At Nos. 24 and 28, the New England Patriots select…

By Os Davis  |   Tuesday, April 24, 2007  |  Comments( 8 )

New England Patriots
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You've gotta love mock drafts, the quantum physics of the sports world. With a whole lot of mathematics (specifically upper-level probability theory), some knowledge, hours of calculation and other numerical manipulation, and a pinch of magic, you'll have produced a mock draft that's, well, perhaps not too egregiously outlandish.

By the time the New England Patriots are on the clock at No. 24 this Saturday, full disorder will be in effect, yet the first round will ultimately be seen as mostly logical. ("Of course, Brady Quinn dropped all the way to the Kansas City Chiefs at No. 23," we'll say at some unforeseen moment in the future, "duh!") However, your meticulously created "First 100 Picks" list will be shredded way, way sooner than when, say, UNLV beat Wisconsin and your NCAA basketball tourney office bracket hit the trash bucket.

Nevertheless does RealFootball365 plunge into the breach of uncertainty and darkness that is NFL draft prognostication, in an effort to divine what lurks in the encephala of Bill Belichick and Co. at picks 24 and 28.

It doesn't take a Belichickesque brainiac to know that the Patriots are going to be looking primarily at players in two spots: safety and linebacker. Sure, Adalius Thomas is newly on board to play at an ILB position, but the New England brass figures that its all-star corps of Tedy Bruschi, Rosevelt Colvin, Junior Seau and Mike Vrabel is aging fast. It's anyone's guess as to whether 38-year-old "Say Ow" can come back from that nasty-looking injury he suffered in Week 12 against the Chicago Bears or even will come back to the Patriots at all, currently listed as a free agent. Bruschi dithered for a couple of months before deciding to come back for his 12th season and figures to see less playing time this year.

(In this writer's opinion, the navy blue-and-silver decision to let Tully Banta-Cain go may have been an error in judgment, but there you have it. Enjoy this guy, San Francisco 49ers...)

Meanwhile, if you're looking for the missing piece of the Patriots' puzzle in these last two non-Super Bowl seasons beyond the receiving corps, check out the secondary. Sure, in 2006 franchise player Asante Samuel had a career year, but beyond this performance, going deep has given the league's better gunslingers like the Indianapolis Colts an invitation to pass early and often since 2005.

(Ty Law. Need I say more?)

Where will the Patriots look? A few guesses.

Jon Beason, LB, Miami. This would represent a bit of a low-profile pick for the Pats of the sort Belichick loves. Beason, despite seeing plenty of playing time, actually only started three games for the Hurricanes. The San Diego Chargers are reportedly also interested in Beason at No. 30 and so are the Detroit Lions with the No. 34 overall pick. The official site is going with the 6-foot, 237-pounder, too, which may merit some consideration.

Michael Griffin, S, Texas. Let's face it: Griffin is excellent. The Patriots have got to like perhaps the best strong safety of the entire draft class and should take him if he's available. Griffin's Longhorn career stats alone live up to his rep as an all-around player: 368 tackles, 234 solo; on special teams, 49 tackles, 36 solo, seven fumbles recovered, nine fumbles caused, eight interceptions and eight blocked kicks (!), good for second all-time in NCAA Division I-A history. Salivating yet, Pats fans?

David Harris, ILB, Michigan. Should the Wolverine come to Foxborough, he'll be playing the Bruschi understudy role real quick. Harris is often being forecast as a second-rounder, but without a second-round pick, the Patriots might jump the gun a bit at No. 28 and grab him anyway. Harris is seemingly fit for the 3-4 and one pundit described Harris as "an above-average-to-great tackler who plays bigger than his size..." Magic words in Belichick land, where the defensive scheme lives and dies by individual coverage and the solo tackle.

Brandon Meriweather, S, Miami. A teammate of Beason's, Meriweather has been heavily scouted thus far, with the Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants among many others expressing interest. Surely Meriweather's size - just 5-11, 192 - is a, well, sizable minus. New England has been known for employing the vertically challenged should they show some football smarts; at Miami, Meriweather sometimes played QB and notched four TDs on special teams in his senior year alone.

Reggie Nelson, S, Florida. Nelson played inspired ball in 2006, grabbing nominations for the Nagurski Trophy and the Thorpe Award after hauling in six interceptions in an All-America season. Nelson is especially known for deep coverage, particularly against slots and TEs, areas the Pats could well afford to address.

Finally, two names being bandied about as potential Patriots are cornerbacks - Pitt's Darrelle Revis and Fresno State's Marcus McCauley. No secret are the currently frosty relations between Samuel and the New England front office, but you've got to figure that the Pats will wait on acquiring someone to groom in the position until 2008.

Hedging, this fearless seer of the future will go with Michael Griffin at No. 24 and Jon Beason at No. 28. And that's as certain as Butler in the NCAA final four next year.

RealFootball365.com: Predictions throughout the year guaranteed to be 100% accurate. Unless they're not.
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About Os Davis

Os Davis has taken a twisted route to get to RealFootball365.com in his nearly 17 years in professional writing, working in any number of capacities in the sportswriting, news reporting and film criticism worlds. In print media, Os has served as editor at a few publications, including Albuquerque's...
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