FOXBORO, Mass. — It took 56 selections and three trades, but the New England Patriots finally improved their defense.
The Patriots grabbed Florida cornerback Duke Dawson with the 56th overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft. They started out the night with the Nos. 43 and 63 overall picks. They traded back from 43 then traded back again and into the 2019 draft with the 51st overall pick they acquired. Then they traded up from No. 63 overall to grab Dawson.
Dawson is 5-foot-11, 197 pounds and ran a 4.46-second 40-yard dash with a 1.56-second 10-yard split, 7.02-second 3-cone and 4.39-second short shuttle. He projects as a slot cornerback in the NFL.
Dawson let up just 21 catches on 48 targets for 223 yards with two touchdowns and four interceptions for a 37.1 passer rating allowed in 2017. He spent 170 snaps in the slot with the Gators.
The Patriots now have Dawson, Stephon Gilmore, Jason McCourty, Eric Rowe, Jonathan Jones, Cyrus Jones, Ryan Lewis and Jomal Wiltz on their cornerback depth chart. McCourty and Rowe are only signed through the 2018 season, so the Patriots needed to add a jolt of youth into their secondary.
Dawson likely will compete with McCourty, Rowe, Jones and Jones for just two spots in the Patriots’ starting defense to pair with Gilmore. The Patriots also like to play three safeties, so Patrick Chung will continue to receive snaps in the slot.
The Patriots’ defense got throttled by the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LII, so they were expected to snag a few players to help boost that unit as they came into the draft with five selections in the first two days of the draft. The Patriots wound up taking just three, and they selected offensive lineman Isaiah Wynn and running back Sony Michel, both out of Georgia, in the first round. The Patriots used their No. 95 overall pick to acquire offensive tackle Trent Brown. They’re left with the Nos. 105, 143, 198, 210 and 219 overall picks on the third day of the draft.
