The New England Patriots have a history of swinging draft-day trades, and Colin Cowherd believes that trend will continue this year.
The Patriots have a handful of holes to fill heading into the 2019 NFL Draft, which kicks off Thursday night in Nashville, Tenn. New England needs players who can make an impact from the get-go, which could require Bill Belichick to do a little wheeling and dealing.
Cowherd thinks the defending Super Bowl champions will be aggressive in their effort to address their voids, and he explained why during Thursday’s edition of “The Herd” on FOX Sports 1.
“I think Patriots will trade up multiple times tonight, meaning at least twice,” Cowhers said. “Why? They’ve got 12 picks. Belichick in recent drafts is looking for specific pieces, and he’ll do whatever it takes to get those specific pieces. They had three draft picks last year that would’ve started but got hurt. People forget about those: left tackle, running back and corner. They just don’t have that many spots available. What they need is four impact players to get a little more athletic on both sides of the football. I think they need a tight end and they move up. I think they could use a corner and they move up. A pass-rusher, an interior lineman. Of course, they’re always seeking value. They may move up in the first round. I think New England will move up multiple times over today, tomorrow and the weekend.”
Cowherd could be onto something, especially when it comes to the Patriots potentially drafting a tight end. Noah Fant and T.J Hockenson are by far the best prospects at the position, and there’s little chance either will be around when New England picks first at No. 32 overall. In hopes of finding Rob Gronkowski’s replacement, the Patriots could look to make a jump up the board to select either of the Iowa products.
There are a number of first-round moves that make sense for New England, but Belichick and Co. tend to go in a direction no one sees coming. As such, even football’s sharpest analysts are all over the place when it comes to predicting the Patriots’ first-round move.
We’ll just have to wait and see.
