Breaking down the Patriots’ Day 2 of the 2020 NFL Draft
Yahoo Sports senior NFL writer Terez Paylor breaks down the New England Patriots’ busy second night of the 2020 NFL Draft that saw them draft 5 players.
Video Transcript
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TEREZ PAYLOR: Well, the New England Patriots did what they often do on Draft Day on Friday night, which is round two and three the 2020 NFL Draft, and that's surprise people. A lot of people had the Patriots kind of pegged for needing a quarterback. They avoided that completely with their five picks in the second and third rounds, which I think indicates a couple of things. Either they really, really like Jarrett Stidham, or there's a veteran on the way eventually.
It could be either/or. You know, I'm not gonna pretend to know what Bill Belichick is thinking. No one really does. But I do think that if it is Jared Stidham that they really, really like, that's a pretty good sign going forward for them.
As it relates to the draft, this is a nice little haul of players that the Patriots have picked up. Their first pick was Kyle Dugger. He's from a small school, Lenoir-Rhyne, but he's really athletic, and he's big, and he can run. So I think that he's a guy who kind of fits into their versatile theme, what they kind of want in players.
And that really kind of translates throughout the rest of this draft. Josh Uche from Michigan is a pass rusher that can do a lot of different things. I really like him. Anfernee Jennings is a run defender. You know, this is a guy that can come up at linebacker, stop the run. You know, you need that. You still have to be able to tackle in today's NFL and stop the run. And they took a couple of tight ends I really, really like in Devin Asiasi, who I think has some real pass catching upside, and Dalton Keene, another tight end that I think is very versatile and can do a lot of things.
So all in all, it's a classic Patriots draft, even if people didn't think so. It'll still be interesting to see what happens with their quarterback situation when the draft is over.