New England Patriots Team Mock Draft

For this mock draft I’m going to use walterfootball’s mock draft (based on his mock draft that was on the site on Sunday morning) to make picks for the New England Patriots.

I’m going to do what I would do if I were running the Patriots, and not try to predict for this one what I think the Patriots might do, which is an approach I took with the first edition.

I should be clear that my philosophy is towards best player available with a slant on how teams like to use players. Not so much the system, but core philosophies. The Steelers and Giants tight ends have to block, if they don’t block they’re not as good on the Giants or the Steelers as they could be on a team less reliant on blocking tight ends. There is no use to fill needs in the draft. For example, if you take Muhammad Wilkerson just to have a 34 defensive end, but pass up on say a Jimmy Smith just to fulfill a need a defensive end, but in three years Wilkerson is a rotational guy while Smith is a pro-bowl players will you be happy you filled the bigger need? No, of course not. There is too much free agency movement and too many injuries to worry about filling needs.

1st round pick 17 Cameron Jordan, DE, Cal

Walter pick: Cameron Jordan

Based on Walter’s mock here I think Jordan is the best choice. J.J. Watt goes off the board a pick later, but I just think Jordan is a better player. Jordan would be an excellent addition to the Patriots defense. Jordan is a player who could go as high as #3 to the Buffalo Bills (there’s some talk about that-Brian Galliford of Buffalo Rumblings and I had a twittersation and he mentioned him specifically as a dark-horse pick) and with the Bills who knows if that happens. I prefer Jordan to Watt personally and Jordan along with Ingram and Jimmy Smith are the best players available. But Both of those players carry some concerns (RB value, plus possible injury susceptible and character) so Jordan makes a ton of sense here.

1st round pick 28: Akeem Ayers, OLB, UCLA

Walter pick: Mark Ingram

Ingram makes a ton of sense and I love Ingram so I’m actually moving a little away from Best Player Available here, which is my philosophy in favor of filling a need, but the reason I do that is because of Ayers versatility. I’ve been thinking a lot lately how good a fit Ayers could be for New England. BB loves versatile players and  Ayers can do everything on the football field well, even if he’s not exceptional at anything. Ayers can cover the pass, rush the passer, he helps out in the run game. He could play some inside in the 34 he could be a good pass rusher on the outside (Larry from our sister sites www.withthefirstpick.com) believes that Ayers is reminiscent of Terrell Suggs and can be that kind of player in a 34. So while for most teams I’d choose Ingram here, I think Ayers could really excel with Belichick as he will be able to maximize his talents and versatility.

2nd Round pick 33: Mikel LeShoure, RB, Illinois

Walter pick: Benjamin Ijalana

I’m not the biggest fan of Ijalana. I was also considering Danny Watkins here, but I’ll pass on him and his age for the talented, tough runner Mikel LeShoure. LeShoure is one of my few best remaining players here along with CB Brandon Harris, Adrian Clayborn, and OLB Martez Wilson.

LeShoure can catch the ball out of the backfield and would fit nicely with the Patriots. The Patriots have some age at running back and need to get a talented running back to clear out some roster space and take the offense to the next level.

2nd Round pick 60 Brandon Harris, CB, The U

Walter pick: Will Rackley

Brandon Harris is one of my personal favorite players and best values in the draft if he’s going to be drafted in the second or third round range. I realize that he has some consistency problems and got abused by Michael Floyd last year, but he has very fluid hips and is an excellent competitor. He can be a missile in run support and makes a lot of plays on the ball, even though he doesn’t come away with the interceptions. He’s a first round talent to me and at the end of the second round the best player available by a good margin. With 240 picks this year the Patriots can grab Best Player available and not look back.

3rd Round pick 74 Greg Little Wide Receiver

Walterpick: Johnny Patrick, CB, Louisville

Greg Little is a dynamo talent at the WR position with the “character concerns” label, but the Patriots are a team that can absorb character concerns and turn them into good players. The Patriots have a lot of smaller wide receivers who run good routes, and they have some speed/agility guys, but what they are missing is a big bodied wide receiver who can do some damage with the ball racking up the yards after the catch.  Our sister site compares him to Terrell Owens and Anquan Boldin. Little could put up huge numbers with Tom Brady and is good value here.

3rd Round pick 92 Kendrick Ellis, NT, Hampton
Walterpick: Greg Romerus

There aren’t many Talented Nose tackles in this draft, but Ellis is one of them. You can’t really ever have too many talented linemen. So far in this draft the Patriots will have added borderline first round talents with nearly every pick they’ve made (maybe not Little), which would give a pretty good roster even more talent.

4th Round pick 125. Jason Pinkston, OT/G Pittsburgh

Walter pick: Jeremy Beal

Pinkston is not a tackle in the league in my opinion but he is one of the better guards. Again, the Patriots eschew need here in order to obtain value.  I keep looking for a great place to grab a safety I like, but due to the dearth of talented safeties in this class they are constantly picked earlier than they should be so I keep end up going a different route.

5th Round pick 159: Brandon Fusco, C/G Slippery Rock. Chris Culliver FS/KR

Walter pick: Jermey Kerley, WR, TCU

Again, just another example of a player falling much further than he should. I had no intention of going with Three offensive linemen and two defensive linemen with most of the Patriots picks. Fusco is one of the few draftable centers this year. With this mock draft, the Patriots will not have to address the offensive line again, except at tackle for quite a few years. They’ll have the best depth along the offensive line in the league and a few potential starters.

6th Round pick 193: Richard Sherman, CB/FS  Stanford

Walter pick: Mark Herzlich, LB, Boston College

Finally, a safety value I like. Sherman has intriguing upside. A former WR, Sherman is raw. He’s not afraid of contact, has good speed, excellent size (at cornerback) good instincts and has a former college WR great hands for the position. He also can challenge balls in the air and is a good developmental prospect who could play special teams immediately.

That’s what I have for the Patriots mock draft based on what happened with Walter football’s mock.

In this draft the Patriots end up going heavily along the lines, which isn’t a terrible thing considering how many early picks they have spent on other positions the past few drafts. They could consider more WR, but in all likelihood the Patriots will move some of the picks for future picks, or maybe package some picks to trade up and grab playes they like a lot. So they won’t have this many picks.

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