Bill Belichick breaks down the Patriots’ 2021 NFL Draft class

The Patriots picked the final members of their 2021 draft class Saturday night, an eight-player group headlined by Alabama quarterback Mac Jones and backboned by front-seven defenders.

The entire class is below, with Belichick’s comments on each player.

1st round

Alabama QB Mac Jones

“Mac was available there at our pick, and he’s a guy we spent a lot of time with and felt like that was the best pick at that time for us. And (we) look forward to working with him. He’s a smart kid.

“He’s been in a system that’s similar to ours. We have had a lot of good conversations with him. I think he’ll be able to process the offense. It’s obviously going to take a lot of time. We’ll see how it goes.”

2nd round

Alabama DL Christian Barmore

“He’s got good ability as a pass rusher. Again, that’s a high-quality, high-level football in the SEC, and he’s rushed from, as I said, kind of across the front, but he has a good knack, good instincts, and good quickness for his size to be able to do that and can play with length on the running game. Again, I think there’s — he hasn’t played a ton of football. I think he played around 25, 30 percent last year and then, in 2019, and then this past year probably a little closer to, maybe a little over 50 percent play time.

“So just total number of snaps and such, but obviously he practices against good players, guys that are drafted high in the draft. So he sees those guys every day and has worked against a lot of good offensive linemen in the SEC. So he’s been a productive player for Alabama, but more so this year than in 2019.”

3rd round

Oklahoma EDGE Ronnie Perkins

“If you watch him play, you get a number of opportunities to evaluate his playing strengths, especially against bigger people. His toughness, his effort, his instinctiveness. He’s, again, a versatile player that is productive in the running game, he’s been productive in the passing game, he is instinctive on plays like screens and reverses and things like that. He has a pretty good just nose for the ball, and he’s a tough player. He’s tough, and he’s physical, he has a good playing style.

“So those are some of the things that again — again he played in a good, obviously a very good team, a good program, a high level of competition, and did well. So those are some of the things with him.”

4th round

Oklahoma RB Rhamondre Stevenson

“We look forward to working with him. I think Stevenson’s best football is in front of him. He’s big. He can run. He can catch. He’s certainly going to need a lot of work on some of the other finer points. That’s what we’re here for. I’m sure he’ll be ready to get to work and do it.”

5th round

Michigan LB Cameron McGrone

“McGrone is a good football player, replaced [Devin] Bush at Michigan, and had a really good career there. Had a knee injury last year, missed the end of the year. We’re not really sure what the expectation of availability is for him, but we’re prepared certainly to not have him available this year, but we’ll just have to wait and see how that goes. There are no false expectations here. He should have a good recovery and be a good player.”

6th round

Missouri S Joshuah Bledsoe

“Bledsoe’s a versatile player at Missouri, did a lot of different things for their football team. Was in a couple different systems, defensive staffs out there, but through it all, it’s a very athletic player, high school quarterback, point guard, defensive safety, very, very instinctive player.”

Colorado OT William Sherman

“(Sherman) has played both left and right tackle, also has some experience at guard. So also see how all that plays out. But in ’18, he played left tackle, then moved to right tackle, and they had a grad transfer come in and play left tackle. Then he moved back to left tackle this year in ’20. So left, right, left. Army football.

“Again, we’ll see how that goes. Certainly has some versatility. Again, maybe also able or suited to play guard. We’ll see how that goes.”

7th round

UCF WR Tre Nixon

“Very productive guy, played opposite Gabriel [Davis] last year, played with [Jacob] Harris, who was drafted a little bit earlier this year. He’s a guy that’s had a productive career down there.”

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/3gVQixB