Patriots Pull Another Surprise, Select Stanford Safety Jordan Richards
You can never say Patriots head coach Bill Belichick is not a man of tradition.
The hoodie has made a habit of surprise selections at safety on the second day of the NFL draft, and 2015 was no different. With the final pick of the second round of the 2015 draft, the Patriots selection of Stanford safety Jordan Richards.
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The Patriots selected Tavon Wilson 48th overall in 2012 and Duron Harmon 91st overall in 2013, so the team has developed a trend of picking safeties no one has ever heard of on the second day of the draft.
Make no mistake; Richards has some very Patriots characteristics. NFL Network analyst Daniel Jeremiah said Richards is a “very smart safety’’ — although he was taken “maybe two rounds early.’’ Richards was a team captain at Stanford, another Belichickian trait.
He ran a 6.74-second three-cone drill, which was among the top five safeties at the 2015 Souting Combine. That’s at least one thing he has on Wilson and Harmon; at least Richards was invited to the combine.
“Playing defensive back, there’s a lot of different things, and it’s hard — people argue about translating the drills to the game, and it’s whatever,’’ Richards said. “It’s all part of the process, but being successful as a safety is just a product of knowing the defense and knowing your assignment and alignment and your eye progression and stuff like that. That’s the stuff that I really care about.’’
NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein projected Richards as a sixth- or seventh-round pick, and as with most players projected to be drafted that late, Richards has obvious limitations. His perceived strengths are his range and physicality in run support, but he’s not regarded as a solid coverage safety. He doesn’t have the speed to cover all over the field, but he has the instincts and football intelligence to help him get a jump on plays he may not otherwise be able to make. He notched three interceptions in each of the past three years.
This pick may not be good news for Wilson, who has carved out a niche for himself on special teams due to his inability to get on the field on defense over the first three years of his career. Wilson may not be long for the roster.
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