FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Fast-hit ideas and notes across the New England Patriots and NFL:
1. Discovering Edelman: Former Patriots vice chairman of participant personnel Scott Pioli shined a highlight on how the group discovered Julian Edelman at Kent State, posting a tweet noting that space scout Jim Nagy put Edelman on the group’s draft board after which advocated for him as a part of the cross-check course of.
When reaching out to Nagy, now the chief director of Reese’s Senior Bowl, he deflected any credit score following Edelman’s retirement final week. Nagy stated it ought to all go to Edelman and others, resembling former longtime receivers coach Chad O’Shea.
In revisiting his work as an space scout in 2008, Nagy helped paint the image of how Edelman first landed on the Patriots’ radar at Kent State. It is a good take a look at the essence of school scouting.
“I used to be dwelling on the west aspect of Cleveland on the time, so the MAC faculties have been a giant a part of my territory. That is coming off the Josh Cribbs period at Kent State, so I used to be rolling by way of there. It was a simple stopping-off level. I may hit Kent on the way in which house from Pittsburgh, West Virginia and Akron. I in all probability went in there 3 times that fall of [2008].
“You develop relationships with individuals at faculties if you go to typically — their professional liaison was Casey Wolf. Dean Pees was there when Josh Cribbs was there. Scouting Julian, it was fairly clear he was going to be a tough man to generate curiosity within the constructing as a quarterback. At the moment, we have been actually searching for the 6-Three, 6-Four, 6-5 pocket passers. We had Tom [Brady]; we had [Matt] Cassel.
MAD respect Julian Edelman & how YOU labored to develop into terrific participant. YOU did the work & took teaching to develop. All YOU??
Have my ’09 Draft E book w/ #Patriots 2008 DEC Assembly notes & keep in mind space scout Jim Nagy put him on Pats board as WR in fall & advocated via crosscheck pic.twitter.com/peqaxdGnMC— Scott Pioli (@scottpioli51) April 13, 2021
Kent State employees feedback on Julian Edelman from Fall ’08. Sounds about proper.
* higher echelon employee
* is aware of his bodily limitations
* likes to BS
* needs ball in his palms
* soccer instincts will assist him at WR
* has ft to play DB
* best man I’ve ever coached pic.twitter.com/bCuyhG7iq3— Jim Nagy (@JimNagy_SB) April 12, 2021
“However Julian was a heck of a soccer participant, and you do not wish to discard actually good soccer gamers. So that you suppose outdoors the field and attempt to get artistic, attempt to discover a position for him. There have been causes you thought it may work. He had unbelievable short-area quickness. He had actually good reactive reducing capacity. He had nice soccer instincts by way of feeling individuals — spatial consciousness, issues of that nature. Extraordinarily powerful with the ball on this palms.
“Digging into the background a part of it, he was extraordinarily aggressive. The actual fact he was a California [Junior College] child and assimilated at a college within the Rust Belt, that is not straightforward to do. He’d come out to observe and B.S. with the wideouts, so you might inform he was comfy with that place group, and that made you’re feeling good — that he was one of many guys.”
Nagy recalled that Edelman simply wished to play soccer, and acquired into the thought of a place swap within the execs — which doesn’t at all times occur with prospects. The Patriots had December scouting conferences, after which their normal cross-check course of in February, with Pioli assigning Nagy extensive receivers as his cross-check place. Via that course of, Edelman landed on the group’s draft board.
Quickly after the mix in 2009, Nagy departed the group for the Chiefs, the place Pioli had been employed as basic supervisor. Director of participant personnel Nick Caserio took the baton from there and made positive the Patriots had representatives at Kent State a number of occasions for pre-draft exercises.
When the Patriots have been on the clock with the 232rd decide, with 256 whole picks within the draft, that they had a call to make.
“You must give them a whole lot of credit score, as a result of you could have a whole lot of guys graded in that later-round space that it’s important to resolve as a bunch; ‘We have now 20 guys right here, which one are we spending a draft decide on? Which one do not we wish to get in a bidding warfare [to sign] in free company?'”
Nonetheless, Nagy may have by no means envisioned the way in which issues unfolded for Edelman.
“I would not have thought he would develop into one of many franchise’s all-time greats. No manner,” he stated. “In hindsight, it is actually cool to look again. It is a credit score to Julian.”
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Dan Orlovsky says Invoice Belichick and the Patriots cannot afford to be complacent within the NFL draft.
2. Draft examination: Invoice Belichick did not sound like a coach strongly contemplating a transfer into the highest 5 of the 2021 NFL draft (April 29-Might 1 in Cleveland, on ESPN and ESPN App). In his pre-draft videoconference Thursday, he stated: “I believe the most effective factor we are able to do is do our homework, know the gamers, know the board, and after we stroll into the room for the ultimate examination after which we see the questions on the check when it comes our flip to select — or possibly a couple of spots in entrance of our decide — then we now have to doubtlessly begin making some choices.”
Three. Commerce winds: Since Belichick was named coach in 2000, the Patriots have made 82 draft-day trades. That is simply an NFL excessive, with the Philadelphia Eagles second (61).
Four. Intrigue at all-time excessive: When Belichick logged in for his videoconference Thursday, he was greeted by 83 media members. 83! As Judy Battista of NFL.com famous, that needs to be some kind of offseason document as these seeking to ask a query needed to take a quantity like they have been on the deli at their native grocery store. The 83 media members replicate the intrigue surrounding the group’s draft plans.
5. Groh-ing into position: Belichick highlighted nationwide scout Matt Groh as one of many main staffers within the Patriots’ pre-draft preparation, together with Dave Ziegler, Eliot Wolf and Matt Patricia. Groh (now in his 11th season in New England) is the son of former Patriots assistant Al Groh, and he has an attention-grabbing profession path: He performed quarterback at Princeton, graduated with a level in psychology, after which went on to earn a legislation diploma at Virginia. A profession in soccer in the end trumped one in legislation.
6. Patriots and OTAs: A press release final week relating to how gamers will strategy the offseason program, launched by way of the NFL Players Association and attributed on behalf of “New England Patriots gamers,” gave the impression to be a case of threading the needle. It basically stated that some gamers will likely be attending the exercises and others will not. That is not an enormous newsflash. The exercises, in spite of everything, are voluntary. My viewpoint: Gamers wished to point out help to their union, and by extension, to their friends who’re searching for extra readability and transparency on what this system will entail from a well being and security standpoint. However come mid-Might, barring an sudden occasion, I might be stunned if nearly all of the Patriots’ roster is not current.
7. Newton’s bonus: Cam Newton has a $100,000 exercise bonus as a part of his one-year contract, which ties him with core special-teamer Brandon King because the richest amongst Patriots gamers. Newton would forfeit that quantity if he would not attend voluntary exercises, however after all the things he stated final 12 months, he would forfeit one thing rather more vital: On-field time to work within the offensive system. In maybe a touch that Newton will likely be attending on-field exercises in mid-Might, he is been on the town the previous week figuring out.
eight. Adams on the town: Former Packers defensive deal with Montravius Adams, who signed a one-year cope with a base worth of $1.095 million in New England, has been a daily customer at Gillette Stadium over the previous week as he integrates into the group’s system. He has a $25,000 exercise bonus as a part of his contract. The 6-foot-Four and 304-pound Adams was a third-round decide in 2017 out of Auburn who hasn’t met his draft-slot expectations, and the hope for him (and the Patriots) is contemporary begin helps flip issues round.
9. Skinny UDFA class: The Patriots have 76 gamers on their roster, and in the event that they make all 10 draft picks, that may result in a thinner-than-usual four-player undrafted class to achieve the 90-man restrict. This is some extent one agent made in conversations final week — as a result of the general quantity of gamers who signed with brokers is down this 12 months on account of the pandemic, the standard and depth of the undrafted class is predicted to be decrease than standard.
10. Did You Know: The Patriots have had a rookie free agent make the 53-man opening-day roster for 17 straight seasons, the third-longest streak behind the Chargers (24) and the Colts (22). The streak was in jeopardy final 12 months when no undrafted rookie made the preliminary 53-man roster, earlier than the Patriots signed operating again J.J. Taylor (Arizona) from the observe squad two days later.