The New England Patriots made a surprising pick late in the third round of the 2020 NFL Draft. They traded up to get Dalton Keene, a Virginia Tech tight end, with the 101st overall pick after selecting Devin Asiasi, another tight end, just 10 picks earlier.
While Keene was expected to be a Day 3 pick, the Patriots took him early. And it's easy to see why. Keene has been described as big, athletic, versatile and tough. He's a hard worker who should fit in well with the Patriots, as his former coaches indicated in recent interviews.
If you don't want to take the coach's word for it since they do have some element of bias given their ties to Keene, that's understandable. But NFL talent evaluators? Their opinions surely matter.
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As Jeff Howe of The Athletic outlined in a recent story, Keene received a lot of pre-draft praise from evaluators. Notably, a member of the New Orleans Saints organization had this quote about the Virginia Tech product's film.
Dalton, I’ve got to tell you, out of all the film I’ve watched this year of all these guys, you are the biggest d*** on the field. And I mean that as a compliment.
That certainly is a compliment in the world of football. And another team also praised Keene's toughness, motor, and his willingness to do the dirty work for the Hokies.
New England Patriots
Your Miami film looked great. You had three touchdowns, but you sold me when you were on the backside of a screen, blocked the linebacker out of bounds, and then you waited for him to come back inbounds so you could hit him again.
The intangible toughness Keene offers clearly intrigued teams in the lead-up to the 2020 NFL Draft. And perhaps that's why the Patriots elected to pick him on the early side; they wanted to guarantee they would have that toughness and tight end/H-back versatility on their roster.
It will be interesting to see how quickly Keene can work himself into Bill Belichick's good graces. But if he's willing to work hard as a blocker much like he did in college, then he should get on the field early in his Patriots career.