First...
Isaiah Wynn and Sony Michel. Uhhhhh, not the first-round combo platter I was expecting.
Nor was anyone else. The Patriots, in general, won’t tell nobody nothing about nothing. But that’s not the only reason their draft targets are almost impossible to predict.
Since they are almost always picking in the latter part of the first round, they are at the mercy of the teams in front of them. And the equation changes over and over and over again to the point where we are all just doing a more educated version of the Felger & Mazz Big Board routine.
There’s your disclaimer. So when I say that I like the Isaiah Wynn pick and really look forward to watching Sony Michel, don’t give me the “Well, why didn’t you say that before the draft, big nose?!”
Watch Wynn work against Oklahoma and Alabama a few months ago. He’s a precise mauler in the running game, he logs stalemate after stalemate in the passing game, he’s never off-balance and he finishes. Just a very good player against very good competition.
The question is whether Wynn is a guard or a tackle because he’s stubby for an NFL left tackle at just under 6-foot-3 with 33 1/2-inch arms.
New England Patriots
Nate Solder is 6-8 with 35 1/2 wings. Matt Light was just under 6-foot-5 and also had 33 1/2-inch arms.
The height and arm length matter because the initial punch delivered by an offensive lineman in pass protection should stun the rusher and keep him at bay. If the rusher has longer arms, he can minimize the impact of the punch or use a “long arm” or “hump move” to get his hands on the offensive lineman and dictate how things will go that play (check out this fun Ringer story for examples).
The tradeoff with Wynn is that he’s got outstanding feet and power.
We all agreed before the draft that offensive tackle was a need. Useful backup La’Adrian Waddle and last year’s third-rounder, Antonio Garcia are in the mix already. So is undrafted second-year player Cole Croston. So the Patriots took a player who doesn’t fit the suit but is probably a better offensive lineman than all of them.
And if, for example, Garcia works out, Wynn can play guard. I did not enjoy the 2017 Joe Thuney Experience. He gets walked back into Tom Brady’s lap far too often at left guard. Meanwhile, right guard Shaq Mason – a good player the team developed out of Georgia Tech – is in the final year of his contract and will probably be one of the best guards on the market if he chooses to go there.
The Patriots traded for Trent Brown, a 2015 seventh-rounder and part-time starter at left tackle.
We’ll see on that but it’s not like he’s Anthony Munoz out there.
Last note on Wynn, he tore his labrum against Kentucky and had surgery in January but says he’ll be good to go for minicamp in June.
As for Michel, who doesn’t love watching ballhandling talent? It’s just that the Patriots have been at the forefront of MacGyvering a running game out of spare parts so spending a first-rounder on a guy was – I thought – anathema to them. But the guy looks on some runs like he runs about a 3.1, he catches the ball well and he’s going to be fun to watch. He’s played in huge games and is a two-time captain.
Having lost Dion Lewis to free agency, Michel is a better replacement for his production that the guys on the roster. But, as I pointed out, the Patriots have nickel-and-dimed the position for a decade and gotten good production so when they spend a quarter there it makes you raise an eyebrow.
And 5 ...
1. Mike Florio did a very thorough job this morning paddling the media criers that kept bugling the Patriots great interest in Lamar Jackson.
“There’s so much bullcrap being peddled to reporters who are under so much pressure to fill the void between free agency and the draft with news that it’s really all just noise. Yes, we pass the noise along (we have to fill the void, too), but we do so by adding the caveat that, with so much smoke, it’s nearly impossible to find the fire...On Thursday night, the Patriots had two cracks at Jackson, and they didn’t take him. At pick 31, they opted for a running back — a running back! — over a five-year commitment from the potential successor to Tom Brady. Running backs are anywhere, everywhere. Quarterbacks that may revolutionize the game while also replacing one of the best players in NFL history are hard to find.” I liked the idea of Jackson. I gave credence to the idea that the Patriots might like to add the kind of player they have so much trouble stopping. But the idea that repeated meetings with Jackson were smoking-gun evidence they really loved him was dense. If you like the guy, you like him. You don’t keep going back to talk to him unless something’s bugging you about his potential.
2. Which brings us to the amount of contact the Patriots had with Wynn and Michel. With Wynn, it was just the Combine. Everything else, obviously was researched by the Patriots scouts led by Monti Ossenfort. Same with Michel. Neither player spoke with the Patriots at the Georgia Pro Day. Neither was in Foxboro for a visit. So it’s all legwork. And with both players, it didn’t seem like character was an issue. Michel was a two-time captain. Wynn was about the happiest, friendliest sumbitch you’ve ever heard on his conference call. Meanwhile, the team gets references from former teammates like center David Andrews and wide receiver Malcolm Mitchell who both played with Wynn and Michel at Georgia. Not to mention scouting reports from SEC friendlies like Nick Saban.
3. The Patriots reportedly coveted Arkansas center Frank Ragnow who was scooped up by Detroit at No. 20, making him the first pick of the Matt Patricia regime. Meanwhile, Tennessee leaped ahead of the Patriots to grab linebacker Rashaan Evans from Alabama who would have been a neat fit in New England. Two things. First, if the Patriots did chase Ragnow...why? They have a capable center in team captain David Andrews, who is signed through 2020. I get this idea of not drafting for need and taking the best player on the board and all but Wynn – even with his height concerns – at least projects as a two-position guy at positions of need. Second, the Belichick-Caserio spawn populating front offices and sidelines is a growing obstacle for the team as they chase players with similar skills.
4. I love football. I appreciate the men who can play it at the level they do because I’ve been entertained by it for 42 years and have made a living off of it for more than 20. Players – especially this generation of players – understand the long-term risks and the potential for sudden catastrophic injury. All that said, watching Ryan Shazier make his way across the stage in Dallas last night, I had two thoughts. The first was, “Look at what this game can do to you.” The second was that Shazier’s presence was as much a cautionary tale for the young men being ushered into the league as it was a celebration of his rehabilitation progress. The head-lowering rule the NFL swept into reality last month used the Shazier tackle as an example of what not to do on the football field because of the danger it poses to the practitioner as much as to the recipient. I’m of course happy Shazier’s progressing as he is. His presence was both triumphant and wrenching. We were looking at a person who – months ago – was in the highest percentile of physical ability of anyone on the planet needing assistance to walk across a stage. This is a helluva dangerous sport and these young men do indeed sign up for it (with an immense amount of societal pressure). That’s all I have on that.
5. Quarterback. Safety. And a friggin linebacker today. Stop with the "I don't know what drafting for 'need' means..."