Patriots 2023 NFL Mock Draft 2.0: Belichick goes for the gold

New England Patriots add more depth later on day 3

Later on day three, the New England Patriots keep adding pieces to the puzzle as they trade down again, this time with Washington to acquire more picks.

The Patriots seek to bolster a position of need by taking cornerback, Mekhi Garner from LSU with pick Number 150 in round five.

Garner is a big corner at 6’2″ tall and 212 pounds. He’s more of a slot corner than an outside one. A physical player, he’ll be a handful for many of the NFL’s smaller slot receivers to deal with.

In the sixth round, the New England Patriots roll the dice at pick Number 184 on a quarterback, Dorian Thompson-Robinson from UCLA. Why not? The team cut ties with their third-string QB, Brian Hoyer, so why not take a flier on a young QB?

One reason this is very interesting is that Thompson-Robinson is termed by thedraftnetwork.com as, “one of the most electric quarterbacks in the 2023 NFL Draft.”

Thompson-Robinson stands 6’2″ tall and 203 pounds. In 2022 he posted this line, “266-382-69.6 percent 3,154 yards, 27 TDs, 10 INTs passing; 118-645-5.5, 12 TDs rushing.” That’s a production of 39 touchdowns for the dual-threat Thompson-Robinson. He can pass and he can run.

Electric is not exactly what the current Patriots QB room is noted for. Adding a dual-threat QB like Thompson-Robinson is absolutely a positive for the team.

Unfortunately, the question remains, do the New England Patriots even know how to coach such a weapon? They certainly did not in 2020 with Cam Newton. Try as he may, Newton was hamstrung by an incompetent staff that was clueless as to how to best utilize his talents.

Maybe new Offensive Coordinator Bill O’Brien can and Thompson-Robinson will give him a nice alternative to Jones and Zappe if the team decides to vary its options at quarterback.