.
His only real competitors for snaps are Deatrich Wise, a veteran in tenure length only, as well as 2019 fifth-round pick Byron Cowart, fellow UDFA Nick Coe, and Nick Thurman and Tashawn Bower, both of whom were relegated to the practice squad last season.
If Murray goes all out with his trademark tenacity, the little things he does well should explode off the tape in camp. There’s certainly a role for him — his competitors are a motley crew.