Locked On Patriots - Daily Podcast On The New England Patriots - Locked On Patriots February 18, 2019 - Mock Draft Monday

Episode Date: February 18, 2019

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Hey there everybody, welcome on in to a Patriots Day edition of the Locked On Patriots podcast. Mark Schofield in the big chair for today, February 18th, 2019. Happy President's Day to all of you out there listening. Maybe you've got the day off, maybe you don't But here at Locked On Patriots, look, no days off, right? Well, that's not entirely true We're taking a couple of Fridays off here before we get into the combine Then after the combine, boom, we're back to five days a week

Getting you ready for the draft And speaking of getting you ready for the draft Today is the first installment of Mock Draft Monday Here at the Lockdown Patriots Podcast for the 2019 draft. What we're going to do on these Monday shows, I'm going to basically walk through a seven round mock via fan speak. Might do it with the draft network in there, sort of build your own board mock draft tool.

They're going to be unveiling a little bit later. But either way, I'm going to walk through a seven round draft, talk about the options that are on the board at these particular points based on the big boards that i'll be working from and then talk through some options basically you know game out some scenarios that the new england patriots might have at their fingertips at their disposal as we get to the 2019 draft before we lay out sort of the ground rules for how these are going to work though a reminder to follow me on twitter at mark Schofield. Check out the work at places like InsideThePylon.com, Pro Football Weekly, The Score, Matt Waldman's Rookie Scouting Portfolio,

Big Blue View, part of the SB Nation family of websites, friends, as I've said. If there is an outlet that is covering the game of football, chances are I will be doing some work for them. Let's get into the first mock draft of Monday. And the way these are going to work is maybe at some point I'll figure out how to be super fancy and use the premium edition over at Fanspeak. But let's sort of set the framework for how I'm going to approach this one. I'm going to assume that Trent Brown is gone. I'm going to assume that Danny Shelton is also gone. I'm going

to assume that the Patriots are going to count somewhat on Josh Gordon, that he's not completely out of the fold. It's a wide receiver kind of a need, but not fully a need. One of those weird positions. We're going to assume that Gronkowski is coming back, but in a deep tight end class, we might still want to address that anyway to prepare for life post Gronk. We're also going to assume that they have re-signed Trey Flowers. So that's kind of the framework for this mock. Also, I am going to be using Matt Miller's most recent big board, which was uploaded on February 13th. So that's the big board I will be working from. One of the quirks of doing these things is that you are sometimes subject to the whim of the big board you are using. I remember

doing one of these last year. I drafted quarterback Josh Allen in the fourth round. Got a lot of people blowing back on me like, hey, come on, that's ridiculous. You know he's not going to fall there. Well, the big board I was working from, not going to name names, had him as kind of a fourth round range guy. And you might disagree with that. You might not. But, again, that's why this is partly an exercise. I'm not working through the Patriots' official draft board here. So we've got to keep all of this how it unfolds in a grain of salt,

especially when I get Brett Rippin, say, in the seventh round, which you know I'm gunning for. Also, we're going to do this on the difficult setting, kind of a bit of a challenge. And the team needs, as is going to be calculated for all 32 NFL teams, including the Patriots, those are going to be the user voted. They have a couple of different options over at Fanspeak. I'm going to work through the user voted team needs. And so let's sort of kick this off now. Just so you know, the user-voted team needs for the New England Patriots are

tight end, quarterback, wide receiver, defensive line, edge, linebacker, offensive tackle, running back, and safety. So basically, like everything but corner and kicker and punter are the team needs for the New England Patriots, which is kind of interesting. But as I said, look, we're assuming that Gronk is going to be back, Trey Flowers is back, which kind of takes tight-ended edge maybe a little bit off. You know, might say tight-ended is still a need, but so we'll see. Now, Patriots are on the board here at 31.

Excuse me, at 32. Oh, a little bit of a slip up there. Now what's interesting about being on the board right here is there are some really intriguing options available to me. For example, Dwayne Haskins, who is Matt Miller's 13th overall player, he's available to me at 13. And Dwayne Haskins might end up being my QB1, but he's available to me. Now some other quarterbacks that are available, Daniel Jones, Jared Stidham, Will Greer, Clayton Thorson Tyree Jackson Ryan Finley Brett Rippin so there are guys out here that I feel comfortable enough waiting on I'm not going to really reach for a Dwayne Haskins right now even though he's the best player left available on Matt Miller's

board some other positions of need, you might say, look, wide receiver, get a boundary type player. Akeem Butler is on the board. A.J. Brown is on the board. D.K. Metcalf is on the board. Riley Ridley is on the board. We just talked about him with Brad Kelly. So there are some options there too. Kelvin Harmon on the board. So you could say, hmm, interesting. We could go down this road, but I'm going to hit the pause button there and say, I don't think we need to address wide receiver quite yet. Now, another position that is interesting to think about, defensive line.

Now, some of the good defensive linemen have come off the board, but we've got a Dremont Jones from Ohio State, Gerald Willis from Miami, Dexter Lawrence. Now, this is a position that kind of thins out, but there are some players that I'm looking at a little bit later, so we're going to pause here. The position, though, that I feel has some value here that I don't want to pass up, tight end.

And I know we said, look, Gronk is coming back in this mock, but we've got two players on the board here staring me in the face, and it's going to be hard to pass them up. You've got Irv Smith from Alabama and you've got Noah Fahn from Iowa. And I look at the potential to get one of these two players in. Both of them will be an upgrade over the other

tight ends we have on this roster behind Gronkowski. And one of these guys or both of these guys could be guys that could step in and start should Gronkowski either get injured or potentially decide at some point this season. That I'm going to shut this thing down. So.

We got two great options staring us in the face. Miller has Smith at 26 overall. Font at 34. I'm going to go with the Iowa kid. I like Iowa tight ends. So boom. There you go. Noah Font coming off the board to the New England Patriots.

With that 32nd pick. Now. That's nice. Patriots are going to be on the clock again, and they're going to have a couple of picks here in the second round, which is interesting to consider because when you think about how they might want to move around in this draft, they've got some capital to work with in the second round. In this second round, they've got picks at 56 and 64. Those are two picks right clustered near each other. And so those are always nice because you can package those to groove up.

You can trade down from one or both of those spots and get a ton of stuff in the third round. This is one of those drafts that I think, and I think I said this about last year's draft, it's kind of nice in that, say, 50 to 100 range. There's a nice cluster of players there. And the Patriots, as it stands right now, have three picks in that 50 to 100 range, 56, 64, 74. And so I think there are some nice things they can do. But right now, we're on the clock with that first pick in the second round,

pick 56 overall. And let's start with the quarterbacks will greer is available clayton thorson's available tyree jackson ryan finley brett ripping they're all available without kyler murray staring me in the face he came off of earlier you know we're gonna we're gonna pass and in case anybody is wondering kyler murray came off of the board in this mock at seven to jacksonville in case you were wondering about so we're gonna pass on that we could look at Kyler Murray came off of the board in this mock at 7 to Jacksonville, in case you were wondering about that. So we're going to pass on that.

We could look at some other interesting players perhaps on the board. Let's say another position technically of need, you might say. Defensive line, Dexter Lawrence, Gerald Willis, Zach Allen. They're still on the board. Isaiah Buggs. Those are some guys that are there. So we're going to hold off on that a bit. This, oddly enough, has safety as a need.

We've talked about safety a little bit. It's got Juan Thornhill and Chauncey Gardner-Johnson still on the board. And then Darnell Savage still on the board. So I'm going to pause on that a bit. Wide receiver, though. We've got some interesting names. We've got David Sills from get david sills from west virginia anthony johnson from buffalo andy isabella who again sort of screams new england patriot to a

lot of people hunter renfro who screams new england patriot to a lot of people debo samuel kind of looking at me in the face so i kind of wonder about that one as well then you look at you know Sean Bunton from Central Michigan. I don't think they're going to address Corner, but they've also got Julian Love, Kendall Sheffield, again, working off Matt Miller's board. But I think that at this point, given the talent that's out there, we're going to go safety, and we're going to kind of roll the dice here on a guy that we talked about

with our friend Michael Kist, and that's Chauncey Gardner-Johnson. Maybe a guy that needs to fill out some of the aspects to his game, but this kind of value right here and getting the safety that, from when you look at Chauncey Gardner-Johnson, one of the concerns that Michael Kist had about him was the tackling. And we know with Greg Sciano, we just talked about him, he's going to stress tackling. But Michael looks at him as a guy that can start early as a strong safety

that doubles as a nickel in big packages, capable of eventually handling increased single high responsibilities. I don't think you need a safety right now to handle single high responsibilities with Devin McCourty coming back. But with the injury to Patrick Chun, I think you sort of want a safety that can be more of that box nickel type guy. And so that's what you're getting here. So that's the pick we're going to make.

Chauncey Gardner-Johnson, the safety from Florida. So that's the first of the two second round picks. Now we've got another one staring us right at the face very quickly at 64. And this is really interesting because you've got Desmond Knox here. So at least on this board, you could say go in a different direction and then come back to tight end and you'd get Dawson Knox here. You've got Debo Samuel, a wide receiver that people might like. He's available to you as well as Anthony Johnson.

So those are some interesting options. Quarterbacks, well, that hasn't really changed. Same guys, Greer, Thorson, Jackson, Finley, and Rippon. They're still available, so we'll pause on that a second. This oddly has running back as a team need. I'm not touching running back. I don't think the Patriots need to do that. It still has defensive line and edge. We got

Trey Flowers back, but there's some talent here that we might talk about. You got Gerald Willis at Miami that's an interest in interior defensive linemen. You've got Terry Beckner Jr. from Missouri, interior defensive lineman that might work, but I'm strangely enough drawn to a

player that I think fits the Patriots' mold. And that's Charles O'Manahoo, the long edge defender from Texas. And I know I said, look, Trey Flowers is coming back. You can never have enough pass rush, right? And with him staring us in the face, loved what he did down at the Senior Bowl, I think

with all the other options available, this is a great sort of player to sign, especially with, say they just franchise tag Trey Flowers, which is something they might do. You still might want to address life after him anyway. I think this is a good way to do it. It's good value here. So that's going to be the pick. Patriots won't be on the clock again until the third round at 74,

and that's what we'll hit next on this mock Monday installment of Locked on Patriots won't be on the clock again until the third round at 74, and that's what we'll hit next on this Mock Monday installment of Locked on Patriots. Mark Schofield back with you now on this Mock Monday installment of the Locked on Patriots podcast, working our way through a seven-round mock draft for the New England Patriots. We have made it to the third round. Patriots on the clock here with their fourth pick in the draft at pick 73, which would be the ninth pick of the third round. This is a pick that the New England Patriots gut in exchange for a trade with the Detroit Lions. And they won't pick again until 128. So there's going to be a bit of a gap. The

Patriots have two kind of gaps in this draft. They've got that long gap from 74 to 128, where they're picking sort of at the start of the third round at the end of the fourth. And then they've got a real big gap from the fourth to the seventh. Now we know, thanks to our great friend Dave Archibald, at Dave Archie on Twitter, that the Patriots hate fifth round picks. Bill Belichick hates them, always trades them away. Dave did a great piece over at Inside the Pile and you should check out why does Bill Belichick hate fifth round picks. But that's a big gap from 128 to 217. So I think at some point in this draft, Belichick is probably going to move to get some additional picks in that 128 to 217 range because that's a big gap. But since we're not doing trades here in this one, we're going to sit here at 74 here and make a pick.

And what we're going to do is interesting because the Patriots in this mock, we've got Noah Font at 32, Chauncey Gardner-Johnson with the first of two picks in the second round, and Edge Charles-Amenhu with the last pick in the second round. Here we are early in the third.

And what's interesting about the way this board has fallen, again, using Matt Miller's board, we've still got Dawson Knox staring us in the face. So there's that. We've got Isaac Nauta, who's Matt Miller's 121st ranked player, staring us in the face. We've got Jay Sternberger from Texas A&M staring us in the face. We've got Foster Moreau staring us in the face. And so Dax Raymond still on the board. And so part of the reason we do these is for sort of an educational purpose.

We know that at least via what this simulator has told us, there are still some good tight ends here at this point in the draft. So maybe if Gronkowski is coming back, the depth of this tight end class might tell us that we might address other needs at 32 than draft and say no a font and get tight end later. But given the way that this board has fallen, we still have some options available to us. And what's interesting is if you want to think about linebackers, you've got Jermaine Pratt from NC State, Trey Lamar from Clemson. There are some linebackers here you could consider. There are some corners here.

Again, I don't think corner is a position they're going to address. And so I'm going to go defensive line. And if we're going to assume they're moving on from one of the two, Malcolm Brown, Danny Shelton. I said Shelton in this simulator. I think with Gerald Willis staring us in the face, that's the direction we're going to go. Yes, there are some off-the-field concerns.

You know, he was suspended from the season open for a violation of team rules um took a leave of absence from miami in 2017 said he came back as a new man after a season off but those are some concerns and then he's got a medical issue with an mcl in 2016 where he got surgery surgery he had a partial tear of that and so there are some red flags here but there are some things that i think he does from an execution standpoint that will fit with the patriots and their defense he's got the great ability to sort of get off the snap consistently to get off the ball is very good um gets into some quickness up the field he's very explosive which sometimes gives offensive linemen some fits

so he can get quick penetration. And when you see so many teams run in zone, inside-outside zone, and they've got to execute that reach block on a defensive lineman, the ability of that defensive lineman to get upfield and to beat that reach and to sort of cause some quick penetration and threaten that mesh point in the backfield, that's a big thing to have for a defense. And so I think he brings that.

And so that's the way we're going to go here with this pick in the third round. Now let's get to the Patriots' next pick. And that comes to us in the fourth round. That is this pick right here at 134. And let's not waste any more time. Let's not tease the people anymore. I know he's listed at 217 on this big board. But I'm taking the guy that I think is the best quarterback left

and a guy that I have been eyeing for the New England Patriots for a while now, and that's Brett Rippon for Boise State. And if you got a chance to listen to the podcast i did recently um came out on saturday with my great friend matt waldman we talked about a lot of the quarterbacks in this class and how some of these quarterbacks are difficult eval i at the end sort of gave my elevator pitch on him on ripping for being a good quarterback and i think when all is and done, he's going to end up as a top five QB for me in this class. And maybe I'm just wildly off, but I see the things that he can do.

I see how he checks every Parcells box, and I know the Parcells things are sort of out the window, but I look at him and I think, I think we can make this work in the National Football League. I think this is a guy that can play quarterback at the next level. And I think in the right situation, I think he could be a starter in this league. At the very worst case scenario, you're getting a guy that can play quarterback at the next level and I think in the right situation I think he could be a starter in this league at the very worst case scenario you're getting the guy that

okay he's going to be there for a while while you find the true next quarterback after TB12 if he doesn't develop the way you hope he can and so there we go Brett Rippon to the New England Patriots maybe early for some not early for me so that will do it for this portion we'll come back the New England Patriots. Maybe early for some, not early for me. So that will do it for this portion.

We'll come back, round out the Patriots picks. That's ahead on this Mock Monday installment of Locked on Patriots. Mark Schofield back with you now to close out this Mock Monday installment of the Locked on Patriots podcast. And Patriots now are back on the clock here with some picks in the seventh round. But let's sort of recap where we are, how we got here. Noah Font, Patriots' first pick at the end of the first round of 32. Chauncey Gardner-Johnson, the safety from Florida.

Charles Omenahu, the edge from Texas. Then Gerald Willis in the fourth pick that the Patriots made with their pick in the third round, early in the third round. And then the fourth round, Brett Rippin from Boise State. So those were the picks so far. Mark Schofield back with you now to close out this mock draft

Monday installment of the Locked On Patriots podcast. And I know some of you are probably wondering, look, there are going to be some compensatory picks. The Patriots podcast. And I know some of you are probably wondering, look, there are going to be some compensatory picks. The Patriots on tap to get four. Nate Solder, Malcolm Butler, Danny Amendola, and Cameron Fleming. Overthecap.com, for example, has projected that two of those might be in the third round, Solder and Butler,

one in the fifth, Amendola, and then Fleming in the seventh perhaps. And so once those get solidified we'll start making those picks I didn't include them here maybe I should have but I didn't because it's my mock draft so we still have two selections left here in the seventh round so let's kind of just have some fun with it and as I just got done talking that is a big gap I mentioned it earlier you know the compensatory fix will kind of fill it in. But if the Patriots really don't have a pick on the fifth or the sixth round, you see a lot of talent sort of come off the board.

For example, a lot of players I was looking at at the wide receiver spot, Hunter Renfro, Penny Hart, they're gone. So there is that big sort of talent drop off. You see some names here that might be a little wary of, but again, we're in the seventh round. And so we're just going to throw some darts here in the seventh round have some fun with it first we're gonna draft a wide receiver we missed out on some of the guys we might have wanted so we're gonna take a shot on stanley morgan from nebraska some question marks around him um i think

he got at least a shrine invite and he didn't post for that but from what i saw of him this year interesting player so we'll take a shot over at Stanley Morgan, wide receiver from Nebraska. As we work our way through the rest of the seventh round, some interesting names to continue to watch. Patriots could go linebacker. Drew Tranquil from Notre Dame is an option. Interestingly, there are some tight ends here as well that are some interesting names that we've already been talking about.

For example, a Dax Raymond and a Leezy Mack, two names that we talked about a bit with our great friend Brad Kelly. So why not double dip here? Patriots have done it before. Why not do it again? So we could go with a Dax Raymond. But we'll wait because there's a player that's staring me in the face. And I know it's a position that the Patriots probably won't address, but he's a talented

player. That's Alexander Madison, the running back from Boise State. Loved watching him this year. Obviously, I saw a ton of him because of all the times I was watching Brett Rippon. And so with him staring me in the face, boom, we're going to do that. So that will do it. That will do it with

our selections here. Again, as we get closer to the draft we're going to get a better idea of needs we're going to get a better idea of boards we're going to get a better idea of where the compensatory picks will fall and so without doing the compensatory picks and just making you know the picks that were available to us noah font johnson garner johnson charles menahoo gerald willis bre Brett Rippin, Stanley Morgan, Alexander Madison. This is probably more of an offensive skill player draft than you'd probably expect from the New England Patriots. We didn't address offensive line. Interesting to see the way the board fell that way.

And so when we do these later for next week, we'll probably see that addressed. But there you go. That will do it for today. I will be back tomorrow. If you want any comments, inside anything like that, you know where to find me, at Mark Schofield on Twitter, mark.schofield, that's insidethepylon.com, the new Locked on Patriots Slack channel.

We're going to be studying tight ends this week over at the Locked on Patriots Slack channel. So if you would like an invite, please let me know. Until next time, keep it locked right here to me, Mark Schofield, and Locked on Patrons.