New England Patriots: 5 rookies who will make immediate impacts in 2020

New England Patriots top pick Kyle Dugger is hungry.

After trading out of the first round, the New England Patriots surprised the NFL world by making their top pick a player out of a small Division I-AA school named Lenoir-Rhyne.

It wasn’t a quarterback, it wasn’t a receiver, it wasn’t even a linebacker.  With the No. 37 pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, the Patriots went with safety Kyle Dugger.

What?

While the position made sense given the age of both Devin McCourty and Patrick Chung, the player was someone Patriots fans had to quickly go google and find YouTube highlights of because he was simply not on any mock drafts as a player, they would take that high.

But, as surprising of a pick as Kyle Dugger was, the more of a Bill Belichick type pick after seeing his talent and the type of athlete he is.  And of course, he can play special teams.

That is mostly where I see Dugger making an impact in his rookie season.  But the amount of hunger he has will see him make some impressive plays on defense.  That hunger is also a reason former New England Patriots safety Rodney Harrison loves the pick and sees a lot of himself in Kyle Dugger.

"“To me, if you can play – there’s a lot to be said about Division I-AA players like myself, Division II players,” Harrison told NBC-10 Boston’s Raul Martinez, as transcribed by WEEI.  “We’re hungry …And you get so tired of all the big schools and LSUs and (2020 second-round pick) Grant Delpits being named in front of you, so I think this kid’s going to come in with an edge on him.”"

Indeed, he will and when Belichick finds ways to really utilize his size, speed and physicality, no one will question this particular pick.