The New England Patriots ended their streak of adding offensive players on Saturday, with the club adding a safety to their defense to begin day three.
New England selected Cal safety Craig Woodson with the 106th overall selection in round four, which adds some speed to a group that certainly had some issues in 2024.
He’s definitely an impressive player. Woodson was a key member of the Golden Bears’ defense, finishing last season with 70 tackles, along with 7 passes defended, and two interceptions.
While New England has Kyle Dugger and Jabrill Peppers among their group of safeties, they don’t necessarily have the same speed they’ve had previously. Woodson provides more of the athletic type of player they lacked in 2024 in the middle of the field, which has been a problem they’ve been trying to overcome since the retirement of Devin McCourty.
He also provides some versatility, having played a variety of places in the secondary in college. He ran a 4.45 40 at the Combine, and his selection adds both youth and speed, as well as leadership from a player who was a two-year captain during his time in college.
His addition adds competition to a group that, at times last season, didn’t play up to their expectations. Just like other positions on the roster, Vrabel is operating like a guy who isn’t playing any favorites as he’s been rebuilding this roster. So far, he’s been raising the bar when it comes to his expectations heading into both the upcoming minicamps and training camp, which has been the theme to this point.
Having already talked about creating competition at all positions, that’s indeed been his approach to this point. So far, he’s continued adding guys who will put some additional pressure on potential current starters and possibly set up some surprises by the end of the summer.
With more picks still to come, the tone has been set and if the current approach continues, it will certainly make the upcoming selections that much more intriguing.
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Ian Logue is a Seacoast native and owner and senior writer for PatsFans.com, an independent media site covering the New England Patriots and has been running this site in one form or another since 1997.
