The New England Patriots drafted three players from Rutgers in 2013.
That wasn’t a coincidence.
During an appearance Sunday on the “Double Coverage” podcast, hosted by fellow Rutgers products Devin and Jason McCourty, former Patriots cornerback Logan Ryan explained the lengths he and safety Duron Harmon went to get on New England’s radar during the lead-up to the 2013 NFL Draft.
Ryan had seen the Patriots use a first-round pick on McCourty in 2010. So as he and Harmon prepared for their final season with the Scarlet Knights, he reached out to his former teammate for some insight.
More: Anfernee Jennings Compared To Two Noteworthy Patriots By NFL Analyst
“Here’s the crazy thing, Dev,” Ryan told the McCourtys. “Me and Du, seeing your process — you and Jay — we looked up to you so much, we finessed the Patriots. … After I saw (Devin’s) pro day, me and Du were doing the pro day workout in the weight room like two-a-days. You know me, I’m a worker. So after we would lift in the summer, we would go back to the weight room at 6, 7 at night and we would do the pro day workout — all year.
“So we were doing them drills all year, and then the Patriots held a private workout for all the Rutgers guys. They worked out, like, 15 players. They picked, like, seven of us. So they had this private workout. I called Dev, and I’m like, ‘Yo, what drills do y’all do in your warmup?’ So I knew the Patriots’ warmup drills.
“Me and Du were practicing these drills all week, so when Bill comes, I’m like, shirt off, eight pack, catching the ball one-handed, sprinting back. I’m in great shape. I know all the drills. Like, ‘Oh yeah, I know that drill.’ ‘You ever do it before?’ ‘Nah, I never did it.’ Do the drill with my eyes closed. I was just working straight off what Dev would tell me. ‘Oh, Dev, what’s it like? What’s this? What’s that? What do they like to see?’”
The Patriots clearly did like what they saw. They wound up drafting Ryan with the 83rd overall pick and Harmon — a relative unknown during the pre-draft process — with the 91st. Then, they picked up Rutgers linebacker Steve Beauharnais in the seventh round and cornerback Brandon Jones in undrafted free agency.
“Me and Du both get drafted in the third round,” Ryan said. “We go up there, and the rest is history. But we were working those drills for a year, man, and it paid off. … (Devin) really told us all the little cheats to how to become a Patriot, because we were doing those things nonstop. And when Bill saw it, he must have been impressed, because he took about half of us from that workout.”
Ryan and Harmon both became core members of New England’s secondary, playing four and seven seasons in Foxboro, respectively. The two pulled down 13 and 17 interceptions during their respective Patriots tenures, with Ryan winning two Super Bowls and Harmon winning three.
