New England Patriots: 3 linebackers Belichick will regret not drafting
New England Patriots could have drafted a prototypical Patriots linebacker
The third linebacker among others that the New England Patriots passed on, in this case on three separate occasions, who was a favorite in this space was Wisconsin wrecking ball, Leo Chenal. Chenal is a throwback big Patriots-type linebacker who stands 6’3″ tall and ran a blistering 4.53, 40-yard dash at the combine at 250 pounds.
That’s athleticism. Yet, the young man can also play football. He’s your prototypical inside linebacker that the Patriots have used extensively over the 20-plus-year tenure of Bill Belichick as Head Coach.
"Inside linebacker with a densely muscled frame for full-contact fighting between the tackles. Chenal is like a cinder block. His limbs absorb contact without losing balance or positioning. The power and toughness are outstanding but his technique, play recognition and discipline need more work. He’s tightly bound, lacking the fluidity and lateral agility for consistent success as an open-field tackler. He won’t offer much in coverage but has success as a power blitzer. Chenal has rare point-of-attack power and will be a handful inside the box, but will be limited by athletic deficiencies. He might never be more than a good backup or low-end starter but he should be able to make a living in the league."
Chenal was selected by the Kansas City Chiefs in the third round. This was after the third time the Patriots passed on the player. That’s surprising since Chenal seemed to fit the Patriot profile to a tee, having logged 115 tackles for the Badgers to go along with eight sacks, two forced fumbles, and 18.5 tackles for loss.
That’s super production and the team could certainly have put that to good use having sustained the loss of the three veteran essentially inside linebackers noted earlier.
So there are three highly touted linebackers that the New England Patriots passed on at least twice in the April 2022, NFL Draft. Was it a mistake? That’s a difficult question to answer but let’s approach it this way.
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First, all three were highly touted and all went in the first three rounds of the draft. Second, the Patriots certainly seemed to need bolstering at the position in light of their losing the aforementioned veterans to free agency.
And, third, the New England Patriots are depending on a coterie of formerly injured and untested players, and absent Bentley (and Judon if you’d care to include him in the linebacking corps), there’s very little talent that one can say they can absolutely count upon.
So, yes, it was a mistake not to draft one or two of these players or a couple of other top linebackers in this draft. Instead, the Patriots drafted none. There were huge expectations that they would, and as if to confound “popular opinion” they eschewed taking any. That;’s the biggest mistake.
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So be it. The draft is all a big crapshoot, so we’ll see how these players fare and whether the team was right to count on the ones they have. One thing is certain, however, the Patriots had the opportunity to draft any (or all actually) of these productive consensus top linebackers and they passed.
The bottom line is this, drafting no linebackers whatsoever was a mistake. How big of a mistake? We’ll see. As we all know well, that’s why they play the games.