FOXBORO, Mass. — Despite re-signing LeGarrette Blount, running back still was viewed as the biggest immediate need on the New England Patriots’ roster heading into the 2016 NFL Draft.
It was slightly head-scratching, then, to see the Patriots come out of the draft without a player at the position.
Patriots head coach Bill Belichick was asked if it was a matter of the right guy not being available when his team was on the clock.
“Yeah, I guess,” Belichick said. “You can’t control what you can’t control.”
Running backs were coming off the board slowly through the first three days of the draft, with only Ezekiel Elliott, Derrick Henry, Kenyan Drake and C.J. Prosise being selected through the first three rounds. So, it was understandable the Patriots didn’t bite with any of their three third-round picks. The value could be had later in the draft.
A running back wasn’t selected before the Patriots’ first Day 3 pick, when they drafted Georgia wide receiver Malcolm Mitchell 112th overall.
Near the end of the fourth round, when Louisiana Tech running back Kenneth Dixon, Utah’s Devontae Booker and Texas Tech’s DeAndre Washington were still on the board, the Patriots packaged two sixth-round picks and a seventh-rounder to move up to 147th overall. Before the Patriots used the pick, Dixon, Booker and Washington were selected, and the Patriots traded the fifth-rounder to the Seattle Seahawks. Their next pick was 208th overall.
Before they could select again, UCLA’s Paul Perkins, Indiana’s Jordan Howard, West Virginia’s Wendell Smallwood, Arkansas’ Jonathan Williams and Alex Collins and Navy’s Keenan Reynolds were off the board.
The Patriots closed out the draft selecting linebackers Kamu Grugier-Hill and Elandon Roberts, guard Ted Karras and wide receiver Devin Lucien.
It seemed the Patriots were willing to wait to draft a running back, but they wound up being too patient and couldn’t trade up high enough. Dixon and Booker were viewed as good fits at the position for the Patriots heading into the draft. If the Baltimore Ravens hadn’t grabbed Dixon, and the Denver Broncos hadn’t selected Booker, it’s entirely possible the Patriots would have come out of the draft with a running back. It seems as if the Patriots wanted to, or were willing to, draft a running back, but the value wasn’t there in their spread out selections.
The Patriots have Blount, Dion Lewis, James White, Donald Brown, Brandon Bolden, Tyler Gaffney, Joey Iosefa and undrafted free agent D.J. Foster on their roster. Lewis is projected to start if he can return from his torn ACL on time for Week 1.
Thumbnail photo via Stew Milne/USA TODAY Sports Images
