Patriots Country

Alive and 'Kicking': Patriots Day 3 NFL Draft Review

After focusing on the New England Patriots' defense the first three rounds of the draft, Bill Belichick in the later rounds went for speed, special teams and unprecedented help in the kicking game.

Richie Whitt

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If you didn't know better, you might think Bill Belichick was drafting a New England Patriots team built for 1923 instead of 2023.

After spending the Pats' first three picks on defense, Belichick went off script Saturday and did something an NFL team hadn't in 30 years: Selecting a kicker (Maryland's Chad Ryland, fourth round) and a punter (Michigan State's Bryce Baringer, sixth round) in the same draft. 

Defense. Kicking. 10-9 games, anyone?

The Patriots are just the second team since 1993 to take a kicker and punter in the same draft. The other was the 2000 Raiders, who drafted kicker Sebastian Janikowski in the first round and punter Shane Lechler in the fifth.

Considering the problems the Pats endured last season on special teams, the draft capital spent might be drastic, but prudent.

Kicker Nick Folk missed five field goals and three extra points. Punter Jake Bailey was suspended near the end of the season and was allowed to sign as a free agent with the Miami Dolphins. The Patriots apparently identified their solution at the Senior Bowl, where Baringer both punted and held for field goal and extra points by Ryland.

The special attention to special teams didn't stop there.

Deep into the draft the Patriots selected Ameer Speed - who was a special teams star at Georgia before transferring to Michigan State and playing cornerback - and finished their class by picking Jackson State's Isaiah Bolden, who ran a 4.33 in the 40-yard dash at his Pro Day and averaged an eye-popping 36 yards per kickoff return last season.

Despite one of the NFL's slowest, least-productive offenses, the Pats didn't acquire many weapons for quarterback Mac Jones. They drafted three offensive linemen in Rounds 4-5, but the only receivers are a high-risk character pick in LSU's Kayshon Boutte and sixth-round slot Demario Douglas from tiny Liberty University.

The lack of offensive firepower wasn't lost on some media analysts, including Fox Sports 1's Collin Cowherd.

With only JuJu Smith-Schuster - essentially traded for Jakobi Meyers - backup tight end Mike Gesicki and backup running back James Robinson added in the offseason, it's difficult to envision the Patriots' offense growing by leaps and bounds.

But if New England's defense and special teams aren't vastly improved, Belichick's 2023 draft will be considered an unmitigated disaster.

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Richie Whitt
RICHIE WHITT

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