The Patriots’ 2013 draft class and most of the team’s undrafted free agents share one common attribute: intelligence.
That book smarts and football savvy should allow most of the new acquisitions to get on the field early and often. There aren’t many projects among this year’s rookies.
Duron Harmon and T.J. Moe graduated from Rutgers and Missouri, respectively, with GPAs in the mid-3s, and tight end Zach Sudfeld has a masters from Nevada in business administration. While business acumen or deep knowledge in labor studies won’t help much on the gridiron, aptitude in the classroom is something Bill Belichick deeply values.
Since the clock is ticking on both the careers of Tom Brady and Belichick, the mentality within the Patriots’ organization may be leaning towards “win now” even while getting younger across the board. There may not be many immediate starters in this class, but they’ll dive into their playboooks, know the scheme and be able to contribute somewhere.
In this week’s Gunslingers Podcast, NFL editors Doug Kyed and Luke Hughes discuss how the new players will fit in to the already deep Patriots roster. They also get into Rob Gronkowski‘s forearm, depth at defensive tackle (including some cloning talk about Vince Wilfork) and Tom Brady seeing ghosts.
Listen in below or download the podcast on iTunes for all the latest on the Patriots and the NFL.
Photo via Facebook/Rutgers Football from B/R
