Pats Draft Round 7

by Kyle Gillis

It’s been a month since Malcolm Butler and the “Pick of Destiny” saved snowbound New England from a month-long morass and put an entire region in a good mood. So much has been said about the most clutch defensive play in NFL history, but I think John Madden put in best when he said, “Butler and (Ricardo) Lockette ran the same route and Butler ran it better.” That is probably the simplest, most astute analysis of that play I heard- and I heard a great deal of it. That’s why the guy was the best for a very long time, proving the simple explanation is sometime the most insightful.
Now, the circle of life moves on and it’s already time for the Pats to start to reload. The plan this offseason is to go pick by pick from the seventh round to the first. Every few days or so, I’ll post a new round of needs, possibilities, and my pick for that round. Since I called the Pats pick of “The Invisible Man,” Dominique Easley, last year, I feel like I’m on a bit of a roll.
The Patriots don’t have their own seventh round pick; however, they do own the second pick in that round thanks to the Akeem Ayers trade with Tennessee. There is a reason teams like Tennessee are teams like Tennessee- they always seem to be on the wrong end of deals like this. All-in-all, it’s not a bad deal- they got a guy who was a huge help at a time when they were severely banged up defensively and all they did was drop three spots on the draft board. That is a small, but brilliant move by the Hooded One.
While there is a school of thought that seventh rounders are just guys on whom teams take a flyer, you have to have real context to change this mindset. As recently as 1992 there were 12 rounds in the draft- making seventh rounders essentially mid-round picks. I honestly believe that the Pats, in their war room, approach the draft this way.
Certainly the Patriots have had some seventh round misses in the BB era (Oscar Lua, Darryl Richard, Zac Robinson, and Scarface 2.0 Willie Andrews – arrested with a half pound of weed in my home town of Lowell where I think he was accused of trying to execute Lowell’s first ever drug deal). They have also had some hits, along with occasional big hits (David Givens, Tully Banta-Cain, Matt Cassel, and the toughest man on their current roster- Julian Edelman).
There are obviously several positions of need for the Pats: interior offensive line, safety, linebacker, and defensive tackle. One possible pick could be Miles Diffenbach from Penn State, a 6’3″, 300 pound guard. He is smart, as he played last year as a grad student and he is a dead ringer for Grossberger in the movie Stir Crazy. I don’t think he’s they guy since I think they will have filled this position through earlier picks and free agency.
Another guy who could easily be the one is Xavier Williams from Northern Iowa. He played against upper level competition in the Shrine Bowl and held his own. He’s a former wrestler, which automatically makes him one of the tougher guys in any room he enters. If he is there, he will get strong consideration.
I think the pick is going to be Isaiah Johnson from Georgia Tech, a safety. He’s a perfect Patriot value guy who is coming off of an ACL injury. He fills a need, which is more of a need today, since Devin McCourty was not franchised and is now free to play the field in free agency. He is big and physical. As my son Drew said, “He hits like he wants to paralyze guys.” That toughness would be very helpful in the secondary and on special teams. Before the knee injury, he was a star in Tech’s secondary. After taking a medical redshirt and getting his degree, Johnson finished strong in 2014, totaling 72 tackles. His 6’2″, 210 lb. frame would look good in blue and silver.