What To Expect From Patriots’ Day 2 Picks: Nick Caserio Gives Scouting Reports

The New England Patriots certainly kept busy on Day 2 of the 2019 NFL Draft, making four picks and four trades.

The Patriots selected defensive back Joejuan Williams 45th overall, defensive end Chase Winovich 77th overall, running back Damien Harris 87th overall and offensive tackle Yodny Cajuste 101st overall. Patriots director of player personnel Nick Caserio came into the media workroom after the day had ended and gave a scouting report on each player.

On Williams: “He’s a tremendously impressive kid. I’d say very mature. He’s a great person, which is important. It says a lot about him and the things that he’s endured throughout his life. As a player, he’s got some unique attributes that not a lot of players at that position have. How that necessarily translates into our system, we’ll find out. He primarily played in the perimeter at Vanderbilt. He was a perimeter cornerback against a lot of good people. A player we spent time with on a couple different occasions. … Just an impressive kid. Where he’s going to play, it’s too early to determine that. What we do know is he’s played in the secondary at a good level against a lot of good people and been productive. A very smart kid, graduated.

On Winovich: “Primarily was an end-of-the-line of scrimmage player at Michigan. Did a lot of things well in their system. Had a lot of respect for Coach Harbaugh and their program that he runs and the defense that he played in. He’s been productive rushing the passer. He’s got a good motor. He’s a pretty instinctive guy. He’s good with his hands. He’s got pretty good technique. And he’s been productive over the course of a couple of years now. And he’s got long hair, which I’m sure everyone will enjoy until we tell him to cut it. Has some value hopefully not only defensively but in the kicking game as well with his size, 6-2 1/2, 6-3, 245, 250. He runs fairly well. I think he ran 4.6ish or something in that vicinity. So, it’s a pretty good combination of his size, speed, toughness, instinctive-ness. 

On Harris: “That’s a situation where relative to whatever else you’re looking at, he falls into the good football player category that’s been consistently productive over the course of however many years. Look, everybody knows what we think of the Alabama program and how highly regarded with the mutual respect Bill (Belichick) and Nick (Saban) have for one another. But this is a player that over the course of the last three years. He basically averaged 1,000 yards in the SEC, and they had a lot of good backs. Similar to the Georgia situation with Nick Chubb and Sony (Michel), you had Harris, you had Josh Jacobs, they have a few more backs in the pipeline. This guy has been a pretty consistently productive player. This is more of, I’d say falls into the good football player category and relative to the other options that we were looking at on the board, that’s where he kind of fell.”

On Cajuste: “Primarily has played left tackle in a passing system. Fairly athletic kid, I think he was a three-year starter or whatever he was. A player that we spent some time with in a couple of different checkpoints here.

The Patriots selecte wide receiver N’Keal Harry with the 32nd overall pick in the draft Thursday in the first round. They have seven selections Saturday on Day 3:

4th round, 118th overall
4th round, 133rd overall
4th round, 134th overall
7th round, 239th overall
7th round, 243rd overall
7th round, 246th overall
7th round, 252nd overall

They could use another wide receiver and offensive tackle, a tight end, guard, defensive tackle, linebacker and safety.