Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Locked On Patriots April 27, 2018 - Duke Dawson, CB

Episode Date: April 28, 2018

Mark Schofield has instant analysis of Duke Dawson, CB, selected by the Patriots in the second round of the 2018 NFL Draft.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Good evening and welcome into Lockdown Patriots for Friday, April 27th, 2018. Mark Schofield in the big chair giving you some instant analysis of all the moves the New England Patriots have made so far on day two of the 2018 NFL Draft. Reminder to follow me on Twitter at Mark Schofield. Patriots have made so far on day two of the 2018 NFL draft. Reminder to follow me on Twitter at Mark Schofield. You can follow the work over at InsideThePylon.com where I'm a lead writer. I can be found over at Pro Football Weekly where I've been providing draft analysis. Also, LockedOnPatriots.com where most of my, if not all of my Patriots content that is not in verbal form can be found. You can also find the video work

over at youtube.com slash inside the pylon. Coming to you now, it is almost 9 p.m. on the East Coast. The Patriots have finally made a pick in the second round, which we'll get to in a moment. But first, let's take you through how we got here. The Patriots entered tonight with two picks in the second round at 43 and 63 but that was it earlier in the day the new england patriots sent in their third round pick pick 95 overall to the san francisco 49ers in exchange for a right tackle trent brown a player that my good friend brandon thorn who i talked about last night is high on as well as a fifth round pick then the patriots made some additional moves on the night. I wrote earlier in the day

over at LockedOnPatriots.com that the Patriots might consider making some trades back here as we get into the second round. Because the issue is when you lose that third pick, that third round pick at 95, as the board stacked for New England. Now coming into this night, they had picks at 43 and 63, and then that was it. They were basically waiting until the fifth round. So what did the Patriots do?

They made two sets of moves. When they were first on the clock at 43 overall, they traded with the Detroit Lions, moving back to to 51 and the Lions coming up to 43. Detroit also included a fourth rounder pick, 117. Then when it came time to pick again at 51, the Patriots traded back once more with the Chicago Bears this time in exchange for a 2019 second round pick, which might be a good pick if the Bears don't take a big leap forward. That could be an early second round pick, as well as pick 105 in this year's draft. That's a pretty nice haul. And then so when the Patriots were done with those

two moves, they had picks at 63, 105, 117, 143, 198, 210, and 219. But they would not hold on to that pick at 117 for long. Because when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were on the clock at the 56th overall pick, the Patriots moved again. Giving up both picks 63 and 117 to get up just seven spots or so to that 56th spot. And the player they drafted? A cornerback duke dawson cornerback from the university of florida a player that we were high on at inside the pylon.com in our draft guide he was corner six for us jaylen morris was the lead scout on him described him as an athletic, experienced, patient press corner

with the versatility to play outside and in the slot. Dawson will need to show he can perform just as well in off-man-in-zone schemes. So there's your sort of scheme fit right there. A guy that can play press corner, which is something the Patriots love to do. We talked about this a couple of times throughout this draft season when we looked at some other corners, particularly a guy like Josh Jackson. You want somebody that can play press. The Patriots love to use press coverage

on the outside and in the slot. Dawson can do that. In terms of size, 5'10.5", 197. So again, size tells you he's probably going to be more of a slot type guy spent most of his time in press man for both outside and in the slot when he did that showed good patience and discipline to stay square as long as possible while showing good use of hands to jam wide receivers at the release point whether on the outside or in the slot very competitive at

the catch point uses his hands very well to swat the ball away to create pass breakups. Has good hands to secure interceptions once in strike and distance. Question mark on him, though, is the sort of versatility with respect to playing in zone coverage games. He was left basically on an island in press man.

Didn't see a ton from him on zone coverage schemes, but the Patriots play a lot of man. And so if you're drafting him to be a sticky man coverage type guy, you're getting a great player in there with that sort of skill set. Projections on him, one-year projection, a solid starting outside cornerback with the flexibility to play in the slot. We looked at him at Inside the Pylon and think he can start as a rookie.

And by year three, he should be a solid starter that should have improved upon his pursuit angles and open field tackling while playing at a pro bowl worthy level. So perhaps we're wrong on him over at InsideThePylon.com. Maybe we're too high on him. But Bill Belichick likes him. Making a trade

up here in the second round to go get him. Will it pan out? We'll have to see. As far as some of the measurables on him, 1.5710 yard split, 4.4640 yard dash, so he has some decent lawn speed. A little bit quicker than some of the other guys we talked

about as we worked our way through the secondary options for the New England Patriots. In terms of a scheme fit on him, he needs to be in an aggressive attack style defense that primarily utilizes press man to take advantage of his physicality at the line of scrimmage and his man coverage ability. As far as a scheme fit, I think it makes a ton of sense for the New England Patriots. And it gives them some nice sort of depth now at the cornerback spot, and it gives them some versatility too where he can play both outside. If you have an injury to a Jason McCourty, to a Stephon Gilmore,

you can move him inside. If you're worried about, say, Eric Rowe, some other guys that you want to move inside, have some troubles, you can put them there too. So I think it's a very good pick for the New England Patriots here in the second round are the Patriots done for the night that remains to be seen currently the Patriots do not have a pick in the third round this could be it for the night which would make tomorrow Saturday a very very busy day for the New England Patriots but But whatever they decide to do, I will be here through it all for you. Until their next pick, keep it locked right here to me, Mark

Schofield, and Locked on Patriots.