Tag: Patriots trade up

Here’s what Patriots gave up in trade to get Maryland K Chad Ryland

The Patriots were aggressive in getting kicker Chad Ryland.

The New England Patriots came together with the rival New York Jets for a rare draft day trade to move up on the board and select Maryland kicker Chad Ryland.

Per ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Patriots sent picks No. 120 and 184 to the Jets for the 112th overall pick in the fourth round.

Ryland was widely recognized as the second-best kicker on the draft board behind Michigan’s Jake Moody, who went 99th overall in the third round to the San Francisco 49ers.

It was clearly time for the Patriots to look to the future with kicker Nick Folk turning 39 years old later this year.

The Patriots have shifted focus to special teams and offensive line in the fourth round on Day 3 of the 2023 NFL draft. With Ryland, they hope they’ve secured their kicker of the future.

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2023 official NFL draft kit from Cam Garrity

All of your draft needs are here, from big-board rankings to breakdowns and grades for top prospects.

As the 2023 NFL Draft rolls in, it’s time for our official draft kit. I did this kit last year for our friends at Lions Wire wanted to bring it back for another year.

I typically start official draft preparation in the New Year and spend a few months diving into players on film and re-watching full games for situational awareness. I do watch college football games year-round. So I have a general sense of the players that popped. This is just a deeper dive that is started in January.

I like to spend all my focus on one player at a time before giving out my grade, essentially filling out my top 10 at each position then organizing the top-50 big board. This helps form the kit right in time for the draft so that any fans reading it can get a general sense of the player, their skills, where they went and how they fit.

I also take a look at the big boards across multiple different sources and different mediums to understand the general consensus of players eligible and where people rank them. This is usually done as quality control for my own work once my evaluations are completed.

The big board is just a starting point in a vacuum.

As the draft rolls on, positional value, team needs and fit all come into play. So sometimes, player No. 10 might go first overall, and that’s simply because players 1-9 do not make sense for them to grab. I would recommend filling for need and fit regardless of the big board, unless that player was a can’t miss, Hall of Fame-level talent right out of the gate.

Before we jump right into the kit, here’s a little background of the grading system I use: