Oklahoma wide receiver Kenny Stills could start at flanker for New England in 2013. (Photo: US Presswire)
NEPD Editor: Matthew Jones
The New England Patriots made four picks on the second day of the 2013 NFL Draft, but still hold four picks as the draft’s third day approaches. Here’s a look at some of the top offensive prospects remaining.
WR Quinton Patton, Louisiana Tech
Patton drew first-round consideration at some point in the process and continues to make sense here; he’d be an ideal flanker in New England’s offense, with Danny Amendola manning the slot and Aaron Dobson as the split end.
WR Kenny Stills, Oklahoma*
Stills has everything you’d hope for in a starting wide receiver; the fact that he’s still available could be due to concerns about his ability to fit into an NFL locker room. He’s the type of receiver who will take a huge hit and hang onto the ball.
WR Da’Rick Rogers, Tennessee Tech*
If the Patriots were interested in another big-bodied receiver, someone like Rogers makes a ton of sense; New England could field a fearsome five-wide formation with Rogers, Dobson, Gronkowski, Hernandez, and either Ridley or Amendola.
WR Ryan Swope, Texas A&M
Ryan Swope tested better than most people expected him to, and he has all the polish that you look for in a wide receiver prospect; he’d be a great option at this point. He wouldn’t have been much of a reach in the second round, either.
OL Barrett Jones, Alabama
Jones can play all over, so if New England is looking for someone to solidify their offensive line, this may very well be their man. Jones would fit best as a replacement for Dan Connolly, but could do whatever the Patriots want him to.
RB Andre Ellington, Clemson
New England could do a lot of creative things with Ellington; I loved when Clemson would throw a screen pass and then tap it towards a hard-charging Ellington. He would have been worth it in the third round despite the running back depth.
RB Johnathan Franklin, UCLA
Franklin can do a little bit of everything: pass protect, make smart reads, catch the ball; it comes as a surprise that he’s still available at this point. He needs to add additional bulk, but at this point in the draft he’d represent an excellent value.
RB Mike Gillislee, Florida
Gillislee would be an attractive addition to New England’s stable of running backs; he’s the type of slippery, responsible back the Patriots seem to admire. He could help alleviate the dropoff caused by Danny Woodhead’s departure.
RB Marcus Lattimore, South Carolina*
It’s entirely possible that Brandon Bolden has made it into Bill Belichick’s doghouse, so one possibility would be to trade him for a mid-round pick; if they do, an intriguing risk such as Lattimore could make sense. He’d rotate in for Stevan Ridley.
QB Tyler Bray, Tennessee*
If New England wants to duplicate the Ryan Mallett experiment, they could try drafting Tyler Bray, who has the tools to develop into a solid starter. Mallett could be traded for a future second-round pick, possibly to a team like Cleveland or Jacksonville.
Check out the top remaining defensive prospects as well!
Tags: 2013 NFL Draft, New England Patriots, NFL
I like Lattimore as a redshirt guy.
If the Pats have soured on Bolden and are looking for a power back, FB Zach Line (6’0″/232) of SMU runs with power and has more elusiveness than expected. He also pass-blocks well and catches the ball very well. Projected as 7th/UDFA.
The Pats may go with a RB, i like Andre Ellington Clemson
Stills, WR
Patton, WR
Rogers, WR
Jones, OL
Lattimore, RB
Was watching the draft and one guy says that Belichick likes two for one trades and would probably trade a one steak dinner for year old crackers if he could get two boxes of them.
LMAO
In reality, best way to look at draft is to predetermine whether the team would be better served by getting two “really good” players (trading up), three to four “pretty good” players (standing pat), hoping for more “possible” players (trading back) or some combination of the above. Simplified I know but this view seems to be overlooked by teams and fans alike as they spend their draft points without a seemingly rational game plan and instead hope to hit the home run on every pick. As Spock would say…to maximize an event one needs to be rational and have an executeable game plan…which can be argued is not always the case, as the Pats entire legacy rests on the shoulders of one lucky pick in Brady. Funny how that made upper management geniuses in the eyes of the sports writers. Ever notice how the Pats won with the players drafted by their previous coach and coached by their current caches? For the Pats to win they need more top notch coaches similar to their offensive line coach or better drafting skills like their previous coach, who by the way is building a powerhouse in Seattle. Otherwise they will just have to wait until they get lucky with another pick or two.
Ummm. Seems to me that the Pats have continued to win the regular season quite handily, gotten into several AFCCGs and the SB twice. At least three of their recent post-season losses could be attributed to last-minute injuries to a key player – Welker and then Gronk twice. And their two SB losses could have gone the other way with just any one of several plays being successful.
I mean, there IS always an element of luck at work in football because the ball bounces unpredictably.
Trade the three seventh round picks to move up in the draft. I would try try and draft Rogers and Stills.
Rogers needs to be the guy. Character concern aside could be the best WR in the draft. Has to intrigue Bill he loves projects. It would be nice to draft another WR and just maybe not have to draft another one high next year.
BB will outsmart everybody Leon Sandcastle
He has already outsmarted you into thinking he is a defensive genius despite his bottom three league defensive ranking three years in a row.
AND into thinking he knows how to draft when all his super bowl wins were with players selected by his predecessor. Since he as been picking the groceries, you have as many SB victories as him.
umm we werent bottom three worst defenses, we were in the middle of the pack of the nfl in points allowed which is all that really matters.
Yeah….except that he’s won more regular season games than anyone, 2 AFC championships, and the AFC East every single year that Brady wasn’t hurt (when they won 11 games with a “high-school” QB).
All this moaning and groaning over the whole draft is ridiculous. Want to complain about #91? Me too. I hate it. Seems like a big FU to the whole draft to waste a 3rd on a guy you could have gotten with a 7. Plenty of guys left who could make the roster or at least have a high ceiling. Terrible pick. We’d be so much better with Sanders.
But if you don’t target your criticism at Bill’s annual arrogant pick, you’re just being silly. Same goes for mensa-guy above.
“AND into thinking he knows how to draft when all his super bowl wins were with players selected by his predecessor. Since he as been picking the groceries, you have as many SB victories as him.”
And that predecessor won how many games with those players? Oh that’s right, his team got worse every season before he was fired and moved onto college football. As for Parcells, you could make the same argument that he didn’t win anything after Belichick left his side.
Bill was within minutes of winning two other Super Bowls with his own picked core. So yeah, he’s not too bad, you reactionary, spoiled, (seemingly) ignorant FAN.
Did Jerry Jones break into the Pats draft room and make that last pick???????
One of these guys in the 4th would be great:
Patton WR
Rogers WR
Swope WR
Jones OL
D Rick Rogers for that edge and toughness, but love Kenny Stills also tough as hell! Maybe QB/WR Denard Robinson who back to good health.
error is back to good health .
QB Matt Barkley had 1st round grades or Tyler Bray
I’d add Josh Boyce to this list–quick, fast, agile, physical receiver. Not the biggest player, but definitely a dynamic option in the slot, with a bit of outside potential.
They won’t pick any of these players. Rutgers Rutger rutgers . They were a crapy team and now we will pick the rest of their crappy players because of his son well we no now his sin is no genius
What about Jesse Williams?
Nevermind, just read offense… My bad
It’s gotta be Patton or Lattimore
Chris Harper!
I’d like it.
OTOH, Mark Harrison is from ……. Rutgers.