New England Patriots: Justin Rohrwasser was a waste of a draft pick

The New England Patriots have released kicker Justin Rohrwasser after selecting him just a few months ago in the 2020 NFL Draft.

Imagine actually using a draft pick on a kicker in 2020. Better yet, imagine using a draft pick on a kicker who made just 78.6 percent of his field goals in college. For some reason, the New England Patriots thought that was a good idea.

The Patriots drafted Justin Rohrwasser in the 5th round with the 159th pick in the 2020 NFL Draft. Now, after an uninspiring camp performance they have released Rohrwasser as part of their roster cutdown in order to shrink the team to 53 players.

I get it, it’s just a fifth round pick. With that said, it’s pretty well known that most picks after the 2nd round are considered a dart throw. If you’re gonna throw a dart, why throw one at a position that rarely ever gets drafted anymore?

There are plenty of kickers who go undrafted, and I’m not convinced that the team would have lost out on Justin Rohrwasser if they decided to pass on him during the draft process. Was anyone else really clamoring for a kicker who who ranked 17th in the nation in field goal percentage during the 2019 college football season? Mind you, 17th is nothing to sneeze at but I’m not sure why anyone would spend a draft pick on it.

There’s not a ton of positive ways to spin this. It would be different if the team took a position of more importance and cut them afterwards, because that happens all the time. A kicker, though? What are we doing here?

Justin Rohrwasser was a complete waste of a draft pick. It’s highly likely he would have gone undrafted. At that point the Patriots could have taken a flier on him as an undrafted free agent and we likely would have seen this result regardless.