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Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots addressed quarterback, running back, tight end, wide receiver, offensive lineman, linebacker and cornerback during the 2018 NFL draft – just not in that order. (Photo by Stan Grossfeld/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
Eight trades. Nine picks. One veteran acquisition. Three future assets.
The New England Patriots’ method of operation in the 2018 NFL draft shouldn’t have come as much of a surprise.
It was expectedly unexpected.
Head coach Bill Belichick and director of player personnel Nick Caserio didn’t trade out of the first round, instead heading to Georgia to take tackle-slash-guard Isaiah Wynn and running back Sony Michel at Nos. 23 and 31 overall. But the war room made up for standing pat when Friday night and Saturday afternoon kicked off.
There was no reprieve when it came to trades from the second round through the seventh.
The phone lines started ringing as the Patriots sent pick No. 95 to the San Francisco 49ers in exchange for right tackle Trent Brown and No. 143. They continued to ring as Belichick, Caserio and Co. reached out to old cohorts Bob Quinn and Matt Patricia and handed No. 43 from October’s Jimmy Garoppolo deal to the Detroit Lions for Nos. 51 and 117 overall.
Then, that second-rounder from Detroit was shipped to the Chicago Bears for No. 105 and a 2019 second-round pick. And not long after, New England moved No. 63 and that fourth-rounder from Detroit to another ex-Patriots executive in Jason Licht and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to jump up for Florida cornerback Duke Dawson at the No. 56 spot.
New England traded up to select Florida corner Duke Dawson in the middle of the draft’s second round. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images)
And that was only Friday.
Day 3 of the draft wouldn’t diverge from that course. By the time it was over, New England had signed off on nearly as many swaps as selections, and the most in franchise draft history.
Ones with the Lions, Cleveland Browns, Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles closed things out.
Draft-day maneuvers
- Sent No. 95 to San Francisco for Trent Brown and No. 143
- Sent No. 43 to Detroit for Nos. 51 and 117
- Sent No. 51 to Chicago for No. 105 and a 2019 second-round pick
- Sent No. 63 and No. 117 from Detroit to Tampa Bay for No. 56
- Sent No. 105 to Cleveland for Nos. 114 and 178
- Sent No. 114 to Detroit for a 2019 third-round pick
- Sent No. 198 to Kansas City for Nos. 233 and 243
- Sent No. 233 to Philadelphia for No. 250 and a 2019 seventh-round pick
“There’s no sense in kind of going through the trade recap,” Caserio told reporters after all 256 selections were in the books. “Hopefully, everybody wrote it down in pencil as you were going through the day. The net of all this movement essentially would be the third next year that we acquired from Detroit as an extra pick, and then the seventh, kind of at the end, was a little bit of a throw-in with the 2019 pick there from Philadelphia.”
Eighteen drafts in under Belichick, and roughly 70 draft-day trades, it’d be hard to say that those extra picks and throw-ins crossed the wire as a newfound occurrence.
But the fact New England created a 137-pick gap in the draft board caught the eye.
And by opening that gap, the organization suggested that it was content to punt on the middle rounds of prospects. No quarterback or linebacker would be taken late on Friday or early on Saturday. No defensive end would be at all.
All three were perceived as primary needs. In his pre-draft press conference two weeks back, however, Belichick said he didn’t “really understand” that “whole draft-need thing.”
Consider the 66-year-old coach a man of his word.
Being on the clock didn’t mean the right pick was on the vertical and horizontal boards – at least the Patriots’ actions suggested that. Perhaps New England was not as much a fan of the 2018 class as many of those on the outside looking in were. But not all the cans from this year’s draft could be kicked further down the road.
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Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots addressed quarterback, running back, tight end, wide receiver, offensive lineman, linebacker and cornerback during the 2018 NFL draft – just not in that order. (Photo by Stan Grossfeld/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
Eight trades. Nine picks. One veteran acquisition. Three future assets.
The New England Patriots’ method of operation in the 2018 NFL draft shouldn’t have come as much of a surprise.
It was expectedly unexpected.
Head coach Bill Belichick and director of player personnel Nick Caserio didn’t trade out of the first round, instead heading to Georgia to take tackle-slash-guard Isaiah Wynn and running back Sony Michel at Nos. 23 and 31 overall. But the war room made up for standing pat when Friday night and Saturday afternoon kicked off.
There was no reprieve when it came to trades from the second round through the seventh.
The phone lines started ringing as the Patriots sent pick No. 95 to the San Francisco 49ers in exchange for right tackle Trent Brown and No. 143. They continued to ring as Belichick, Caserio and Co. reached out to old cohorts Bob Quinn and Matt Patricia and handed No. 43 from October’s Jimmy Garoppolo deal to the Detroit Lions for Nos. 51 and 117 overall.
Then, that second-rounder from Detroit was shipped to the Chicago Bears for No. 105 and a 2019 second-round pick. And not long after, New England moved No. 63 and that fourth-rounder from Detroit to another ex-Patriots executive in Jason Licht and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to jump up for Florida cornerback Duke Dawson at the No. 56 spot.
New England traded up to select Florida corner Duke Dawson in the middle of the draft’s second round. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images)
And that was only Friday.
Day 3 of the draft wouldn’t diverge from that course. By the time it was over, New England had signed off on nearly as many swaps as selections, and the most in franchise draft history.
Ones with the Lions, Cleveland Browns, Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles closed things out.
Draft-day maneuvers
- Sent No. 95 to San Francisco for Trent Brown and No. 143
- Sent No. 43 to Detroit for Nos. 51 and 117
- Sent No. 51 to Chicago for No. 105 and a 2019 second-round pick
- Sent No. 63 and No. 117 from Detroit to Tampa Bay for No. 56
- Sent No. 105 to Cleveland for Nos. 114 and 178
- Sent No. 114 to Detroit for a 2019 third-round pick
- Sent No. 198 to Kansas City for Nos. 233 and 243
- Sent No. 233 to Philadelphia for No. 250 and a 2019 seventh-round pick
“There’s no sense in kind of going through the trade recap,” Caserio told reporters after all 256 selections were in the books. “Hopefully, everybody wrote it down in pencil as you were going through the day. The net of all this movement essentially would be the third next year that we acquired from Detroit as an extra pick, and then the seventh, kind of at the end, was a little bit of a throw-in with the 2019 pick there from Philadelphia.”
Eighteen drafts in under Belichick, and roughly 70 draft-day trades, it’d be hard to say that those extra picks and throw-ins crossed the wire as a newfound occurrence.
But the fact New England created a 137-pick gap in the draft board caught the eye.
And by opening that gap, the organization suggested that it was content to punt on the middle rounds of prospects. No quarterback or linebacker would be taken late on Friday or early on Saturday. No defensive end would be at all.
All three were perceived as primary needs. In his pre-draft press conference two weeks back, however, Belichick said he didn’t “really understand” that “whole draft-need thing.”
Consider the 66-year-old coach a man of his word.
Being on the clock didn’t mean the right pick was on the vertical and horizontal boards – at least the Patriots’ actions suggested that. Perhaps New England was not as much a fan of the 2018 class as many of those on the outside looking in were. But not all the cans from this year’s draft could be kicked further down the road.