The Patriots typically don’t stress over the depth chart when they evaluate players in the draft, CSNNE.com’s Tom E. Curran writes. “You look at them independently; you evaluate the player irrespective of what you have on your team,” exec Nick Caserio explained. “It’s like we talked about a few years ago (in 2011) with Nate (Solder). We had Sebastian (Vollmer). We had Matt Light. So we had two good tackles, starting level tackles that play at a high level. So then you add Nate Solder (with a first-round pick). So here’s a third tackle that you’re bringing in that you feel has good ability. Is he better than Light or Vollmer? Maybe, maybe not. But we know at some point, this guy’s gonna be a good football player.” More from the AFC East..
- On the surface it might seem like the Dolphins are set at wide receiver after adding Greg Jennings, but they could still go for a No. 1 type in the draft, Adam Beasley of the Miami Herald writes. Beasley hears that the Dolphins could trade back from No. 14 to select someone like Central Florida’s Breshad Perriman or USC’s Nelson Agholor.
- Jennings is a solid addition for the Dolphins, but not a No. 1 receiver, James Walker of ESPN.com writes. The former two-time Pro Bowler is not the player he was several years ago with the and is not the No. 1 receiver that Miami desperately needs. He still has something left in the tank, Walker writes, but he won’t turn their passing offense into a juggernaut.
- The Patriots officially have the Texans’ seventh-round pick in 2016 thanks to the Ryan Mallett trade with Houston, according to a pre-draft press release (via Jeff Howe of the Boston Herald on Twitter). Mallett, 26, was acquired by the Texans in a trade with the Patriots last offseason, and got a chance to start a couple games for Houston in 2014 before landing on injured reserve due to a pectoral injury. The deal gave New England a conditional seventh-round choice that could have matured into a sixth-rounder if Mallett met a certain snap requirement.