Sean McVay, Les Snead reaction to Patriots’ Cole Strange pick says it all

Entering the draft, nobody knew what the New England Patriots – or most teams, for that matter – were going to do in the first round.

Based on the pre-draft buzz, it seemed likely they would take a cornerback, linebacker or offensive lineman. Even a wide receiver or edge rusher weren’t out of the question if the right prospects fell to them.

By the time the No. 21 overall pick rolled around, though, Bill Belichick either decided there were too many players to choose from, the perfect fit wasn’t available (unlikely) or simply wanted to acquire more draft capital.

With studs like Trent McDuffie, Quay Walker, Kaiir Elam and Daxton Hill all still on the board, the Patriots struck a deal with the Chiefs to move back to pick No. 29, which they used on Chattanooga OL Cole Strange.

In a first round full of surprises and blockbuster trades, New England delivered maybe the biggest of them all and the reaction from Rams head coach Sean McVay and general manager Les Snead said the quiet part out loud.

Sean McVay and Les Snead trolled the Patriots after their surprise first-round selection.

“How about that?” McVay said before breaking out in laughter. “And we wasted our time watching him, thinking he’d be at 104 maybe.”

We’re not going to sit here and condemn the Strange pick before he ever plays a snap for the Patriots, but anybody who was tuned in throughout the pre-draft process knows Strange wasn’t viewed as a first-round pick.

While several NFL coaches are enamored with Strange, most teams graded him as a Day 2 pick, if not later. There’s no reason to think the Chattanooga product wouldn’t have been there on Friday, when New England owns the No. 54, 85 and 94 (from the Chiefs) picks, respectively.

We fully endorse the idea of trading back, but with prospects like Hill, Andrew Booth, Nakobe Dean, Kyler Gordon, Christian Harris, and Boye Mafe all available at No. 29 overall, Strange was a real head-scratcher.

Of course, the Patriots could have simply not gotten cute and stayed put at No. 21, where they had their pick of corners and linebackers.

We like Strange. We really do. As a five-year starter at left guard for the Mocs, he should be a plug-and-play draft pick for Belichick. With that said, Patriots fans will always refer back to picks No. 21-29 and wonder what could have been had the team not jumped the gun for the talented lineman.

Like McVay implied, nobody would’ve batted an eyelash if Strange fell to the Rams at the bottom of the third round.

3 first-round picks Patriots bafflingly passed on to select Cole Strange

Why did the New England Patriots trade back and select Cole Strange instead of Jermaine Johnson or Devin Lloyd? What exactly happened?