2018 NFL draft: Will 2018 be the 12th time the Patriots make two or more picks in round one?

The first round of the 2018 NFL draft is only four hours away and it projects to be an exciting one. Who will go first overall? Where will the top quarterbacks end up? And what will the New England Patriots, a team that holds two first-round picks for the first time since the 2012 draft, do with their selections?

Six years ago, New England opted to trade up twice to add Chandler Jones and Dont’a Hightower as centerpieces of a defensive rebuilding process. Whether the team opts to take a similar approach in 2018 will be seen later tonight - but considering the list of roster holes New England’s draft haul might look a lot like 2012’s. That is, of course, if the team actually makes two picks in round one.

If they do, it would be the 12th time in franchise history that at least two players were to be selected in round one of the draft:

1973: OG John Hannah, RB Sam Cunningham, WR Darryl Stingley

1976: CB Mike Haynes, OC Pete Brock, S Tim Fox

1977: CB Raymond Clayborn, WR Stanley Morgan

1980: CB Roland James, RB Vagas Ferguson

1982: DE Kenneth Simms, DT Lester Williams

1990: LB Chris Singleton, DE Ray Agnew

1991: OT Pat Harlow, RB Leonard Russell

1998: RB Robert Edwards, CB Tebucky Jones

1999: OC Damien Woody, LB Andy Katzenmoyer

2004: DT Vince Wilfork, TE Benjamin Watson

2012: DE Chandler Jones, LB Dont’a Hightower

Under head coach Bill Belichick, New England picked twice in round one in 2004 and 2012, getting quality starters both years. The Belichick-era Patriots also entered other drafts with two selections allotted for round one but made only one pick: 2008 saw one stripped by the league as part of the “Spygate” sanctions, 2012 saw the team trade out of round one.

What should therefore be expected today? Knowing the Patriots, everything seems possible from one or more trade-ups like in 2012 to staying put to trading away one of the picks for additional capital. The latter appears to be the most plausible scenario considering that New England currently has a hole between picks #95 and #198.

A first round like 2011’s, picking at or around the higher selection while trading out of the later one, would therefore not be a surprise.