FOXBORO, Mass. — For the New England Patriots, Day 1 of the 2019 NFL Draft featured a whole lot of waiting, followed by a brief flash of activity.
Day 2 should be a much busier affair.
After making one pick in the first round Thursday night (Arizona State wide receiver N’Keal Harry at No. 32), the Patriots enter Friday armed with five selections: Nos. 56 and 64 in the second round and Nos. 73, 97 and 101 in the third. New England also owns six Day 3 choices.
With that bundle of assets, the Patriots have the ammunition to move up or down the draft board as they see fit during Rounds 2 and 3.
“There are definitely some good players that are left here,” Patriots director of player personnel Nick Caserio said after the opening round concluded. “So I think we’ll work through it. I think there are some players that we like that I think we’re going to like, and we have some flexibility.
“Maybe if there’s a player that we think we need to target a little bit earlier, we could potentially go up and get him. If not, we can sit back and pick.”
Areas of need for the Patriots entering draft weekend included wide receiver, tight end, defensive tackle, defensive end and offensive tackle, with safety, guard, cornerback, linebacker and developmental quarterback viewed as potential options, as well.
Here are some available players who could fill those needs on Day 2:
Tight end: Irv Smith Jr., Alabama; Jace Sternberger, Texas A&M; Dawson Knox, Ole Miss; Kahale Warring, San Diego State
Defensive tackle: Dre’mont Jones, Ohio State; Khalen Saunders, Western Illinois; Trysten Hill, UCF; Isaiah Buggs, Alabama
Defensive end: Chase Winovich, Michigan; Zach Allen, Boston College; Anthony Nelson, Iowa; Jaylon Ferguson, Louisiana Tech; Christian Miller, Alabama; D’Andre Walker, Georgia
Offensive tackle: Jawaan Taylor, Florida; Dalton Risner, Kansas State; Greg Little, Ole Miss; Max Scharping, Northern Illinois
Safety: Juan Thornhill, Virginia; Chauncey Gardner-Johnson, Florida; Taylor Rapp, Washington; Nasir Adderley, Delaware; Amani Hooker, Iowa
Cornerback: Joejuan Williams, Vanderbilt; Greedy Williams, LSU; Byron Murphy, Washington; Rock Ya-Sin, Temple; Lonnie Johnson Jr., Kentucky; Justin Layne, Michigan State; David Long, Michigan
Linebacker: Mack Wilson, Alabama; Germaine Pratt, North Carolina State; Jahlani Tavai, Hawaii
Guard: Cody Ford, Oklahoma; Nate Davis, Charlotte
Quarterback: Will Grier, West Virginia; Drew Lock, Missouri; Ryan Finley, North Carolina State
Available receivers also abound if the Patriots are interested in double-dipping at wideout — which, given the current state of their depth chart, could be a smart move.
With only Harry and Oklahoma’s Marquise Brown (Baltimore Ravens, No. 25) going in the first round, that list includes Ole Miss’ A.J. Brown and D.K. Metcalf, UMass’ Andy Isabella, South Carolina’s Deebo Samuel, Ohio State’s Parris Campbell and Terry McLaurin, Georgia’s Mecole Hardman and Riley Ridley, North Carolina State’s Kelvin Harmon, Iowa State’s Hakeem Butler, Stanford’s J.J. Arcega-Whiteside and Notre Dame’s Miles Boykin, among others.
“I’d say there are certainly groups of players in some positions that maybe have a little more depth than others,” Caserio said. “So we’ll just have to look at it relative to where we think we are as a team. It should be interesting.”
