FOXBOROUGH, Massachusetts — Every spring every NFL team has plenty of comings and goings. But for New England Patriots fans still basking in the glory of a Super Bowl XLIX victory and their team’s fourth Lombardi Trophy, there has certainly seemed to be a lot more, and more significant goings this spring.
After helping transform the Patriots’ pass defense for a season, Darrelle Revis took the money and ran back to the hated Jets. His one-year pass-defending cohort, Brandon Browner, joined the Saints. Nose tackle Vince Wilfork was allowed to walk away, taking his talents to Texas. And the running back duo of Stevan Ridley and Shane Vereen ended up taking the free-agent cash in New York from the Jets and Giants, respectively.
The Patriots signed some would-be replacements in former Saints running back Travaris Cadet as well as veteran cornerbacks Bradley Fletcher (Eagles) and Robert McClain (Falcons). But none did much to pique the interest of fans, many of whom see their team with plenty of holes to fill come draft weekend.
Armed with nine picks overall, including five in the top 101 selections, head coach Bill Belichick has the ammunition to be his usual active self throughout the three-day talent acquisition process — moving up, down and all around will be a possibility from the first round all the way through the final pick.
But according to Patriots director of player personnel Nick Caserio, the team may not have as many slots for adding talent as some may believe.
“We’re excited about the opportunity here to find some payers that we hope can improve our team,” Caserio said in his pre-draft press conference of where the defending Super Bowl champs stand heading into draft weekend. “There are not as many spots as there have been in the past, just from our overall roster standpoint. I think we’re at like 73, right around near 73, 74. I think in years past, we’ve been a little bit lower, but the roster is a little more full relative to where we are in the overall process. Right now we have nine picks.”
While it would appear the Patriots’ biggest need heading into the draft is cornerback — ahead of spots like guard, defensive tackle, running back, wide receiver and linebacker — Caserio seems to put some stock into the veterans the team added as well as returning young talent like Super Bowl Malcolm Butler.
“I think we’ve added some players, I’d say, across positions that have experience in the league, that have played a number of snaps,” Caserio responded when asked specifically about the cornerback position after the loss of Revis and Browner. “The players that we added to the team, we brought them here for a reason because we think they can help. Obviously we’re going to let the competition sort itself out. We’ll have a better idea here once we get a little bit further down the road.”
Regardless of what transpires on draft weekend, Belichick’s Tom Brady-led team that still includes the likes of tight end Rob Gronkowski, wide receiver Julian Edelman, linebacker Jamie Collins, defensive end Chandler Jones and an impressive core of returning talent will be a contender to open the 2015 season.
But 2014 saw New England go from contender — reaching its fourth straight AFC title game — to Super Bowl champion for the first time in more than a decade.
To do that again there is a good chance that Belichick, Caserio and the rest of the personnel staff will have to make things happen on draft weekend to continue to supplement an already talented roster.
“I think we feel the players that are in this locker room, some have played a lot of football for us, some are in earlier stages of their development, and then we have some other players from other teams who we’ve acquired that have a lot of experience, but we’re not sure how they’re really going to fare in our system,” Caserio said. “If we had to go out there and play today, we could play. But the season doesn’t start today, so we’ll continue to build the team and try to do what we think is best for the organization.”
Best fit: CB Marcus Peters, Washington
Assuming the Patriots can come to grips with Peters’ dismissal from the Washington team last fall, he’s the perfect fit for New England’s needs in the secondary. Peters just might be the top cornerback in terms of skill in the draft. He’s capable of playing press-man coverage and competing for a starting job as a rookie for a secondary that has to fill two starting jobs at cornerback this summer.