PatsPropaganda

An Independent Patriots Blog

2019 PatsPropaganda Draft Big Board

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Welcome to year nine of the PatsPropaganda Top 50 Draft Big Board! As always, these are my 50 favorite Pats fits roughly in the order that I like them.

This year there are a few areas of near-critical need. Seeing the Pats jump up to take a wide receiver, tight end, tackle or even quarterback wouldn’t be all that surprising. For what feels like the first time in a long time, the Patriots need something out of their draft picks immediately.

That makes the prospect pool a fascinating one. I focused heavily on those four positions, along with the omnipresent need for defensive front seven players. There are a lot of talented fits who could add a jolt of energy to the Patriots just like Gronk did in 2010.

The goal here is to hit as many picks as possible. Therefore, top-15 picks, cornerbacks, interior linemen and running backs are taking a back seat this year. Let’s jump in and make up for last year’s atrocious 1-for-9 performance.

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Patriots Set 2019 Schedule

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The Patriots’ 2019 schedule was released last night, always a nice point in the offseason when we can start making our gameplans for the fall.

Let’s take a dive in and break down the key parts of the slate and how things stack up for the Pats.

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Patriots Add Needed Depth with Demaryius Thomas, Seferian-Jenkins

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As I wrote last week, I had a feeling there would be some more additions to the roster prior to the draft. The Patriots responded by re-signing Stephen Gostkowski as expected and adding tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins and wide receiver Demaryius Thomas.

Neither Seferian-Jenkins, a 2014 PatsProp Top 50 draft fave, nor Thomas will be handed roster spots, but they give the Patriots at least a baseline option at two positions of glaring need, and that makes them more likely than not to make the team at this point.

🎙️NEW POD🎙️@Trags welcomes in @PatsPropaganda to discuss the draft strategy for the #Patriots and some new additions to the team

LISTEN: https://t.co/9nChasDdmD— Patriots on CLNS (@PatriotsCLNS) April 17, 2019

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Patriots 2019 Preseason Set

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The Patriots got their preseason schedule for the summer and it’s about as Pats-friendly as it could get, with matchups against Matt Patricia’s Lions and Mike Vrabel’s Titans in the first two weeks of the season.

There’s quite a few reasons to be excited about this schedule with the obvious one being that the team can go back to using joint practices in early August. They took last summer off from them and got off to a 1-2 start. Communication with Patricia and Vrabel should be seamless and let’s not forget both teams knocked off the Patriots on the road last year.

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Patriots Need Immediate-Impact 2019 Draft Class

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Things can change pretty quick around Foxboro. Today’s malcontent superstar on another team is tomorrow’s Patriots reclamation project.

That’s why the glaring holes on the Patriots roster might be deceiving. But if we’re going off how things look today on April 9th, there’s more pressure than ever for them to get the most out of their team-leading 12 draft picks and sooner rather than later.

Gronk is gone, along with Trey Flowers. They’re starting over at left tackle for the second year in a row after spending 17 seasons with only two different starters. Julian Edelman, Devin McCourty and Patrick Chung will all be 32 or older for Week 1. Tom Brady will be a decade older than them.

The cupboards aren’t entirely barren, but if they’re going to squeeze a seventh ring out of this thing, it’s once again time to find some to-be legends. If anyone can do it Belichick can, but it’s sure not getting any easier.

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Pats Posits: Digging on Draft

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As I start to really grind on my Top 50 Big Board it slowly becomes an impossible game of need and value while projecting who might be the perfect Patriots picks.

Now, I know the Patriots try to take need out of the equation, but it’s undeniable that there are roster holes to still be filled. And yes, I’m still assuming they can figure things out with Gostkowski who is currently on a USO Tour.

(Though I can’t lie, throwing the former Assumption kicker into the mix is tempting, even if he’d be a severe kickoff downgrade from Gostkowski.)

Updating the Patriots’ biggest needs since I last wrote about them, the tight end spot becomes the biggest priority even more than it already was. As usual the problem is not picking until 32 so it’s impossible to fall in love with many of the perfect elite fits.

At this phase it would make sense for the Patriots to trade up for tight end TJ Hockensen. In theory, it’s a slam dunk, though it’s not like Hockensen alone would be enough. He’s not Gronk 2.0 but he’s the best all-around tight end in the class.

But the Patriots rarely, if ever, make the slam dunk moves outside of drafting Joe Cardona. That leaves us with tons of draft capital and a haze of projection picks.

Let’s try to sift through some of it in the Posits.

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How Will Belichick Rebuild Defensive Coaching Staff?

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Coming on the heels of Rob Gronkowski’s retirement, the abrupt departure of Greg Schiano just six weeks into his tenure as defensive coordinator was a second significant blow to the 2019 Pats process.

With Schiano leaving, speculation is that Belichick will be forced to take a more active role in the defense, something he certainly did early in Matt Patricia’s career.

Brian Flores was DC for just one season, but clearly brought his own unique personality to the defense. Patricia did the same before him, as did Dean Pees and Romeo Crennel before them.

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