The NFL Draft is all about collecting data. In order to finalize boards and make decisions on picks and trades, teams rely on a vast amount of information that has been gathered not just over the last few weeks and months but oftentimes going back several years.
One big piece of the puzzle, and one that may hint toward a club’s eventual plans, is pre-draft meetings.
Between college all-star events, pro days, visits and workouts, the draft cycle offers several opportunities for teams and prospects to connect. Only a fraction of those contact points actually become public knowledge before the actual draft; teams try to play their cards close to the vest, which makes it impossible to paint a fully accurate picture.
However, based on the facts that we have available, we can still see who teams have shown the most interest in so far for whichever reason. In the New England Patriots’ case, 22 players stand out among the more than 140 who have had confirmed meetings with the club: according to our up-to-date tracker they all had more than one reported interaction with the organization before the draft.
RB Mike Washington Jr. (Arkansas): Combine + Pro DayWR Lewis Bond (Boston College): Senior Bowl + Local visitTE Eli Raridon (Notre Dame): Shrine Bowl + Senior BowlTE Dan Villari (Syracuse): Hula Bowl + Senior BowlOT Jude Bowry (Boston College): Pro Day + Local visitOT Travis Burke (Memphis): Pro Day + 30 visitOT Max Iheanachor (Arizona State): Combine + 30 visitOT Ryan Mosesso (UMass): Pro Day + Local Pro DayOL Greg Crippen (Michigan): Pro Day + Local Pro DayOL Delby Lemieux (Dartmouth): Senior Bowl + Local Pro DayOL Logan Taylor (Boston College): Pro Day + Local Pro DayOL Jeremiah Wright (Auburn): Pro Day + 30 visitDT Tyler Onyedim (Texas A&M): Combine + Pro DayDT Landon Robinson (Navy): East-West Shrine Bowl + Pro DayED Keyron Crawford (Auburn): Combine + 30 visitED Quintayvious Hutchins (Boston College): Combine + Local Pro DayED Zion Young (Missouri): Combine + 30 visitLB Khalil Jacobs (Missouri): Pro Day + Virtual meeting + 30 visitCB Andre Fuller (Toledo): East-West Shrine Bowl + Pro DayCB Devon Marshall (N.C. State): Virtual meeting + Local Pro DayCB Karon Prunty (Wake Forest): Pro Day + 30 visitCB Avery Smith (Toledo): Combine + Pro Day
The list of double or triple meetings is deeper at some positions than others. Offensive tackle and the interior offensive line, for example, saw four players with multiple confirmed meetings each. Among them is projected first-round selection Max Iheanachor.
When it comes to the frequency of meetings, nobody beats Khalil Jacobs. The Missouri linebacker met Patriots representatives at his pro day, later had a virtual meeting with the club, and also visited Gillette Stadium.
Jacobs was among several players to be brought in for such visits. The belief is that the Patriots used all 30 available slots for out-of-town visits, while also inviting three players for what is an unlimited number of local visits.
The full list of confirmed attendees is 27 players deep and includes 24 so-called 30 visits.
QB Jalon Daniels (Kansas): 30 visitQB Joe Fagnano (UConn): Local visitQB Behren Morton (Texas Tech): 30 visitRB Adam Randall (Clemson): 30 visitRB Kaelon Black (Indiana): 30 visitWR Cyrus Allen (Cincinnati): 30 visitWR Lewis Bond (Boston College): Local visitWR KC Concepcion (Texas A&M): 30 visitWR De’Zhaun Stribling (Ole Miss): 30 visitTE Oscar Delp (Georgia): 30 visitOT Jude Bowry (Boston College: Local visitOT Travis Burke (Memphis): 30 visitOT Max Iheanachor (Arizona State): 30 visitOL Emmanuel Pregnon (Oregon): 30 visitOL Jeremiah Wright (Auburn): 30 visitDT Kayden McDonald (Ohio State): 30 visitED Keyron Crawford (Auburn): 30 visitED Romello Height (Texas Tech): 30 visitED Gabe Jacas (Illinois): 30 visitED Malachi Lawrence (UCF): 30 visitED R Mason Thomas (Oklahoma): 30 visitED Zion Young (Missouri): 30 visitLB Khalil Jacobs (Missouri): 30 visitCB Karon Prunty (Wake Forest): 30 visitS Emmanuel McNeil-Warren (Toledo): 30 visitS Malik Spencer (Michigan State): 30 visitS Zakee Wheatley (Penn State): 30 visit
In addition to those 27 players, the Patriots had also planned to bring guard Chase Bisontis (Texas A&M) and edge George Gumbs Jr. (Florida) in for visits. The first fell victim to a scheduling conflict while the second was canceled by the team.
As for those meetings themselves, Mike Vrabel recently explained what purpose they serve for the team.
“You try to create a day that would look just like a regular season day,” he said. “We’ve tried to take it from the approach that’s like, ‘Hey, this is everybody that you’re going to meet with so that you’ve seen this face in two hours when you walk into their office, and you guys have a meeting, or you do an install with your position coach.’ We just want to try to gage their authentic self, want them to be genuine and try to picture them in our building a couple weeks from now.”
Obviously, 30 visits or any other form of meeting are not necessarily exact tools when it comes to gauging actual interest. That said, if we look back at last year, we can see that the Patriots had pre-reported pre-draft contact — i.e. contact that was public knowledge before the draft — with seven of their 11 eventual selections, including three who visited the club in Foxborough (with the actual number even higher).
The chance that some of the players listed above will end up as Patriots this weekend therefore appears to be fairly quite high.