Belichick: ‘Never really worry' about initial draft position

Share

Draft preparations have been underway for certain members of the Patriots organization for some time now. But at this point, it's closer to an all-hands-on-deck scenario.

Case in point, Bill Belichick has already traveled to the Senior Bowl in order to get a closer look at several dozen draft-eligible prospects. His team doesn't have a first-round selection this season due to penalties for his team's alleged involvement in an illegal football-deflation scheme during last year's AFC title game, but he explained on Wednesday that that won't necessarily change how the team assesses potential picks.

"We never really worry about where we are or aren't located initially," Belichick told WEEI's Dale and Holley show. "If you're picking in the top-10, which we rarely are but we've had a couple of situations where that was the case, I think you evaluate players a little bit differently. We have different choices. We've moved up, we've moved down. I still think you have to evaluate all the players.

"Obviously we're not going to be moving into the top-five or top-10. That's never the case when you're picking in the late 20s and 30s but there's opportunities to move in the draft, so we go through the process and evaluate them all. However it turns out, it turns out. We want to be prepared for all of them all around.

"This year we have more picks in the latter part of the draft. As we get closer to the end part of the process, we want to make sure we've thoroughly done our homework in that area, but at this point we're not looking to exclude any part aspect of it. That's where we normally are at this point in time."

Another popular college all-star game -- the East-West Shrine Game -- has already taken place, and the Patriots surely had plenty of eyeballs fixated on the action there. (Former Patriots offensive coordinator Charlie Weis coached the East squad and former Patriots receiver Troy Brown was that group's receivers coach.) 

At the Senior Bowl, since the Patriots don't have a game to prepare for, the team had the opportunity to send more representatives, including Belichick himself. It's an event that may not get as much as the NFL Scouting Combine, which will occur next month, but it can be more instructive of a player's on-the-field performance. 

"Good thing about the Senior Bowl is that you have somewhere in the neighborhood of 90 players, most of whom are gonna be drafted, certainly a high percentage of them will be drafted," Belichick said. "I imagine all of them will be in NFL camps next year either as draft choices or free agents. That's a large chunk of players. And their playing football against each other so the competition is relatively equal, which is a lot different from the combine where it's a few workout drills and those types of things. It's a totally different situation.

"But again the football part is valuable, seeing these guys work against each other, and they're competing because they're trying to help themselves and look good in this environment. It's good to see.

"The East-West game. The Senior Bowl. Factor that in with what they've done with their respective schools and systems that they are well prepped for, well-versed in, have had a lot of opportunities to practice. [It's] different than an all-star game, but I think there are different values in each of those experiences. In an all-star game everybody starts from scratch. They're all learning a new system if you will. That's what they're all gong to be doing in a few months when they go to a new team anyway. There are a lot of good things to see in each of those evaluation opportunities. We'll try to put it all together and figure it out the best we can."

As it currently stands, the Patriots will make their first selection of the 2016 draft at pick No. 60 overall in the second round. They also own selection No. 92 in the third round. After that, they have picks in the fourth round, sixth round and two in the seventh round.

According to the NFL's punishment of the Patriots, the team can maneuver up into the first round by trading for a first-round pick, but the they will be forced to use only the lower of their two picks. Because the Patriots would be slotted in at pick No. 29 given their finish as the AFC runners-up this season, they have the potential to draft anywhere from No. 29-No. 32 in the first round.

Contact Us