Patriots Prospect Preview: Five College Players To Watch In Week 6
It's hard not to focus on offense
Welcome to the Patriots Prospect Preview, the only place to find college football prospects worth keeping your Patriots-happy eye on throughout the season. Welcome to Week 6.
In response to a week where the New England Patriots offense gave up more points (12) than it scored (3), we’re deciding to focus almost completely on that side of the ball.
Things are hovering around rock bottom for that unit, with a longstanding need the focus of our efforts today. We’ll also take a look at a developmental quarterback prospect, which is something the Patriots seem to have an infatuation with lately.
Let’s quit wasting time.
Brock Bowers (#19), TE, Georgia
Week 6: vs. Kentucky (7 p.m. ET on ESPN)
There’s an argument to be made that Brock Bowers is the best prospect in the country. We’d still take our chances with Caleb Williams and Marvin Harrison Jr., but the gap between Bowers and the second-best tight end in the country is stark.
In 35 collegiate games, Bowers has 149 receptions for 2,237 yards and 23 touchdowns. If you haven’t watched him play, the best way to describe him is a mix between George Kittle and Deebo Samuel, as all that he’s missing is truly elite size.
He’s the best player in the country at his position and might be the best tight end prospect we’ve ever seen. The Patriots have gotten mediocre production from Hunter Henry and pretty much nothing else from the rest of the guys they’ve attempted to replace Rob Gronkowski with. If New England can get its hands on Bowers, who will likely be a top-eight pick, it could finally solve that nagging problem.
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Ben Sinnott (#34), TE, Kansas State
Week 6: @ Oklahoma State (Friday — 7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN)
If the Patriots do end up adding a fullback to their roster this offseason, which some have argued they should, the best option might be Ben Sinnott.
The 6-foot-4, 245-pound tight end/fullback hybrid is one of the more offensively versatile players in the upcoming draft. He began his career as a traditional fullback but evolved into quite the pass catcher during his third and fourth seasons in Manhattan, Kansas. Sinnott has 47 catches for 694 yards and six touchdowns over his last 18 games.
If the Patriots continue on a 4-13 pace, Bowers is the guy. If not, they could wait until Day 2 to pick up a stud.
Laiatu Latu (#15), EDGE, UCLA
Week 6: vs. Washington State (3 p.m. ET on PAC12)
This is the “Bill Belichick zag” pick, because everyone is going to want an offensive player, but they’ll almost certainly draft a defender.
New England selected Keion White with the No. 46 overall pick last year, and he’ll be relied upon heavily to replace Matthew Judon following his injury. In 12 months, the Patriots could be looking to replace their other pass-rushing stud, Josh Uche, due to his potential departure in free agency. The man to do that could be Laiatu Latu.
Latu is an athletic, pass rush-first prospect who reminds us of Miami Dolphins stud Jaelan Phillips. He can get to the quarterback; it will just be a matter of who he’ll be doing it for at the next level.
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Jaheim Bell (#6), TE, Florida State
Week 6: vs. Virginia Tech (3:30 p.m. ET on ABC)
You thought we were done with tight ends? That’s a wild assumption.
Jaheim Bell is our least-typical prospect in this group, with his initial role at South Carolina being more of a rusher. He developed into quite the pass-catcher, though, adding size and transferring to Florida State to be one of Jordan Travis’ top targets. He’s got four rushing touchdowns and seven receiving touchdowns in his career, eclipsing 300 yards on the ground and 900 yards through the air.
As Belichick would say, he’s a football player.
Dillon Gabriel (#8), QB, Oklahoma
Week 6: vs. Texas (12 p.m. ET on ABC)
We’re still holding back on the Drake Maye’s and J.J. McCarthy’s of the world, but we can’t keep ignoring the QB position.
Mac Jones hasn’t been good, and the Patriots have already shown they’re not intent on keeping Bailey Zappe as the backup. That’s why we’re rolling with a guy who could push Zappe out next offseason.
Gabriel comes from a similar system as the Patriots’ backup but brings a different level of athleticism and can really sling the deep ball. If New England continues to struggle, we’ll look at signal-callers who will go earlier and earlier in the draft.
