On the eve of the 2009 NFL Draft, it's only natural to wonder who the heck the New England Patriots are targeting in this year's crop of rookies. It's tough to get a clear picture on who exactly Bill Belichick and the front office covet, but sometimes pre-draft visits can give us an idea of who they're taking a look at.
With only thirty total pre-draft visits allowed by the league each year, who have the Patriots brought into the facilities thus far? The following list I'm about to present should answer that question (although, unfortunately, I've only gotten 28 out of 30, so if any of you know who the other two are that I've missed, please feel free to mention them). The Patriots don't always bring their coveted player in for a visit, but we did bring Jerod Mayo in last year, so take this list for what it's worth.
I'll be splitting players into offense and defense, with their position in parenthesis.
Offense
Andre Smith (OL)
Rich Ohrnberger (OL)
Shawn Nelson (TE)
Bear Pasco (TE)
Andre Brown (RB)
Brooks Foster (WR)
Brandon Tate (WR)
Johnny Knox (WR)
Stephen McGee (QB)
Pat White (QB)
Defense
Robert Ayers (DL)
Evander "Ziggy" Hood (DL)
Jarron Gilbert (DL)
Terrence Knighton (DL)
Adrian Grady (DL)
Tyrone McKenzie (LB)
Jason Williams (LB)
Connor Barwin (DE/OLB/TE)
Larry English (DE/OLB)
Lawrence Sidbury (DE/OLB)
Malcolm Jenkins (CB/S)
Alphonso Smith (CB)
Vontae Davis (CB)
Tony Carter (CB)
Louis Delmas (S)
William Moore (S)
Patrick Chung (S)
Chris Clemons (S)