The New England Patriots rebounded from a questionable Day 2 to score on one pick on Day 3, after years without finally selecting a big running back for short-yardage situations.
Having harped upon this need for quite a while, the Patriots finally made the right move and chose the right guy in Rhamondre Stevenson of Oklahoma.
Now, does this mean that Stevenson will be the next Corey Dillon (not hardly) or even LeGarrette Blount, he of the 18 touchdowns in 2016? …Not likely.
Here’s what NFL.com had to say about Stevenson:
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"Overview Wrecking ball of a runner who tends to be all fight and no flight between the hash marks. Stevenson’s burly, thick frame and punishing demeanor clearly takes a toll on defenses as the game rolls on. He’s at his best as a downhill runner, gathering momentum to attack the second level, but sees his effectiveness plummet when defenses can spill him wide or when he’s bouncing runs outside unnecessarily. He doesn’t have much finesse in his game and will leave some yardage on the field due to inconsistent vision and feel for run lane development. Stevenson can act as a change-of-pace bully or a quality three-down backup for a team that values downhill, power football."
So why is this pick such a good one? “Wrecking ball of a runner … ” That about says all that needs to be said. That’s exactly what New England needs.
The selection makes great sense. That’s why it’s hard to believe the Patriots actually made this pick.
Day 2 was panned in this space, not because of the players selected, they may in fact be solid to very, very good. The reason was positional.
The Patriots selected a defensive tackle and an edge player. They didn’t have pressing needs at either of those spots and had spent big in free agency on those positions.
Their needs at offensive tackle and a big back needed to be addressed and weren’t. In addition, they shipped off two 4th round picks in the trade-up for Christian Barmore. Not good.
But on Day 3, they did the right thing. They took that pressing need for a change. This time it was the big back, and one suggested, Stevenson. Getting him in the 4th round is nice.
Stevenson is a classic big back. He’s been listed anywhere from about 230 pounds to much heavier. He can run as he averaged 7.2 yards per carry in his two seasons at Oklahoma.
He also scored 13 touchdowns in those two seasons. Patriots running backs don’t get into the end zone much, but Stevenson probably will, especially running behind road-grader Trent Brown.
It’s interesting to this writer that even very astute observers think Stevenson may not be much of a contributor next season. Balderdash. Pure baloney.
This team can’t pick up a first down in short-yardage or a touchdown from a yard or two out. Stevenson will be an immediate contributor. Count on it. Anything stated to the contrary is foolish.
This pick guarantees the Patriots a better grade for the Day and likely elevates their overall grade for the entire draft. How far higher? The remaining picks though less consequential will decide.
Yet, never, ever rule out the potential of a sixth or seventh-round pick. You never know when you might unsuspectingly strike gold, now do you?
New England Patriots picks in the fifth through the seventh rounds and grades
The New England Patriots selected another linebacker, Cameron Mcgrone from Michigan in the fifth round of the NFL draft. Not much excitement there.
The Patriots have still not addressed their offensive line depth problems. And that is a substantial issue. This non-addressing of the offensive line is a major deficiency of this drafting operation.
They fail to recognize that the depth they have is illusory and may disappear after this or next year and there ain’t no one behind the starters who really can play.
This pick is a bewilderingly clear and likely disappointment to Mr. Kraft, or at least it should be so. He should be justifiably asking what the draft team is doing taking yet another linebacker?
Sorry, taking the best player available is fine with this writer, if, and only if, the team has taken a step or steps to shore up their obvious deficiencies, or at least attempted to do so.
The New England Patriots haven’t once again in 2021, at least not to the extent they should have. There are no guarantees in any of this draft business from the first to the last round, of course.
But, if you don’t even attempt to address those clear and present deficiencies, you are not doing the job expected. And they haven’t.
No offensive linemen signed in free agency (additional ones though they did trade for Trent Brown, a very good move) means no depth on the most important unit on the squad.
That’s a bad situation no matter how you look at it. This is an incremental grade lowering omission, once again.
In the sixth round, the Patriots selected Joshua Bledsoe, a safety from Missouri. Ho-hum. Nothing much there either. Just another camp body.
This team can find defensive backs in undrafted free agency. That draft pick was wasted on this position. A throw-away pick.
Last year with their sixth-round pick they took Michael Onwenu, a guard who turned out to be one of the best rookies in the entire NFL. Why not go offensive line earlier, here, later? Nothing.
All the late picks are in, the Final Grade
The New England Patriots started the draft with a flourish selecting at No. 15 a young quarterback, Mac Jones, who fits their system to a T without a trade-up. That’s a home run pick.
And it was graded as such. Big time A. Only a lack of running ability kept this from an A+.
Day 2, the Patriots went for a big trade-up to land a legitimate top defensive tackle, Christian Barmore. He may be their best defensive tackle since Vince Wilfork. He can flat-out play.
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But, the Patriots’ history of drafting that position, well, is not good. Hope it works out. We’ll see.
Then, in the third round, they took Ronnie Perkins, an edge player who also was highly rated. No problem with the players, just the positions. They had more needs pressing elsewhere.
Those moves were qualified demerits. Then, in the fourth round, they hit paydirt again, as with Jones. Rhamondre Stevenson is just a great pick.
He’s a bull rusher and they needed a short yardage back. Desperately. He’s maybe the best situational pick for 2021 they have taken. Ultimately, it may be Jones. But for now, it’s Stevenson.
In the fifth and sixth rounds, the Patriots reverted to form and while perhaps selecting the proverbial “best player available”, they failed to tie up the positions that needed attention most.
That would be the offensive line. They needed to draft an offensive tackle high up and a big guard in the middle rounds. They didn’t. That’s a major demerit to the grade here.
In the sixth round on their second pick, the Patriots finally chose an offensive tackle, William Sherman, OT, Colorado who played a sum total of two games for Colorado.
So, he doesn’t seem to be a Michael Onwenu type. Yet, who knows. But, don’t bet the farm on his being anything but an early release. So there, again, no gain.
The Patriots’ final pick is Tre Nixon a wide receiver from UCF. Here’s what Nfl.com says about Nixon,
"Overview Dangerous three-level talent with speed and short-area athleticism to play inside or outside as a pro. Nixon had impressive flashes over his first two seasons at UCF before playing in just four games this past year due to a shoulder injury. His play strength and hands are both in need of work in order for him to be considered a trustworthy option for play callers and quarterbacks. He has the juice to win foot races deep and displays enough route-running potential to uncover against pro coverage on the first and second levels. Nixon offers intriguing value as a potential Day 3 selection with WR3 talent."
Fine, that’s it, so here’s the summation,
And the final Patriots grade is …
As much as I’d like to give the New England Patriots a monster grade for this draft, I can’t. As with just about any draft in Bill Belichick’s 20-year history, this draft left a lot to be desired.
The team just is not a great drafting team. Yet, this is 2021, and let’s just sum things up on the overall draft.
First, the good.
Mac Jones was a home run. Maybe even a walk-off grand slam home run in game seven of the World Series. That’s how good he may be. OK, that’s wishful thinking, but …
Christian Barmore was not an offensive tackle, but he may be a super player. He may be an amazing addition to the Patriots’ defensive line. He’s that good. Could be really, really good.
Now, could he be Aaron Donald good? Who is? But … guess what, he may just be!
Ronnie Jenkins could be a nice edge player. Maybe. OK.
Rhamondre Stevenson is exactly what the Patriots needed at this time. An A+++ pick. The favorite pick here.
Then, the maybe … not-so-good:
The fifth, sixth round and seventh-round picks are camp players. Don’t expect much and you won’t be too disappointed. Nothing much there.
So, let’s sum this up. Some very good things. And some not-so-good things. They failed to address the offensive line to any serious degree. That’s a major omission.
So, with all of this in mind, what’s the final grade for the 2021 NFL draft …
It’s a B. They had a chance to hit a game-winning, World Series-winning home run and they whiffed. But … they didn’t completely blow this draft either. Not at all.
They drafted some good players. At least four. And that’s not bad. Not bad at all. So that’s the grade here. What do you think? Looking forward to hearing your view. We’ll all see this fall.