FOXBORO, Mass. — The New England Patriots won’t make their initial selection of the 2016 NFL Draft until the 29th pick in the second round (60th overall), but the lack of a first-round pick isn’t going to change the team’s philosophy entering the event.
“Our philosophy is we can control the things we can control,” Patriots director of player personnel Nick Caserio said Tuesday at Gillette Stadium during a pre-draft press conference.
“Our job is to prepare for the draft, whatever our picks are, then be prepared to pick. A lot of that is out of our hands. There’s nothing we can do about that, so there’s no sense in spending extra time on it. We’re just going to try to prepare for the draft and take advantage of our opportunities when we pick.”
The Patriots, of course, lost their first-rounder because of the punishments levied by the NFL for Deflategate. They are the only team without a pick in the first round.
It’s a tough blow for a lot of reasons, one being the team’s recent success in Round 1.
Since 2001, the Patriots have selected quality players in the first round, such as Richard Seymour, Ty Warren, Vince Wilfork, Logan Mankins, Jerod Mayo, Devin McCourty, Nate Solder, Chandler Jones and Dont’a Hightower. Six of them have made at least one Pro Bowl appearance.
“We’re prepared to pick whenever we pick,” Caserio said. “There’s been many years where we haven’t had a first-round pick, and we’ve adjusted accordingly. A couple years ago, we drafted (Patrick) Chung at the top of the second round when we didn’t have a first-round pick. Whenever we pick, we’re prepared to pick and we’ll take advantage of the opportunities as best we can, and just try to add good players to our football team. That’s what we’re trying to do.
“What we control is what we do with the pick when we have it. That’s what we’re prepared to do and that’s how we’ll approach it in the next couple of weeks.”
The Patriots do have a pair of second-round picks (Nos. 60 and 61 overall) in this year’s draft. Recent second-rounders who’ve made an impact for New England include Sebastian Vollmer, Rob Gronkowski, Shane Vereen, Logan Ryan, Jamie Collins and Jordan Richards.
New England could use its two second-rounders and pair of third-rounders to move up in the draft, maybe even into the first round. That said, the Patriots probably don’t want to go too long without many picks. At the moment, after pick No. 96 (third round), they won’t make another selection until No. 196 (sixth round).
Thumbnail photo via Jerry Lai/USA TODAY Sports Images
