It wouldn’t be the NFL Draft without the Patriots trading back.
Right on cue, the Pats shipped their first selection Thursday night, the 21st overall pick, to Kansas City for the 29th pick, a third-rounder and a fourth-round pick. That allowed them to fall back with several top prospects still on the board. Eventually, they landed on one: Chattanooga offensive lineman Cole Strange.
Strange projects as a starting guard for the Patriots, who needed one after trading Shaq Mason and letting Ted Karras walk in free agency. He’s an FCS prospect who acquitted himself well at the Senior Bowl, where he earned marks for his intelligence. Strange left Chattanooga as a senior captain and first-team FCS All-American, having made 42 starts at left guard, one at left tackle and another at center.
At the time of their selection, the Patriots had 10 picks remaining: one in the second round, two in each of the third and fourth rounds, plus one in the fifth, three in the sixth and one in the seventh. More trades are expected, considering Bill Belichick’s history of wheeling and dealing, and the team’s roster is already at 72 players.
The Chiefs used the 21st overall pick to select Washington cornerback Trent McDuffie, who was widely seen as a solid fit in New England. Several other potential Patriots came off the board leading up to No. 21.
At 13th overall, the Eagles selected Georgia defensive tackle Jordan Davis, a 6-foot-6, 341-pound behemoth who clocked a 4.78 in his 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine and could have fit in the middle of Belichick’s defense. Davis’ selection followed back-to-back wide receiver picks, with Ohio State’s Chris Olave going to New Orleans and the Lions moving up for Alabama speedster Jameson Williams at 12th overall.
Another potential Patriots target, Texas A&M offensive lineman Kenyon Green, went 15th to Houston. Green was the first mild surprise of the draft, even as a projected first-round pick. Another surprise came off the board next, when Penn State wide receiver Jahan Dotson went to the Commanders. Dotson entered the draft as a projected late first-round or early second-round pick.
And then Boston College offensive lineman Zion Johnson became the newest Charger at 17th overall. Johnson was viewed as a plug-and-play starter, who would have filled the Pats’ biggest need in their starting lineup. Instead, he joined former Patriots cornerback J.C. Jackson in Los Angeles, which fielded one of the worst offensive lines in the league last year..
Next, in a blockbuster move, the Titans traded wide receiver A.J. Brown to the Eagles for the 18th pick and a third-rounder. With the 18th pick, they found Brown’s replacement: Arkansas wideout Treylon Burks. He became the sixth receiver to get drafted, all between picks No. 8 and No. 18.
Meanwhile, Brown landed in Philadelphia with a new, 4-year contract extension reportedly worth $100 million. Moments after his news broke, the Saints added Northern Iowa offensive tackle Trevor Penning, another potential Patriot, at 19th overall.
As expected, the Jaguars kicked off the draft by making Georgia outside linebacker Travon Walker the No. 1 overall pick. Michigan defensive end Aidan Hutchinson quickly followed, going to Detroit at No. 2. With the next two picks, the Texans and Jets drafted back-to-back corners in LSU’s Derek Stingley and Cincinnati’s Sauce Gardner, respectively.
The Patriots will see Gardner twice a year in the AFC East. Some evaluators compared the 6-foot-3 cover man to a young Richard Sherman, who played under Jets coach Robert Saleh when Saleh was the 49ers defensive coordinator and a Seahawks assistant. The Jets later added Wilson
Pittsburgh’s Kenny Pickett was the first quarterback off the board, and he didn’t go far. The Steelers drafted him 20th overall and dubbed him the successor to Ben Roethlisberger, though veteran Mitch Trubisky is expected to compete for the starting job in training camp.
