How exciting? The New England Patriots will be excluded from all first round mock drafts, so our mothership decides to make a two round mock draft so we can be involved! Happy days!
Dan Kadar of Mocking the Draft has the Patriots selecting Rutgers wide receiver Leonte Carroo at the bottom of the second round. Here's what we know.
Carroo is roughly 6'0 and 215 lbs (more will be known at the combine), but he's completely rocked up with muscles. He was a First Team All Big Ten in 2014, was Academic All Conference for multiple years, was named the Rutgers Offensive MVP for the past two seasons, and holds the school record for career touchdown receptions. An ankle injury likely prevented Carroo from being named First Team All Big Ten in 2015, but he improved over his junior year numbers by yards per game.
He collected 7 receptions for 134 yards and three touchdowns against an incredible Michigan State defense (check it out here) and he rarely drops passes. Carroo runs great routes, understands how to use his frame to box out defenders, and can high point and fight for the ball.
"A player like Carroo has first round talent, but he only played in eight games this season," Kadar told Pats Pulpit via e-mail. "Teams will have to get comfortable with where he's at with his health and his off-field stuff. But if they are - and Carroo shines at the Senior Bowl - he'll at the least cement himself as being worth a pick that high, at the least. He can work the whole field, does a nice job of getting up after hard to reach passes and has even put in some grunt work on special teams."
Carroo was hampered by some terrible quarterback play Rutgers, but still managed to account for roughly 37% of the Rutgers passing offense in 2014 and a whopping 44% of the passing yards in his games for 2015. Compare that to Aaron Dobson's 24% share in his penultimate season at Marshall and 18% in his final year, and you see that Carroo is capable of carrying a team on his back.
So what's the catch? Why is Carroo going to be available in the second round?
Carroo was suspended early in the 2015 season after being charged with assault. The receiver was charged with "slamming [an alleged victim] to the ground" on Rutgers' campus. The incident was captured on camera, but the footage was unclear and the alleged victim decided not to press charges. Carroo was required to take six hours of anger management.
If the Patriots research shows that Carroo is not and will not be a problem moving forward, he'd be an outstanding fit in the New England offense.