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

Round 7 (No. 228 Overall): Erick All, Tight End, Iowa

It can be fun to throw a crazy name down in Round 7 in a mock draft, but when there's someone like Erick All available, I'm going to stick with someone realistic and choose him.

Tight end is going to be an obvious need for the Patriots, and All is a really interesting fit.

Listed at 6-foot-5 and 250 pounds (though I'm not sure he'll measure up quite that big at the combine), All has the size for the pro game already. He'll be 24 years old next September, and while being an older prospect is sometimes a negative, that's not necessarily so for a late-round tight end. This is a position that it often takes some time for players to build up strength and maturity after playing in college, and All is that much further ahead.

As with most college tight ends, he also wasn't involved enough in any offense to really point to his stats to highlight anything especially interesting about his game.

Watching him play, though, he has the attitude you want to see at the position. He seems to love blocking — he's always getting mixed up with linebackers, and even on a big play you'll often see him in the frame hustling down the field to try to make an extra block.

As a receiver, he has no issues absorbing contact while making tough catches, and he has the strength to hold on when that happens.

He's a lacking route-runner and he doesn't have the speed to get separation. He'll always be a guy you need to scheme open or who is chipping pass-rushers before getting out on a less-important route. But there's absolutely a role for tight ends like that even in a modern NFL offense, and All's attitude points to him being able to embrace that role and play it well.

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