Patriots Rookie Camp Notes (5/13/24)

The New England Patriots concluded their rookie mini-camp tryouts today and made some transactions. The Patriots signed undrafted rookie free agent running back Terrell Jennings out of Florida A & M, offensive guard Ryan Johnson of Youngstown State, linebacker Jay Person from Chattanooga University and international rugby player Jotham Russell who's going to learn how to play defensive end. They also cut veteran running back Ke'Shawn Vaughn, but let's take a look at who got signed from the rookie camp tryouts.

                                                             Happy fellas

Jennings had 120 carries for 674 yards and nine rushing touchdowns for the Rattlers in 2023 along with 7 receptions for 60 yards. The Rattlers themselves capped off a hell of season in D-1A going 12-1 and Jennings was a big part of it. With the departure of Ezekiel Elliott back to Dallas, Rhamondre Stevenson is going to need some help in the running game. Maybe Jennings can show some promise.

                                         Patriots can always use depth at running back

Ryan Johnson was a guard for the Youngstown State Penguins who went 8-5 in the D-1A this season. He's 6'6, 300 pounds and most importantly, started all 13 games for the Penguins this season. The NFL is all about attrition and injuries, Bill Belichick stressed "next man up" for years so its good to have a depth piece that can stay on the field. Whether or not he's good enough to make the team remains to be seen.

                                                        From undrafted to New England

Jay Person is the elder statesman as he played his freshman year back in 2018 at Appalachian State before coming to the Chattanooga Mocs. He led the Mocs with 9.5 last year as an edge rusher but went undrafted due to age and concerns that he played on a 7-4 team in D-1A. Still, to be named conference player of the year twice is a good thing even if its against inferior competition. Doesn't mean he can't play, only that competition is going to be MUCH tougher come training camp.

                                                  Better bring your A-Game, Person

Lastly the Patriots are trying out Australian rugby player Jotham Russell. Rugby is justtttt a bit different than American football so it'll be interesting to see how he'll do in pads and a helmet. The good news is he's technically not on the 90 man roster because he's part of the International Player Pathway program so if he's good, he'll stay. If not, oh well.

                                                              Welcome to America, Russell

The only casualty is the Patriots cut veteran running back Ke'Shawn Vaughn. Vaughn was signed to the Practice Squad back in December and was part of Tom Brady's Tampa Bay Buccaneers that won Superbowl 55. The Patriots feel that Terrell Jennings might be a better option come training camp. If Vaughn goes on to have a good season somewhere else, good on him.

                                                                  Bye bye Vaughn

With the conclusion of the mini-camp tryouts, they liked what they saw in those four players. A lot of those guys probably will never play football professionally, but some of them might catch on in the United Football League, Canadian Football League or the Arena League, while some of them might actually play in the NFL. Time will tell for all of them.

                                                                  Great camp guys

Patriots Sign 3 Draft Picks, Nine Rookie Free Agents (5/10/24)

The New England Patriots signed three of their draft choices today when sixth round picks Marcellas Dial and Joe Milton signed, as well as 7th round pick Jahiem Bell. We'll be seeing them come mini-camp in June. They also signed eight rookie free agents.

                                                           Dial is ready to roll

So who did the Patriots sign that went undrafted? First up is running back DeShaun Fenwick out of Oregon State. He played three years at South Carolina before transferring to Oregon State where he rushed 96 times for 515 yards.

                                                             DeShaun Fenwick

Next up is cornerback Kaleb Ford-Dement out of Texas State University. Now in the era of college free agency, Ford went all over the place from Kilgore College to Old Dominion to Washington State and finally Texas State. In 11 games started with Texas State he had 3 picks and 32 tackles.

                                                            Kaleb Ford-Dement

The Patriots also signed UTEP offensive tackle Zuri Henry. He spent 6 years at UTEP and started 11 games last year for the Miners. Offensive line depth is never a bad thing....as long as he doesn't suck.

                                                               Zuri Henry

New England then signed Georgia State linebacker Jontrey Hunter. Hunter played 6 years with GS and was All-Sun Belt Conference in 2023 with 96 tackles last year.

                                                       Jontrey Hunter

The Patriots also signed Arkansas defensive end John Morgan after he spent 5 years with Pittsburgh before signing with Arkansas prior to 2023. He had a tough time getting on the field for the Razorbacks despite going 4-8 last year due to not being able to crack the depth chart. He did get 15 tackles when he did play though.

                                                        John Morgan

The youngest of the bunch signed was Troy University safety Dell Pettus. Now this was an interesting signing because Pettus started 61 consecutive games for the Trojans. Last year the Trojans went 11-3 and won the Sun Belt Championship game over Appalachian State before losing the Birmingham Bowl to Duke.

                                                          Dell Pettus

The biggest "name" the Patriots signed was LSU center Charles Turner. He was the starting center for last year's 10-3 Tigers team blocking for Washington Commanders first round pick Jayden Daniels. He started 25 total games for the Tigers including the ReliaQuest Bowl victory over Wisconsin. One of the reasons he went undrafted was he lacks muscle mass, which can be corrected if he spent enough time in the weight room.

                                                       Charles Turner

The Patriots also signed Alabama State cornerback Mikey Victor. He bounced around from Ventura to UNLV before settling on Alabama State the last two years.  He had 55 tackles and 3 picks for the Hornets as well.

                                                          Mikey Victor

Last but not least is the Patriots signed Joe Milton's tight end at Tennessee University, Jacob Warren. Warren caught 16 balls for 191 yards and four touchdowns last year for the Vols as they went 9-4 and shut out Iowa 35-0 in the Citrus Bowl. He had 53 total receptions for 607 yards and eight touchdowns.

                                                            Jacob Warren

So there's most of your rookie class heading into June's mini-camp and July's training camp. There's going to be 90 bodies there and there's only going to be 53 at the end. One of the good things about former head coach Bill Bellichick was finding talent in rookie free agents. Ben-Jarvis Green Ellis, Malcolm Butler, Jakobi Meyers and more all contributed despite not being drafted. Now can new head coach Jerrod Mayo and personnel director Eliot Wolf score in this rookie free agent class? That remains to be seen. A lot of guys go undrafted because they played in smaller schools like Victor, Hunter and Pettus while others didn't get the press their teammates got like Warren and Turner. Doesn't mean they won't be able to crack the roster but it wouldn't be out of the ordinary if they didn't. Again, there's only going to be 53 guys left at the end of Training Camp and who knows what is going to get signed before, during and after. Still, some of these guys may not have ever played football again if they didn't get signed so at least they made it this far. 

Patriots Select Five Players on Day 3 (4/27/24)

With the 103rd pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, the New England Patriots selected Texas A & M offensive guard Layden Robinson. Just like Caedan Wallace for Penn State, Robinson only allowed one sack for the Aggies all season in their first year in the SEC. He was second team all-ACC in 2021 and last season. If Jerrod Mayo and Eliot Wolf didn't think Cole Strange was good enough, they might have drafted his replacement. Or at very least he could be a good backup.

                                                       Good luck to Robinson

With the 110th pick in the 2024 NFL Draft they got from the Los Angeles Chargers, the New England Patriots selected Central Florida wide receiver Javon Baker. He started in Alabama but transferred to UCF. He had 52 receptions for 1,139 yards and 7 touchdowns in the 2023 season. He had a bunch of drops but the Patriots are baking on his receptions being his contribution to this fall's team.

                                                Does he know any of these plays?

With the 180th pick in the draft, the Patriots selected South Carolina cornerback Marcellas Dial. Dial knocked down 31 passes and picked off three balls with the Gamecocks also winning the Overcoming Adversity Award. The Patriots need insurance in case Christian Gonzalez gets hurt again and someone like this could play on special teams as well.

                                                              Possible nickel corner

With the 193rd pick in the draft, as in the pick they got in the trade for Mac Jones to the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Patriots selected quarterback Joe Milton from Tennessee University. He has a cannon arm and he's a big guy at 6 foot 5 but spent six years at college. He spent 3 years at Michigan going 2-3 as a starter than transferred to Tennessee where he was Orange Bowl MVP in 2022. Mel Kiper says he's got the strongest arm in the draft so how did he fall so far? We're going to have a quarterback controversy as now they have Maye, Brissett, Zappe and Milton. That's the good kind of competition where they'll be playing for their lives. In essence the Patriots traded Mac Jones for Joe Milton.

                                                      Milton is a big dude

The final Patriots pick in the 7th round came at 232 and they selected Tight End Jaheim Bell out of Florida State. He is a dual threat as a receiver and a runner for South Carolina before he transferred to FSU. He had 95 receptions for 1,260 receiving yards and 9 touchdowns while picking up 84 carries, 303 rushing yards and four touchdowns. The Patriots needed a tight end to go with Hunter Henry and hopefully he'll be useful.

                                                         Can catch and run

All in all the Patriots addressed their needs and got some much needed depth. Robinson and Baker will definitely give the established receivers and lineman some competition and Bailey Zappe's days might be numbered with Joe Milton in camp. Who knows what Bell is capable off but we won't know for real until August. Dial is the wild card of the group, he may be good but he may not. Unless the Patriots pick up some free agents out of nowhere during training camp, they're going to be a young team next year. If Mayo can keep the defense relatively close to what it was last year, with an improved offense at least the Patriots will be watchable this coming fall.

Patriots Trade Down, Take Polk & Wallace (4/26/24)

With the 34th pick in the NFL Draft the New England Patriots selected...nobody! As usual they traded down with the Los Angeles Chargers. The Chargers got pick 34 and the Patriots 5th rounder 137 overall and the Patriots got pick 37 and pick 110 overall in the fourth round. The Chargers selected Ladd McConkey with the 34th pick. The Patriots ended up selecting Ja'Lynn Polk out of Washington University. Polk played 10 games for Texas Tech in 2020 then played the last three years for the Huskies. He has blazing speed and can be a deep threat as long as he can create separation at the pro level. Drake Maye needed some help at receiver and theoretically he just got it.

                                                 Drake Maye has a deep threat in Polk

The rumor is the Minnesota Vikings would have traded the 11th and 23rd overall picks and a 2025 first for the third overall pick....but Eliot Wolf said no. The other rumor was the New York Giants would have traded the 6th overall pick with a 2025 first rounder for the third pick. The Giants offer was good but not exactly worth giving up a potential star quarterback. Not taking the Minnesota offer is a huge dice roll. They may not get a generational quarterback with the 11th and 23rd, but they might have gotten a new blind side tackle and a better receiver than Polk. That 2025 pick could be used in a package with their own to trade up for a quarterback next year. Oh well.

With the 68th pick in the draft the Patriots selected Penn State offensive tackle Caeden Wallace. He was a right tackle for the Nittany Lions who finished 10-3 on the season. Scouts say he only allowed one sack in 359 drop backs so he might be a decent pass blocker. That's wonderful but they still need a left tackle to protect Drake Maye or Jacoby Brissett.

                                                        The Patriots' new right tackle

All in all in Day 2 of the draft the Patriots subtracted their fifth round pick but selected a receiver and a tackle while adding a fourth round pick for tomorrow. The Patriots weakness all season was offense and they've taken a receiver, a quarterback and a tackle to help rectify that. Tomorrow's picks are going to be depth pieces mostly so they had to strike while they still could. Whether or not these guys will be good will remain to be seen, but its a start.

Patriots Draft Drake Maye 3rd Overall (4/25/24)

With the third pick in the 2024 NFL Draft the New England Patriots select....Drake Maye, quarterback from North Carolina. After months of speculation, the Patriots ended up with arguably one of the most athletic quarterbacks in the draft.

                                                            Welcome to New England

Maye was ACC player of the year for the 2022 UNC Tar Heels as they made it to the ACC Championship Game. In 2023, two of his top receivers graduated so his numbers went down a little bit. At 6'4 and 230 he's got the size to make it in the league and he's a bit more mobile than Mac Jones.

                                                                Maye at UNC

Now that the Patriots have a quarterback prospect, it's up to Eliot Wolf to surround Maye with talent in this draft. Tomorrow night they need at least one receiver and one offensive lineman to help Maye out. As bad as Mac Jones and Bailey Zappe played last year, they had no receivers to throw to and good lineman to protect them. The rumor is that the Patriots might shop the 34th pick for Brandon Aiyuk in San Francisco. Probably not a good idea but you never know what the Patriots are going to do.

                                                           Aiyuk to the Patriots?

98.5 and their fans are already screaming that Maye has terrible footwork and JJ McCarthy was a better pick. Also some fans want Maye to sit for the full year and let Jacoby Brissett play. That can be argued all day but what can't be argued is the Patriots now have one of the top quarterbacks available. Tomorrow night the 2nd and 3rd rounds will decide if Maye has fellow rookies to play with or someone like Aiyuk. Time will tell.

                                            "Yeah we drafted Maye, got a problem with it?"

Patriots Take WIlfork & Watson, Trade for Corey Dillon (4/24/04)

The 2004 NFL Draft kicked off with a mirror of the 1983 Draft when 1st overall pick Ole Miss quarterback Eli Manning refused to play for the San Diego Chargers. The Chargers traded his rights to the New York Giants for North Carolina State quarterback Phillip Rivers. If Manning becomes a stud for the Giants and Rivers flames out in San Diego, this really would be a mirror of the Baltimore Colts/Denver Broncos dynamic. Remember last year when the Patriots traded their other first round pick to Baltimore for the Ravens' first round pick this year? That pick turned out to be 21st overall and the Patriots used it to take massive Miami University noseguard Vince Wilfork. Pundits were stunned Wilfork dropped this low as he was part of the defensive line rotation for the 2001 National Champion Hurricanes and the 2002 runner ups. This past season he was the starting noseguard for the Canes that won the Orange Bowl against Florida State after going 11-2 on the season. In three years as part of the defense, the Hurricanes went 35-3 with Wilfork in the middle of it. A lot of his teammates went before him such as safety Sean Taylor (5th overall to Washington) tight end Kellen Winslow Jr (6th overall to Cleveland), linebackers Jonathan Vilma (12th overall to the New York Jets) and DJ Williams (17th overall to Denver) and offensive tackle Vernon Carey (19th overall by Miami). This might be a real steal because the Patriots signed huge noseguard Keith Traylor to replace Ted Washington but Wilfork could replace the 34 year old Traylor if he's good enough. Keep your eye on this pick, it might be generational.

                                                          21st overall - Vince Wilfork

With their own first round pick, the Patriots might have scored big time again when they selected Georgia tight end Benjamin Watson. Watson originally was recruited to Duke but transferred to Georgia after the 1999 season. In three years for the Bulldogs he had 65 receptions for 852 yards and 6 touchdowns. He was projected to go in the second round as the third ranked tight end in draft. The Patriots relied on Daniel Graham and Christian Fauria but they needed a future stud if and when Fauria leaves. If Graham is more of a blocker, Watson is definitely the "go get the ball" with his speed and hands. Hopefully this pick works out.

                                                          32nd overall - Benjamin Watson

Remember the second round pick they got from the Miami Dolphins? Well they didn't have it anymore thanks to trading it to the Cincinnati Bengals for all-pro running back Corey Dillon last week. With the 56th overall pick in the draft, the Bengals took safety Madieu Williams from Maryland University. If he goes on to suck, let the record show THAT's who the Bengals traded Corey Dillon for.

                                                 56th overall - ......Corey Dillon??

With their own second round pick, the Patriots selected LSU defensive end Marquise Hill 63rd overall. Hill was an anchor on the defensive line for Belichick's good buddy Nick Saban's LSU Tigers that went 13-1 and captured the national championship with their Sugar Bowl victory over Oklahoma. Belichick always takes the words of his ex-coaches much like Red Auerbach used to get tips from ex-players of his. Saban must have ranted and raved about Hill's ability. If he's as good as advertised, as they say the rich get richer. The departures of Bobby Hamilton, Ted Washington and Anthony Pleasant meant the Patriots had to reload on the defensive line.....they just did.

                                                    63rd overall - Marquise Hill

With their third round pick, the Patriots selected Florida University safety Guss Scott. He was second team All-SEC in 2002 and 2003 and led the SEC with forced fumbles last year. The Patriots could definitely use safety depth behind Eugene Wilson and Rodney Harrison and having a guy like Scott knock the ball out of opposing players' hands would be nice. How did he drop so low? Florida didn't have a great season under Ron Zook going just 8-5 with the Gators last year. Still, one guy can't play every position so hopefully Guss finds success in New England that he didn't in Florida.

                                                95th overall - Guss Scott

In the span of a week the best team in football theoretically got even better. Getting Corey Dillon in a trade then drafting two studs in Watson and Wilfork was exactly what they needed to do. Replacing Bobby Hamilton and Antwan Harris with Marquise Hill and Guss Scott might have also contributed to a Superbowl run next season. Tomorrow's picks are mostly for depth but the Patriots just might have drafted starters for the next ten years. Time will tell.

Patriots Trade 2nd Round Pick for Corey Dillon (4/19/04)

Somehow the Superbowl Champion New England Patriots just got even stronger as they made a monumental trade with the Cincinnati Bengals. The Patriots sent their second round pick in this Saturday's NFL Draft to the Bengals in exchange for pro-bowl running back Corey Dillon.

                                                   Week 1 2001, Dillon runs over New England

What the heck happened on this one? Well we all know the Bengals have been a complete mess since the late 80's but Dillon was one of their bright spots from 1997-02. Last year he battled injuries and was limited to just 541 yards on the ground. Between his complaining of the losing, being on the wrong side of 30, and wear and tear on his body, the Bengals cut their losses and got a second rounder out of New England for him.

                                      "I've had it up to HERE with Dillon" - Marvin Lewis

Now you can look at this move two ways. Now the hater's stance would be the Patriots just wasted a second round pick for a washed up, declining malcontent that may not even survive training camp while the Bengals got rid of someone who doesn't want to be there. They also could simply draft his replacement since Dillon himself went in the second round back in 97. Now the positive stance is the Patriots traded just a second round pick to get an all-pro running back that might have some gas left in the tank. The Patriots one weakness coming off their Superbowl victory over the Carolina Panthers was the running game since Mike Cloud didn't work out, Antowain Smith was physically declining and Kevin Faulk is best used as a third down pass catching back. Fully healthy Dillon might have been the missing piece on a 14-2 team that has already won the Superbowl. The Patriots also have two first round picks so the rich might have gotten richer as they say.

                                   "Guess who just won a title AND got Corey Dillon?" - BB

Either way, the Patriots second round pick might or might not become a stud but they know they're getting one in Dillon. His injuries should have healed by this coming training camp and he's no longer on a bad team. This might have been the heist of the century, we'll see come training camp and beyond.