At first I was going to grades for the final day of the draft, but outside of wide receiver Malcolm Mitchell (who gets an A from me) there should be no expectations for the 6th and 7th rounders. None. Zippo. Zilch.
So instead we're going to grade the Patriots entire draft.
This was a draft that seemed blocked off into tiers. There were the top 10 prospects, then there were the top 50 prospects, the top 100 prospects, and everyone else. There were one or two players that slipped between tiers (looking at you, Myles Jack), but overall there were no real opportunities to steal a top tier player outside of their projected range.
The draft made a weird amount of sense.
New England addressed a few needs with cornerback Cyrus Jones, offensive lineman Joe Thuney, and defensive tackle Vincent Valentine, and seriously bolstered the wide receiver position with Malcolm Mitchell and Devin Lucien.
Perhaps the best move of the final day was finding a way to package up two of the team's 6th round picks in order to acquire a 2017 4th round pick to negate the loss from DeflateGate.
The Patriots received mixed reviews over their second and third round picks, as quarterback Jacoby Brissett was a major surprise, but the team left with four players that could have a serious role as a rookie (Jones, Thuney, Valentine, Mitchell).
I consider Mitchell to be the team's best selection, closely followed by Thuney. I think Jones and Valentine both fit exactly what the Patriots want in a role player and that they will have more expanded roles in 2017.
Brissett comes up last because, ugh, it's always brutal to see an early pick used on a quarterback- but that's always been the modus operandi of the Patriots. No one should've been surprised.
So with the Patriots draft in the rearview, how would you grade the team's overall draft performance?