The New England Patriots clearly understood how dire of a need addressing the tight end position was. After selecting Devin Asiasi with the 91st pick, Bill Belichick and co. didn’t think that was enough. They moved back up into the third round to take another.
New England jumped back up to No. 101 to select Virginia Tech tight end Dalton Keene. The Patriots continued their theme of drafting multiple tight ends in the same draft. They did this in 2010 with Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez. Neither of the 2020 picks were taken as high as Gronkowski, but they can still make an impact in New England during their rookie seasons.
Here’s what fans should know about their newest tight end.
Keene wasn’t super productive at Virginia tech.
In his three years, the Hokie brought in 59 receptions for 748 yards and eight touchdowns. Those numbers aren’t going to wow anybody. However, where Keene did excel was in the trenches. He is a very solid blocker in the ACC. That ability may be able to translate to the NFL.