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Charlie Campbell, Senior Draft Analyst
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Patriots "Winged it" in the Draft

Updated May 8, 2015
By Charlie Campbell. Follow Charlie on Twitter @draftcampbell.



Some of the picks that received the largest amount of questions and were said to be huge reaches in the 2015 NFL Draft came from the New England Patriots. Sources told us that after the Malcom Brown pick, the Patriots ran out of draftable players before their second selection. That is why New England started to take players that weren't necessarily in the round that most teams graded them.

Sources say that the Patriots only had 15-20 players they viewed as good fits for their team. Obviously, the defending champions have a veteran roster without a lot of needs, and as a result, they only had a small amount of players whom they felt could truly fill a role on game day. Sources said that after the Patriots selected Brown, the remaining players in their draft pool were all gone by the time the team was set to pick at the end of the second round. As a result, league contacts said that caused head coach Bill Belichick to "wing it" from then on, and he took players that he liked the most.

That helps to explain New England's second-round pick of Stanford safety Jordan Richards who had graded out as a day-three pick elsewhere. In the third round, the Patriots took another day-three talent in Oklahoma outside linebacker Geneo Grissom. Sources say that fourth-round picks of defensive end Trey Flowers and guard Tre Jackson were better, but the rest of New England's picks could be hard-pressed to make the roster. The Patriots also selected a long-snapper in the fifth round.

Teams from around the league approach the draft in a different manner. New England had a pool of 15-20 players that quickly evaporated, and as a result, it shouldn't be a surprise if Patriots don't get a whole lot from their 2015 draft class.

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