Drafting offensive lineman Cole Strange in the first round of the 2022 NFL Draft made headlines for the New England Patriots, and they weren’t in the most positive light.
Heading into the draft, many people questioned Bill Belichick’s ability as the general manager. Robert Kraft publicly called the Patriots out about the struggles in recent years with drafting top-tier players. N’Keal Harry is one of the most prominent examples of busts in the first round and that all comes back to Belichick.
So, why did Belichick draft an offensive lineman that was projected to be a third-round pick?
“Yeah, he wouldn’t have lasted much longer,” Belichick said in his post-draft media call.
From the perspective of many, the Patriots could’ve drafted a player like Nakobe Dean, Andrew Booth Jr., or Christian Harris with the No. 29 pick and then waited to selected Strange later in the draft. The Patriots had the No. 29 pick because they traded back from No. 21 in an exchange with the Kansas City Chiefs.
This brings the question — would the Patriots have selected Strange even with the No. 21 pick?
“Yeah, well, if we had stayed at 21, then we would have obviously picked somebody,” Belichick said. “Probably a good chance it would have been him. I don’t know, there were several teams that we talked to prior to when we made the trade. There were some other conversations going on there, but ultimately that’s the one we chose.
Glad Cole was there when we picked, and as I said, feel like we made the best decision that we could at 21.”
As the Patriots have done for over two decades, all they can do is believe in Belichick. And he truly believes that Strange is a player who can come in and make an impact in the interior.
“Again, he’s long, he’s athletic. He’s physically tough. He’s an aggressive player,” Belichick continued. “I think he has a good combination of skills, run and pass, movement, length, strength, again, all of which will hopefully get better, like they will with any player coming from college to the National Football League. But I think he has a good skill set, and he’s a smart player that makes a lot of good decisions on the interior line there, timing, when to come off, and combo blocks, things like that.
But you know, as always, it’ll be good to work with a player, but he has a lot to learn and a lot to do.”
The team has 10 picks remaining and a lot of their best players come from the middle rounds. So, it’s a little too early to declare this round a bust by Belichick and the Patriots.
