If bb’s draft was based on contacts with players, I would expect us to take either green or ejoifor. And either Miller or McGlinchey.
It looks like bb is in the market for a qb and rb as well as a linebacker and safety.
Oddly, I would have expected more activity with cb prospects.
It's not, usually. Or at least, not in the way one might expect.
A lot of those contacts are obviously due diligence, but some of them are probably used to adjust their grades downward as often as upward, and even to eliminate prospects from the Pats board.
Also, the Pats aren't just comparing prospects with each other, but also with players who are already on the roster.
For several years, NEPD kept track of all the Pats pre-draft contacts and scrupulously verified them. I followed those lists religiously, and would even check their archives when the Pats acquired a UFA or traded for a player to see if they'd had pre-draft contact with the guy in a previous year (very frequently the case, btw).
Anyway, contact quantity/quality has never correlated well with actual selections. For example, the Pats typically have contact with 10-12 RBs every year, often including multiple OVs. And yet, since taking Maroney in 2006, BB has drafted only three RBs.
For another example, in 2010 the Pats had pre-draft contact with a relatively large number of DL, several of whom they had an opportunity to select (1-2 in every round). They ended up passing on all of them and taking Brandon Deaderick in the 7th (who was one of a few who had made an official visit).
In 2015 (the only archive that still shows up on the NEPD menu), the Pats had contact with 17 WR prospects - 15 private workouts and one OV - and selected zero. OTOH, they also had 16 contacts with OL, including private workouts with Shaq Mason and David Andrews. They had only a Combine interview with Tre Jackson, and drafted him anyway (ahead of Mason).
That year, they had pre-draft contact with 15 CBs, including private workouts with Justin Coleman, Darryl Roberts and Eric Rowe.
They also had 19 contacts with DL - OVs with Xzavier ****son (drafted in the 7th) and Darius Kilgo (claimed off waivers from Denver in November 2016), and a private workout with Angelo Blackson (waived by the Titans and signed to the Pats PSquad right after 2017 cutdowns in September - later poached by the Texans). They had only a Combine interview with Malcolm Brown, but selected him at #32.
OTOH, the Pats 2015 draft was actually very unusual in that they'd had some form of recorded pre-draft contact with
everyone they selected --- everyone
except Trey Flowers. It's often been the case that about half of the Pats selections in a draft have been prospects with whom they've had no
recorded contact.
For a couple of those earlier drafts, I had notes indicating that "Pats scouts in attendance at Shrine Game practices spoke with (so-and-so)", and they ended up drafting the guy or acquiring him later (Welker was actually one of those guys) even though they'd had no other recorded pre-draft contact with him. That's why the lack of noted Shrine Game contacts in this list leaves me wondering if there isn't a "surprise" prospect lurking somewhere in the Pat draft plans.
