These guys aren’t your replacements, they are your, uh, successors…
I had expected the New England Patriots to try to beef up their de-beefed defense, but coach Bill Belichick, whom we’ll never really know, stuffed his arsenal with offensive weapons instead, even to the point of drafting a kicker (I kind of sort of marginally called that one).
Two offensive linemen, one running back, one tight end, one wide receiver and one fullback/tight end were added to the Patriots player pool. The perhaps single most surprising pick was tackle Ryan O’Callaghan from California. The gargantuan 6-6, 344-pound O’Callaghan is a good beal bigger than the 300-pound linemen the Patriots have relied on over the past few seasons. I’m guessing they’ll have O’Callaghan slim down at least a few pounds.
Belichick’s drafts with the Patriots have been mostly boom or bust. A boom draft, preferably of the 2003 variety, would be most helpful this year.
