Bill Belichick talked about how he may approach the 2019 NFL Draft
The Patriots currently own 12 draft picks.
Bill Belichick said at Gillette Stadium Wednesday there is “no set goal in mind as to how many picks to have or what to do with them” ahead of the NFL Draft, which takes place April 25-27 in Nashville, Tennessee.
The Patriots currently own 12 draft picks, including three picks in the third round. The team was granted four compensatory picks by the NFL in February: two in round three, one in round six, and another in round seven. Belichick says he isn’t sure whether or not he’ll be using them all.
“I don’t know that that necessarily means that they will or won’t be there on draft weekend,” Belichick said. “We’ll see how all of that goes. Just evaluate situations as they come up and try to make the best decisions we can for the football team.”
One of the Patriots’ most-anticipated needs in the draft is at tight end. Rob Gronkowski’s retirement leaves a hole in the position impossible for Belichick to immediately fill. He said there is no finding the next star player through the draft, and all the Patriots can do is identify who will benefit the team now and in the future.
Belichick listed a number of past Patriots stars across different positions: Mike Vrabel, Ted Washington, Deion Branch, and Vince Wilfork, among others.
“None of them are in this draft class,” he said. “So we’ll look at this draft class or whatever other players are available and make the decision that we feel like will benefit our football team in 2019 and beyond.”
Belichick dismissed the notion that turnover at defensive coordinator and within the Patriots coaching ranks will affect scouting or drafting defensive players this year. After the Super Bowl, de-facto defensive coordinator Brian Flores departed to take the Dolphins’ head coaching job and took a number of defensive coaches with him.
Flores’s immediate successor, Greg Schiano, did not last long. The former Rutgers head coach announced he would step down from the Patriots’ defensive role on March 28, before he was ever formally announced by the team.
“Well, I mean, we’re not talking about an unprecedented event here,” Belichick said when asked if Schiano’s departure affects how the team scouts or prepares for the NFL Draft. “Yeah, we’ve dealt with changes before. We’ll continue to deal with them.”
Belichick said when adjusting to new standards across the league, coaches usually identify what type of players gave teams trouble throughout the year and determine what type of players are needed on the roster to counteract it. An example: Belichick said the standard sizes of linemen when he first started coaching with the Giants in 1985 pale in comparison to today’s linemen.
“So, it’s changed and our standards have changed, but again, relatively speaking, you’re still evaluating what a player’s total performance is going to be, not just the standards.”
