Friday Patriots Notebook 5/1: Patriots Come Full Circle With Brown Pick, Jones' Option Picked Up, More Notes
Despite a report that the Patriots weren't going to make a selection on Thursday night, the New England ended up coming away on night one addressing the defensive line after selecting Texas defensive tackle Malcom Brown with their 32nd overall pick.
Brown was a player the Patriots reportedly interviewed at the scouting combine, with the 6'2", 319lb lineman giving them another big body inside to hopefully continue the process of rebuilding the defensive line following the loss of Vince Wilfork this past offseason.
He's a player who has played a variety of positions up front during his time at Texas, and Bill Belichick praised Brown for his versatility during his post-draft press conference late Thursday night.
He’s a guy that’s played inside, on the nose, all the way outside to the five-technique, kind of everywhere in between," Belichick told reporters after taking Brown. "He’s been moved around a little bit: played a little more outside this year, a little in Coach [Charlie] Strong’s defense; a little more inside with the previous staff. He has plenty of snaps in a variety of spots. [I] look forward to working with him and [we’ll] see how it goes here tomorrow."
The Texas standout should give them a massive presence inside and should give them another young, talented player to build around. He seems mature for his age and , like Wilfork was when the Patriots selected him, Brown is married with a daughter and said last month that his goal was to make it to the NFL so he could support his family.
“It just gives me more motives,” Brown said via NESN.com. “I’m not just playing for myself anymore. I’m playing to support my family. I can’t just think about myself when I make decisions. I have to think about my daughters and my wife being supportive, so I have to give it my all.”
Now that he's made it to the NFL, Brown said he and his wife are glad the process is over so they can start moving forward.
"Everybody is happy," Brown told the media after being selected. "We know where we were going to be at, so now we can start figuring out a plan to settle in."
His words were very similar to Wilfork, who right after he was drafted told the media his focus was on buying his new wife, Bianca, a home.
"I already have a car," said Wilfork at the time. "A house is my main concern right now. Getting familiar with the area and that is it."
Brown finished 2014 with 15 tackles for losses along with 6 1/2 sacks, showing a lot of potential and he's the type of player who looks like he could be poised to make contributions in the Patriots defense heading into 2015, which is certainly good news for a team that heads into a new era without a player who has been such a big part of their defense since Wilfork was drafted in 2004.
The parallels certainly are there when you look at Brown's personal life and his size, and Wilfork obviously went on to have quite a career here in New England. Now Brown has big shoes to fill, but he looks like a guy who could definitely do it. He admitted it won't be easy, but he's ready to get to work.
"I know nothing comes easy," said Brown. "I know I'm going to have to work for everything I want, and I'm prepared to give it my all and work for that. I'm just ready to go to work. I don't expect anything and I'm going to work for everything."
Sounds like a Patriot already.
BELICHICK HITTING THE RESET BUTTON:
With round one out of the way Belichick and his staff will reset and get ready for the next wave tonight when the draft continues. New England has one second round (64th overall) pick and two third round selections (96th and 97th overall) heading into Friday night, and Belichick admitted they'll have some interesting decisions to make.
"I think we’ll have to kind of recalibrate tomorrow and reset our board as if it’s the start of the draft," said Belichick. "Thirty-two names have been eliminated, some needs have been filled with other teams that have selected and kind of go through the same process. We’re in a little bit of a unique situation. We have those three picks around 100, whatever it is, 96, 97 and 101, whatever it is. We have those three picks there together, whether we want to, what that will look like or maybe those picks are movable, maybe they’re not, I don’t know. It’s kind of unusual to have three picks like that clustered together. We’ll have to talk about that situation."
"It’s still 60-some picks until we even get to that point, so there are a lot of ‘what ifs’ but we’ll just talk about that situation and look to where we’d be here in the second round here at 64. [It’s] kind of the same as tonight: a lot of teams are going to pick before we’re really even close to getting up to bat. We’ll do the best we can when we get our opportunity to go. But really treat it as three separate days; reset the board today and then reset the board for Saturday after we get through the second and third round."
ADDTIONAL NOTES:
- The selection of Brown marks the second straight year the Patriots have drafted two defensive line players in the first round. The last time they did that during the Bill Belichick era was in 2003 and 2004 when they drafted defensive end Ty Warren (2003) and Wilfork (2004), both of which ended with Championships. So far after drafting Dominique Easley last year they've already won one title. Hopefully the addition of Brown keeps the trend going.
- File this under "Did you Know?" - Looking over the list of players taken since 2000, I wasn't aware that Jarvis Green (4th round pick, 2002) was joined by a Louisiana State teammate when he was taken that year. New England surprised everyone with the selection of quarterback Rohan Davey, who was taken just months after Tom Brady had won the Patriots their first championship. Davey was drafted nine spots ahead of Green in the same round, although it was Green who went on to have the better career.
- The Patriots picked up defensive end Chandler Jones' 5th year option on Thursday, with the former 2012 draft pick now in the fold through 2016. Teams had until Sunday to exercise those options, and New England made the decision to lock up both Dont'a Hightower and Jones, both of whom are important parts of Belichick's defense.
- According to the Boston Herald, Running back Jonas Gray, defensive tackle Joe Vellano and punter Ryan Allen were on hand in Saugus last night at the Kowloon restaurant on Route 1 as celebrity guests for a draft party as the team made their first round pick. None of the three players were drafted themselves, and Jones talked about what it was like to go through the process. “In a lot of ways, I think that even if your name doesn’t get called, you still have an opportunity to intern in the NFL,” said Gray, who went undrafted out of Notre Dame. “And you’re like anybody else. It’s a clean slate. It’s about what you do when you get there. Sometimes the numbers don’t work in your favor. But I always told people that I had a vision, I had goals and I knew, and I was honest with myself about what it would take to get there. A lot of times I doubted myself, but I had a good support system, my Mom and my brother, and I just kept working. It worked out for me. These guys have a chance to enter the NFL in whatever capacity. But you have to make sure you continue to get your name called, even if it’s not called on draft day.”
- The Jets drafted former USC Defensive lineman Leonard Williams last night, and Williams talked about the fact he hopes that he can contribute to the rivalry between New York and New England. He also hopes his first sack comes against Tom Brady. "I know that's a big rivalry ... They have a lot of pictures up of Brady around the complex," said Williams via NJ.com. "I'm looking forward to a great matchup against him. I hope that he is my first sack of my career. Against Tom Brady." Since the two teams don't meet until Week 7 - that would be a long time to go without recording a sack for the number 6th overall pick.
