Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Locked On Patriots April 26, 2019 - JoeJuan Williams, CB, Vanderbilt

Episode Date: April 27, 2019

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Hey there everybody, it is Friday night. The New England Patriots have just made a pick and so it's time for the first of what might be a couple of mini episodes of Locked On Patriots. Mark Schofield slotted into the big chair on this Friday night, April 26th. The New England Patriots have made a selection, the first of what is still potentially their two second round picks in the second round. We're going to get to that player in a moment. But first, we're going to get to how the Patriots got there. Because remember, entering into the second round, date two of the 2019 NFL Draft,

the New England Patriots had two picks. They had a pick at 56 and a pick at 64. Two picks in the second round. Well, they made a pick, the first pick, at 45. The New England Patriots traded up in the second round. They send their pick at 56 to the Los Angeles Rams, as well as their third round pick at 101, their compensatory pick at 101, the third of their three third round pick at 101, their compensatory pick at 101,

the third of their three third round picks. And so now the Patriots are just on the clock with potentially four picks on day two of the NFL draft. But the player they did pick, Joe Juan Williams, the cornerback from Vanderbilt. And now this is very interesting because apparently the Patriots, when they looked at their draft board headed into last night, this is according to Ian Rappaport, they had two players in mind at 32. Ian Rappaport at Rappsheet on Twitter tweeted out,

let the Patriots in the second round take Vandy cornerback Joe Juan Williams. It was down to him and Harry at number 32. They trade up and get both. High character guy who told me Wednesday night his top choice was going to the New England Patriots. Now, I have a bit of good news, bad news kind of feeling about this pick. Let's just start with the bad. I feel that positions of need could have been

addressed by trading up or sitting in a 56 and taking a different position, whether it's tight end, whether it was defensive line, edge. They had more bigger positions of need, but drafted for need is not always the way to approach making selections in the NFL draft. Sometimes it's much better to just get good players, get good value. And if this was a player that the Patriots looked at as one of their two first round guys, one of the guys that they wanted to get or would have been fine taking at 32, and to get him at 45 that is very good value let's talk about joan williams the vanderbilt cornerback because he has a lot of people that certainly think very highly of him

when he comes into the combine he measures in at 6 4 2 11 32 and5-inch arms with 9.75-inch hands. That is long, and that is big for a cornerback. And I'm going to start sort of using cornerback in quotes, and we'll see why in a second. Kentley Platt, who is on Twitter at Mathbomb, who does RAS, Relative Athletic Scoring, he tweeted out when the selection was made, Jawan Williams posted a great RAS, relative athletic score, with elite size, very poor speed, good explosiveness,

and great agility at the quarterback position. Now, his combine in pro day 40 was not great. 4.64 at the combine, 4.45 at his pro day with a 20-yard split of 2.71 at the combine and a 10-yard split of 1.65 at the combine but then you see some of the other numbers which are impressive 17 reps on the bench which was great to elite for a cornerback you know the height and weight are elite for a cornerback the broad of 10 feet 7 inches which was very which was elite for a cornerback the shuttle of 4.01 which was elite for a cornerback. The shuttle of 4.01, which was elite for a corner. Now the three cone of just 6.84,

that more in the good category, as well as the 36 inch vertical, that puts it in the good category. But lawn speed, maybe not his thing. Change of direction, explosiveness, that might be his thing. Here's what some people have said about him. Lance Zerland, for example,

and his write-up on NFL.com, where he had him as a round three quarterback, he said, has an excellent combination of size and strength, battle-tested against upper echelon talent and a receiver. This is a guy that was playing in the SEC. Describe him as a long press corner who has shown an ability to use his size and aggression as a zealot and contested catch battles. While he has traits to build upon, the Georgia game signed a light on his pressure and efficiency,

lack of speed, and inconsistent ball skills with his back to the quarterback. Coaching scheme can improve or cover some of those areas, but the early results could be a bit uneven. If the technique catches up with the traits, the play demeanor and talent should make him a solid NFL starter. Right after this pick was made, the one and only Michael J michael j kissed who i co-host the qb scotia with over on bleeding green nation twittered a video of him whiffing on a press against riley ridley in that georgia game the aforementioned georgia game and so maybe there are things that he might not want him to do on at the outset of his career press number one and number two receivers on the boundary but i did mention earlier that

i'm using cornerback in quotes some of the other strengths is outlined by lancerland has size to compete against big physical nfl targets length of physicality tilt contested catches in his favor very quick hands to strike into the pass and land rips between and through arms and hands aggressive and reliable tackle finisher in space. David Archibald over in the Locked On Patriots Slack channel. When this pick was made. Both David and a man you heard the other day, John Limorakis. Very big fans of this pick.

But here's what David wrote right after the pick was made. I think he's going to be the kelsey eraser they never really had an answer for that last year or arts in the super bowl the year before let's remember they would at times use devin mccourney a corner slash safety to cover travis kelsey and john lemaracus i put this on Soch, tight end staple. And so maybe this is the player, this is the kind of idea that the Patriots had when they signed Obi-Mellon Fonwu.

Remember when they made that acquisition, the immediate thought was perhaps this guy's only job because of his size and his length is going to be to shadow and cover Travis Kelsey if those two teams met again. And while that didn't quite pan out, they used him on Kyle Rudolph, maybe as a test, maybe Williams might be able to fit in that role. And so I think that if you look at this pick as a player that maybe at some point becomes a well-rounded cornerback,

maybe early in his career, however, the role for him is not outside boundary corner, but inside tight end eraser, this could be a very intriguing selection. If you think about the Patriots' current defensive secondary, you've still got J.C. Jackson. You've still got Stephon Gilmore on the outside, potentially a Duke Dawson on the inside. And so when you wonder about how they're going to approach cover and tight ends, maybe Melon Fonwu, if that works out great, but if not, maybe Williams is the player to do that. And yes, some of the other depth of the cornerback position, Jason McCourty, for example, Keon Cross, and Jonathan Jones. So they do have some guys that have more battle-tested experience on the outside.

And so this could be the guy. And so it's a very intriguing selection. I'm very comforted by the fact that remember when we did some mock draft roundups, the idea of Williams at 32 left me rather uneasy. The thought that they had two guys, they were eyeing for that spot, and they got both, one at 32, and Harry, and now Williams at 45.

I like this much more than potentially Williams at 32 and then player to be named later at 45 or 56 if they had just stayed padded. So that's a quick look at Williams. I will be back throughout the night as they make more selections, and I'll put together a quick sort of wrap-up show

at the end of the night. Until we meet again, until we chat again, friends, keep it locked right here to me, Mark Schofield, and Locked on Patriots.