Patriots 7-Round Mock Draft 1.0: Building an Offense From Scratch

Round 3 (No. 68 Overall): Kingsley Suamataia, Offensive Tackle, BYU

Belichick's approach to the offensive line in the 2023 NFL Draft left a lot to be desired, and with Trent Brown's contract expiring this line needs a lot of help.

Enter Kingsley Suamataia.

We'll get a better idea of his measurables at the combine, but listed at 6-foot-6 and 325 pounds with long arms and physical strength, he can project into either tackle spot. I'm not sure moving Mike Onwenu to the left side is the right move, but whether we do that or not Suamataia could start on the opposite side.

Pro Football Focus graded Suamataia as the 18th-best pass blocking tackle in the nation in 2023, (min. 200 pass blocking snaps), and that jumps to 14th if we just look at left tackles.

This was also his second straight season grading out at an elite level (in 2022 he did it at right tackle) and PFF credits him with just 2 sacks allowed on 748 career pass-blocking snaps.

He graded out a lot better as a run blocker on the right side in 2022 than he did on the left this past season, but the potential is there, and his athleticism especially makes him good at getting to the second level against linebackers.

That's a style fit with this draft for a couple of reasons. First of all, pass blocking is going to matter more in protecting a rookie. And second, if we have a rookie QB and a receiver like Watkins who works well off screens, having an athletic blocker who can get out and make those screens and RPO plays work would be very valuable.