New England Patriots Draft: What Do the Fans Want?

New England Patriots fans; Chowder and Champions takes a closer look at what we think our team should focus on in the 2016 NFL Draft.

New England Patriots fans, the NFL free agency is essentially over. Don’t worry; the Dolphins won free agency. Again. As they do. ESPN’s Bill Barnwell doesn’t call them “the thirstiest franchise in sports” for nothing.

Now, it’s time for mock drafts. SO many mock drafts. There’s mock drafts for the first round, the second round, and mocks that have the Titans trading the first overall pick for a Pontiac Trans Am and a a couple Luke Bryan tickets.

In other words, we are officially in Mel Kiper Jr’s Crazy Eyebrow season.

What we haven’t heard a lot of is what New England Patriots fans want. New England fans are the people that show out every weekend, pack bars to capacity, show up at 7 am for a 1 pm game, and spent the last 435 days (and counting) defending the wall.

What do you think the New England Patriots should do with their second-round picks, which is the first crack they’ll have in the draft since New England’s first-rounder is gone because of…well, you know.

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(Obviously, this isn’t how Bill drafts, ever, but that’s not the point. The point was to find out what the guys and girls that spend every Sunday watching this team and screaming at the bar TVs think would help the Pats the most. The flip side of that, of course, would be finding out what people think the Pats’ biggest hole on offense is. Also, hey, it’s supposed to be fun.)

Also, this obviously discounts the possibility that Belichick drafts an offensive lineman in the second round, which was excluded on purpose for the following reasons:

-Left tackle Nate Solder, who’s hands-down the best lineman on this team, should be back and healthy next year.

-The New England Patriots spent two fourth-round picks on offensive linemen in 2015 (Shaq Mason, Tre Jackson), signed center David Andrews as an undrafted free agent, and spent three draft picks on the O-line in 2014 (Bryan Stork, Cameron Fleming, Jon Halapio).

-The return of offensive line coach Dante Scarnecchia should help this line tremendously. You could say it couldn’t get any worse after getting manhandled in the AFC Championship game, but have you seen the Titans O-line play lately?

The poll results? Pretty decisive:

Running back: 12.5%

Wide receiver: 87.5%

Some people knew exactly who was on their wish list – Ohio State’s Braxton Miller was one person’s dream pick, and Rutgers’ Leonte Carroo would make another guy a happy camper. Other folks weren’t drooling over a specific player but had an archetype in mind, such as a taller Mike Evans type wideout that can pull down the tough catches, or a downfield burner for all of us that still have Deion Branch jerseys in our closets.

But the overall theme was clear. New England Patriot’s receivers were playing some of the league’s best football early in the year, but the wide receiver depth chart proved to be more top-heavy than Kate Upton after injuries knocked Dion Lewis, Julian Edelman, and Danny Amendola all out for extended periods of time. Bottom line – Pats fans see this team and see a need for a wideout that can jump into the starting lineup,

Of course, they’d also be fine with stumbling across the next Antonio Brown, who almost didn’t get drafted at all before the Pittsburgh Steelers scooped him up in the sixth round. Don’t forget; not all receivers are created equal, and not all of the best ones go in the first round, either.

Next: Boston Celtics Righting Their Ship as Road Trip Looms

Which is good, because, as I’ve written before, even if New England still had their first-round pick, I’d bet the rent that they don’t use it on a wide receiver.

Two back-to-back picks in the second round, though?

Day 2 of the NFL Draft just got a whole lot more interesting.

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