Patriots Draft

The NFL draft is less than a week away, and the New England Patriots are poised and ready with 11 draft choices. With the upcoming draft, the patriots have enough picks to plug in their biggest needs. Their biggest needs are on defense, as we all saw last eyar, faultered many times during the season. I believe the draft picks will focus around defense, and picking up offensive players after the defense is assessed. Their biggest postion needs are

1. LB
Jerod Mayo was a rookie standout last year. The patriots will be looking for another rookie to play inside with Mayo. Larry English, Ray Meguala, and Laurenitas are great draft picks for the first round.

2. OLB
With the departure of Vrabel, OLB is another need for the Patriots. A trade for Julius Peppers or the Addition of Taylor seem unlikely at this point, so the Patriots will be looking for a replacment.

3. CB
Cornerback was a huge issue last year. Ellis Hobbs is an average CB, but ended up being a first string starter due to injuries and the departure of key palyers (Samuel in particualr). Deltha O'neil showed exactly why the bengals cut him by getting burned 9 out of 10 plays. The Patriots gave up 3rd most TD passes last season.

4. Safety
With Rodney Harrisons future at stake, some depth at saftey would be nice. Brandon Merriweather finally showed up last yera and played to his potential, but some depth is still needed. Their are some good 2nd round safeties out there that we could see on the board for the patriots to pick up.

The patritos will be trading some picks for next years draft, and are in a grea position this year to get the defense back to being young.

Steven Orsini