Damien Woody absolutely loves the New England Patriots’ new additions.
The Patriots entered the 2019 NFL Draft with 12 picks, including six in the first three rounds, and Woody believes Bill Belichick made the most of his assets.
Woody, who played five seasons with the Patriots from 1999 through 2003, even went so far as to declare on ESPN’s “SportsCenter” that New England had the best draft of any team in the NFL.
“I really love what the Patriots did. Had a plethora of picks, and they picked players from all over different positions, starting off with N’Keal Harry, wide receiver,” Woody said. “This is the first wide receiver in the first round under the Bill Belichick era. He has never done this before. But this is a guy who’s a big receiver, a guy who can high-point the ball. The Patriots really haven’t had a guy like this since Randy Moss. He’s not Randy Moss as far as speed, but he is as far as height and run-after-catch abilities.”
The Patriots selected Harry with the No. 32 pick in the first round. He’ll give Tom Brady an intriguing weapon in New England’s offense, which is thin at wide receiver and also must deal with the loss of All-Pro tight end Rob Gronkowski.
He’s not the only draft pick to draw praise from Woody, though. The former Patriots offensive lineman also liked New England’s selections of linebacker Chase Winovich and running back Damien Harris in the third round at No. 77 and No. 87, respectively.
“They need a guy outside the numbers, and they obviously got Chase Winovich, a guy who was uberproductive at Michigan,” Woody said. “He was actually more productive than the guy who got drafted much higher than him — Rashan Gary, who went to the Green Bay Packers at No. 12. So he’s like the perfect Patriots pick in the third round.”
ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. gave the Patriots an A- in his post-draft grades column. It’s safe to say Woody probably would grade New England even higher.
