The New England Patriots biggest draft miss may have come late in the draft in the fifth round when they had a golden opportunity to add a top guard to the team.
The Patriots pick in that round was an injury flier on Cameron Mcgrone, a Michigan linebacker on whom at least one draft publication had a second-round grade as has been previously reported.
Now, while Mcgrone may ultimately be a solid selection if he gets healthy, he’s injured and may not even play in 2021. The Patriots had a better option in the fifth round to select one of the best guards in the draft, Deonte Brown from a familiar university… Alabama.
Brown was ultimately selected in the sixth round by the Carolina Panthers who may have gotten a Michael Onwenu-like steal in the very same round the Patriots selected that great, and underrated talent in last season’s draft.
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The opportunity was there for New England to make another bold statement by further bolstering its offensive line, a familiar topic in this space, but they punted.
This writer has been criticized for not awarding the Patriots a straight-A for their 2021 draft. It says here it was more of a B. Everyone has a right to their opinion. Patriot’s Pollyannas can see the draft anyway they choose and so can this space.
Frankly, any immediate post-draft analysis is pure hogwash anyway. No one has any real clue. A draft’s real success or lack thereof can only competently be evaluated after about three years of play or non-play as the case may be for each individual player anyway.
So post-draft grades are pretty useless exercises, but they provide fodder for commentators who evaluate the entire draft or some, guilty here, who only really care about and evaluate one, the New England Patriots’ draft every year.
The New England Patriots may have blown a huge opportunity in the fifth round
Back to the New England Patriots fifth round pick.
A couple of reasons why the choice of Cameron McGrone was not optimum for New England.
First, the Patriots can always use additional assistance with solid offensive linemen. Guard is no exception. While their relative depth is fairly strong there due primarily to the presence of Ted Karras, the addition of a top guard talent in the fifth round would have been a solid one.
Second, while McGrone may ultimately turn out to be a nice pick, he’s not a prototypical size for a Patriots’ linebacker.
Also, who’s to say he wouldn’t have been there in the sixth round when the Patriots picked? After all, he was clearly damaged goods and is almost a lock not to play much if at all this season.
Now, this is not to say that taking a flier on an injured player late in the draft is a bad move. It isn’t necessarily. The preference here would be in the sixth or seventh rounds. But it was a bad move in this case.
It’s not like it was on a first-rounder like Dominique Easley, a defensive tackle a few years back who never did much of anything for the team.
Yet, when there is a player with Brown’s ability, college football credentials, and super potential available that late in the draft, it’s a no-brainer. You just take him. Deonte Brown was that guy.
So, why was Deonte Brown the better pick for the New England Patriots
This space was no stranger to touting Brown as a future Patriot before the draft and now it is lamenting the fact that he was there at a much lower pick in the draft than anticipated. The call here is that the Patriots muffed it.
Brown was potentially as huge a mistake as he is a huge football player. Profootballnetwork.com him at 6’3 and 1/4″ tall and weighing in at 344 pounds.
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Let’s just say, he’s a huge man and leave it at that. If he is reminiscent of another huge man drafted by the Patriots in 2020 in the sixth round, Michael Onwenu, you’re on the right track. Brown, as well, can play.
First, he was a starter on the best team in the nation, Alabama. That says a lot. Here are a couple of excerpts from thedraftnetwork.com about Brown,
"Starting in 24 of 46 career games, Brown possesses a beefy and wide-bodied frame with a well above average amount of strength at the point of attack. Physically, he is an effective run blocker with lots of attractive skills. Aggressive in the running game, he shows high strength levels and awareness. In Alabama’s downhill run scheme, he’s allowed to stay on track and road grade any target that’s directly in front of him… Having an anchor that’s nearly impossible to knock over, his wide frame also enables him to engulf and cover up rushers. Brown is able to negate interior pressure effectively."
Also, if you happened to see the 2020 East/West Shrine Game in 2020, Michael Onwenu showed he could measure up with the best in college football.
In the Reese’s Senior Bowl this year, Brown did the same. If you watch offensive line play which just happens to make all other aspects of the offense work, you couldn’t miss him.
His size stood out and so did his play. He was solid. When you can play well in a game against the best of the best (at least seniors), it’s usually not a fluke. Brown wasn’t and isn’t.
So, to sum up, the opportunity cost of drafting Cameron Mcgrone was huge in the person of Deonte Brown. Mcgrone may turn out fine, but not likely this season. Brown is ready to go, now.
It was a huge missed opportunity and may haunt the Patriots in the future, especially if Onwenu has to move from guard where he is likely projected to play, back to tackle due to injury.
Hopefully, that won’t happen, but injuries do happen and having Brown would have been a terrific safety blanket for the most important unit on the team. It was a missed opportunity, indeed.