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(PHOTO: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports) Heading into the first round of Thursday night’s NFL Draft, the hope was that the Patriots would be able to come away with an impact player, especially for a team that needed to bounce back from a disappointing 2022 season.
They ended up doing just that, as well as adding some additional currency that will potentially even help them in the coming days as they continue building their roster.
After making a deal with the Steelers to trade back three spots from #14 to #17, the Patriots also came away with a fourth-round pick (#120 overall) while still being able to select Oregon cornerback Christian Gonzalez, who was one of the top prospects at the positions and a player who will hopefully contribute to their defense right away.
That roll of the dice worked out in their favor, and they managed to hurt a division rival in the process. The move allowed Pittsburgh to jump in front of the Jets, who were sitting at #15, and take Georgia tackle, Broderick Jones. With tackle being an area of need for the Jets, it seemingly cost them a player who may have been on their radar.
Player of Personnel Director Matt Groh was asked about that in his post-draft press conference, and the mention of it brought quite the smile to his face, which may have revealed there was some thought that went into the move to help ensure it worked out in more ways than one.
“We keep tabs on all the teams, not just our division rivals,” said Groh when asked about the move. “With the trade that transpired here this week [the Jets acquiring Aaron Rodgers], the Jets going from right in front of us to right behind us certainly shifted things. And then for us to kind of jump right behind them and give Pittsburgh the opportunity to come up and select the player who they selected, which when you make these trades, you don’t know who the other team is coming up for but again we try and do our research and try and have a feeling as far as positionally what a team might be looking for.”
“That’s Steve Cargile and his team really working hard on the team needs,” continued Groh. “We’ve got all that posted in the draft room, and try and be cognisant of what the teams are looking for. So, maybe had an idea of what maybe Pittsburgh was looking for, certainly didn’t know if that was going to be accurate, and then certainly didn’t know what player it was going to be. But there started to be a bit of a run there on the tackles. That position group was thinning out. If you wanted one of those guys, you have to come up and get them.”
The Jets didn’t and instead ended up taking Iowa State defensive end Will McDonald at #15.
Meanwhile, with Washington opting to take Mississippi State’s Emmanuel Forbes, it opened the door for the Patriots to take Gonzalez one pick later.
Looking at the film, Gonzalez is a terrific athlete who doesn’t shy away from contact and is tremendously athletic, At 6’1”, 197lbs, he’s also got great size, which is something they’ve been missing and he rounds out a secondary that also has Jonathan Jones, Jack Jones, and Marcus Jones, with Gonzalez adding to what’s quickly becoming a solid nucleus for the future.
As for the selection itself, Groh said his staff and the coaches had a consensus on Gonzalez, which made the process of switching gears after the trade pretty easy. He explained that the club did have other players on their radar, but when it was clear Gonzalez would be available, everyone was on the same page.
For now, heading into days two and three, Groh believes the remaining pool of players is “well-balanced” and with the extra selection and the other picks they have, they still may move around if the opportunity presents itself.
“I think it’s still fairly well-balanced. I think we’re the 15th pick here in the second round,” said Groh. “Those fourth-round picks does give us a little bit of currency. We’ll have to take a little more in-depth look here in the morning. We’ll regroup, look at some of these players that we’ve got, go through a couple different scenarios as a staff and do our best to plot it out here for the second and third round just like we did in the lead-up here for the first round.”
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