With a laundry list of needs, who does the New England Patriots pick with at No. 23 overall?
Quarterback, linebacker and tight end are the most pressing positions of need, but NFL media’s Daniel Jeremiah believes the Patriots should go for a defensive end. Appearing on a conference call on Thursday, Jeremiah explained how Iowa’s A.J. Epenesa would be the perfect fit for Bill Belichick.
“For me it’s A.J. Epenesa,” Jeremiah said. “I went back and I’ve posted some of it, but I went back and looked at a lot of the notes that I had been given when I was with the Baltimore Ravens from one of our scouts who had been with Coach Belichick, and it was a presentation from 1991 on what Coach values at every position, and when it talked about edge rushers, it talked about his preference for size over speed out there and guys that can hold the point of attack in the run game and they can collapse the pocket, they’re power players, and that to me, if you’re drawing up a description of A.J. Epenesa that’s who they were looking for.
“Now, that was 1991, a long time ago, but those Patriot defenses all seem to feature this type of a player, and then you add in to the fact that he played for Kirk Ferentz and Kirk Ferentz having a relationship with Coach Belichick, all this seemed like this guy was meant to be a New England Patriot. It just makes too much sense.”
The Patriots lost Jamie Collins and Kyle Van Noy, who accounted for 13.5 of the team’s sacks. Epenesa is a 6-foot-6, 280 pound edge player who fully utilizes his size and strength on the field. He recorded 49 tackles, 14 tackles for loss and a career-high 11.5 sacks last season.
New England doesn’t have a second-round pick, so they’ll have to choose wisely in the first round — and Epenesa is a guy who could be an extremely smart long-term choice.
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