The NFL Draft is officially in the books. After entering the week with 11 picks, the Patriots ultimately used nine as a pair of trades up helped the team land offensive tackle Caleb Lomu and edge rusher Gabe Jacas in the first two rounds.
The focus here on Pats Pulpit has been all draft talk. For anything that fell through the cracks, let’s clean out the notebook. Welcome to this week’s edition of our Sunday Patriots Notes.
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Priority on tackles
Patriots EVP of Player Personnel Eliot Wolf knows how important offenisve tackles are — and how hard they are to come by.
In his first season as de facto GM in 2024, Wolf’s Patriots had a revolving door at both tackle spots. Free agent addition Chuks Okorafor lasted just one game before leaving the team. Third-round draft pick Caedan Wallace struggled to switch sides before starting just two games due to injury.
New England was primarily forced to rely on Vederian Lowe and Demontrey Jacobs, who was claimed off of waivers prior to the season, throughout the year. Guard Mike Onwenu also filled in at right tackle for multiple starts.
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The results were as expected. The Patriots’ offensive line ranked among the league’s worst as the team won just four games.
“Very challenging,” Wolf said Saturday about finding quality tackles. “I would say most of my career, you always think you’re going to have enough once the training camp or preseason hits, and you don’t.”
The following offseason, Wolf and company attached the tackle spot. They signed Morgan Moses to a three-year deal in free agency before using the No. 4 overall pick on Will Campbell. New England also double-dipped at the position, selecting Marcus Bryant in the seventh round.
Even with improved results last season, the work was not done.
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In the first-round of the 2026 NFL Draft, the Patriots traded up to select offensive tackle Caleb Lomu. The Utah product does not project to start with Campbell and Moses in place, but adds valuable swing tackle depth and a potential successor to Moses down the line.
“I’m really excited about this player,” Wolf said. He’s young, he’s experienced, he’s athletic, he’s a great kid. Frankly, I was a little surprised that he was still available, and that’s why we decided to move up a little bit.”
For the second straight year, the Patriots then double-dipped at the position in the draft, selecting Texas A&M’s Dametrious Crownover in the sixth round.
“It is a premium position in our league, the pool of players that can play the position is relatively small and you can never have enough depth I think there,” vice president of player personnel Ryan Cowden said. “The emphasis we want to talk about or that we do talk about in protecting the quarterback, it starts up front.”
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“Having obviously Caleb [Lomu], but having the opportunity to draft a guy with the experience of Dametrious Crownover at that point in the draft was pretty important to us,” Wolf added.
Lomu and Crownover will join a crowded offensive tackle room in New England. Beyond Campbell and Moses, Bryant and veteran James Hudson entered the weekend as the primary depth options.
The Patriots view that as a good problem to have.
“If I would want a room to be crowded, I’ll take that as being one room that’s crowded,” Cowden said. “We don’t ever know what’s going to happen tomorrow, the next day, so that’s why you stick to a concept of the best player available when you pick, even if it, today, looks crowded. That’s not going to maybe be the same in a week, two weeks or by the time we get the training camp.
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“Those guys go in a room and compete. And when you take the best player, sometimes it may look crowded on the front end, but those tend to have a way of working out.”
No contact
Earlier this week, head coach Mike Vrabel announced he would not be with the team on Day 3 of the draft in order to seek counseling with his family. That came shortly before the New York Post released more photos of Vrabel with former Athletic reporter Dianna Russini from 2020.
While Vrabel was originally expected to have some sort of communication with the team on Saturday, they ultimately made the decision Friday night that Vrabel would not be in contact with the draft room.
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“[Friday] night we kind of talked through things and made the decision that the time away really needs to be time away, so we were not in contact with Mike today other than some just, ‘Hope everything’s going OK’ kind of texts early this morning,” Eliot Wolf shared.
Wolf noted that things were “buinsess as usual” on Day 3, which is a big day for scouts to shine, while Ryan Cowden praised the team’s preparation in order to operate in a normal manner.
At 6-foot-6, 245 pounds with a tremendous athletic profile, Eli Raridon has the makings to be a true in-line tight end during his career. That all-around skillset is one he takes pride in, especially as he models his game after perhaps the best three-down tight end in football.
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“I’ve looked up to George Kittle a lot; just love how he can do both things extremely well, love the way he blocks, love his mentality of playing the game, and obviously he makes great plays in the passing game as well. And that’s someone who I try to embody my game after,” Raridon said.
Special teams boost
With Day 3 typically a place to round out the roster, an emphasis is placed on the kicking game. Among the Patriots final selections, linebacker Namdi Obiazor and pass rusher Quintayvious Hutchins project as impact special teamers.
“Our special teams coaches took a look and had a lot of positives to say about Namdi’s projections as a special teams player. And that’s important at the linebacker position,” Ryan Cowden shared.
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As for Hutchins, a BC staff member described him as a “monster” core-four special teamer for the Eagles over the past few seasons. Eliot Wolf then noted Hutchins “stood out” on special teams while that part of his game was the first thing the 23-year old mentioned when asked to describe his greatest traits.
“You’re going to see a dynamic special teams player. My career started out with special teams,” he said.
Mike Smith’s impact
Patriots outside linebacker coach Mike Smith has been described as one of the more high energy coaches on staff. Wolf shared the coaches were “ecstatic” when they were able to select Gabe Jacas in the second round, which likely included Smith after he made a strong impression on the edge rusher during his pre-draft visit to the facility.
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“Just fell in love with the coaching staff, especially coach Mike Smith, outside linebacker coach there,” Jacas said. “And just his philosophy and his mindset on just the position, I just loved it, and I knew this team, if they were to get me, was going to be the right fit for me.”
He later added: “I’m so glad that I have coach Mike Smith, someone that I just speak highly of because of the way he presented himself, which is – that’s like my type of guy, my type of coach.”
Smith was busy on the Pro Day trail this draft season as the Patriots biggest need came along the edge. That included a stop up the road at Boston College, where he ran through an on-field workout with the Patriots’ eventual seventh-round pick Quintayvious Hutchins.
Scout shout
Three consecutive picks over rounds six and seven saw the Patriots take three players from Texas schools: OT Dametrious Crownover (Texas A&M), LB Namdi Obiazor (TCU), and QB Behren Morton (Texas Tech).
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With Eliot Wolf noting Day 3 is a big day for scouts, the trio of picks were likely influenced by Southwest Area Scout Alex Brooks. Wolf noted that National Scout Tucker Ingraham is the cross checker for that region, except for Texas Tech which was cross-checked by Casey Belongia.
“That was just kind of how it fell,” Wolf said. “Obviously, there’s a lot of good players in that part of the country, and we drafted three players from really good programs down there.”
Draft room
This draft marked the teams first inside their new draft room in the New Balance Athletics Center. The draft room featured more screens and technology in place of the old magnets, which made the process much easier for those in the room.
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“First of all, the flow was great,” Wolf said. “The technology is unbelievable, compared to the magnets that we used to have. There were a couple times during the draft where we were kind of talking about different players later in the draft. ‘Should we draft this guy? Should we draft that guy?’ You can actually pull up the film, click on the guy’s profile, pull up the film right there, watch his pro day, watch some key plays and just try to hone in on the right decision for us. So, all in all, it was tremendous.“
Setting up the week ahead
With the draft in the rearview mirror, the Patriots rookie class will not be on the field in Foxboro until rookie minicamp on May 8 through May 10. The veterans will be back in the building this week to continue the voluntary offseason program, although the availability of head coach Mike Vrabel is not yet known.
The Patriots will also announce this year’s team Hall of Fame Selection on Wednesday. Rob Gronkowski, Adam Vinatieri and Logan Mankins were the finalists.
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