{"id":875112,"date":"2026-04-26T11:09:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T11:09:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/875112\/"},"modified":"2026-04-26T11:09:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T11:09:17","slug":"6-numbers-that-explain-the-patriots-late-round-draft-picks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/875112\/","title":{"rendered":"6 numbers that explain the Patriots\u2019 late-round draft picks"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Saturday, the New England Patriots added six players to their roster during the final day of the 2026 NFL Draft. After shuffling around the draft board and securing trades with both the Jacksonville Jaguars<\/a> and the Minnesota Vikings<\/a>, the Patriots made one fifth-round selection, two in the sixth and three in the seventh.<\/p>\n

The day three class was highlighted by Wake Forest cornerback Karon Prunty<\/a>, as the lone fifth-round pick, and TCU linebacker Namdi Obiazor<\/a> in the sixth round. Both rookies could become immediate rotational contributors at their respective positions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese third days [are] invaluable to roster building as I see it,\u201d Patriots vice president of player personnel Ryan Cowden said after the draft. \u201cIt\u2019s all about trying to find competition at the back end of the roster. You can never have enough depth \u2026 So, our goal now is to start really building depth with young players who can come in, and this coaching staff can really mold [them] into the type of players that we want.\u201d<\/p>\n

These five numbers offer insight into the Patriots\u2019 decision to draft all six additions:<\/p>\n

Four of the six draftees, Prunty, Crownover, Obiazor and Morton, from day three are 24 years old. New England brass seemingly valued acquiring experience during the latter half of the draft, searching for players who can quickly contribute at positions that lack necessary depth.<\/p>\n

In 2025, Charles Woods, whom the Patriots acquired after roster cutdowns, was the team\u2019s primary rotational piece for a majority of the season after Alex Austin had an underwhelming start to the year. Prunty, appearing in 46 games across five collegiate seasons, could immediately fill that top rotational spot on the outside.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the same case for Obiazor and the linebacker corps. Outside of starters Robert Spillane and Christian Elliss, New England\u2019s next option is veteran K.J. Britt, whose defensive snap count significantly declined last season compared to 2024. The TCU product offers six seasons of collegiate experience and has the potential to perform as the main bench option at weakside linebacker.<\/p>\n

2: departing offensive tackles <\/p>\n

Crownover, alongside first-round pick Caleb Lomu, is the second offensive tackle the Patriots took in the draft. This decision comes after both of New England\u2019s primary backups in 2025, Vederian Lowe and Thayer Munford Jr., were not re-signed this offseason. Lowe reached a multi-year deal with the San Francisco 49ers and Munford remains a free agent.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Offensive tackle] is a premium position in our league,\u201d Cowden said. \u201cThe pool of players that can play the position is really small, and you can never have enough depth there \u2026 when we see talent at the tackle position, I think we\u2019re always going to look to have that \u2026 if there\u2019s one room that I\u2019ll take as crowded, I\u2019ll take that room.\u201d<\/p>\n

The franchise\u2019s current offensive tackle room consists primarily of starters Will Campbell and Morgan Moses, as well as Lomu, Crownover, veteran James Hudson and 2025 draft selection Marcus Bryant.<\/p>\n

The Patriots ranked No. 21 in the NFL last season in defensive turnovers with a combined 20 interceptions and forced fumbles. All three defensive players New England acquired on day three have created 23 turnovers altogether in college.<\/p>\n

Prunty and Namdi combined for 17 interceptions and four forced fumbles, with each punching the ball loose on two occasions. Additionally, Hutchins, who largely operates on the edge, also recorded two interceptions for the Eagles. Adding these rookies could give the Patriots\u2019 offense more scoring opportunities.<\/p>\n

363: punt return yards allowed<\/p>\n

New England gave up 363 total punt return yards during the 2025 season, which was the fifth-most in the NFL. The franchise struggled in kick coverage, and that may be part of the reason it selected three players with extensive special teams experience on day three.<\/p>\n

Prunty said after he was drafted that he played on special teams in college as a gunner and a jammer on punt returns, garnering experience in kick coverage and attacking the returner. Hutchins and Obiazor are two other projected core special teamers for the Patriots; the TCU linebacker participated on both the kick and punt returns units, and the Boston College product logged over 400 snaps of special teams experience.<\/p>\n

30: visit with New England<\/p>\n

As part of a group with the Patriots\u2019 day two picks, Gabe Jacas and Eli Raridon, Prunty and Morton had 30 visits with the organization. These pre-draft meetings warrant attention because they are opportunities for teams to understand a prospect\u2019s background and how they process the sport. Four of the nine draftees New England secured this past weekend attended 30 visits. Some prospects win teams over in the process.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Prunty] did a great job with our coaching staff,\u201d Cowden said. \u201cHe really represented himself in a professional manner, and we\u2019re excited to bring his skill set at the perimeter corner.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Saturday, the New England Patriots added six players to their roster during the final day of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":875113,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2050],"tags":[7,1167,249,52640,727,2326,2094,6,208],"class_list":{"0":"post-875112","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-england-patriots","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-new-england","10":"tag-new-england-patriots","11":"tag-new-england-patriots-analysis","12":"tag-new-england-patriots-draft","13":"tag-newengland","14":"tag-newenglandpatriots","15":"tag-nfl","16":"tag-patriots"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116470701329530327","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/875112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=875112"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/875112\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/875113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=875112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=875112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=875112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}