‘They don’t hold back at all’
Behind the scenes of a Pats draft interview at the combine
INDIANAPOLIS — The Patriots want to speak with you. It’s urgent.
As a college prospect, this predraft interview could go any number of ways. Perhaps it will be about your character, your football IQ , your best college plays or your worst.
Only one thing is for certain. “They’re definitely different than the rest of the teams,” Notre Dame wideout Chris Finke said of the Pats. “They don’t hold back at all.”
Prior to arriving at the combine, Finke met a Patriots scout for his first NFL interview. They convened for roughly 10 minutes at the hotel he’d been placed in ahead of the East-West Shrine Game, a January showcase for mid-tier prospects. The scout whipped out film of Finke’s worst game last season, a loss to Georgia. Rapid-fire questions followed. “What’s this play called? What’s this formation? What are you looking for?” Finke remembered. “He wanted to know all the detail things.”
Then the scout asked how Finke felt about the game. The answer seemed too obvious. He felt badly, of course. Finke said he was upset because he’d failed to perform up to his standard, but more so because the Irish had lost. Good answer.
The Patriots mark down prospects who speak about their play with even a whiff of selfishness. To the Pats, credit for on-field success should always be diffused among teammates. Players must be accountable for every error, significant or otherwise. And the team comes first. Always.
If a prospect strays from those ideals during an interview, the Patriots will confront him about his misstep. Vanderbilt tight end Jared Pinkney learned the hard way this week.
“I gave a kind of wonky answer, and it was like, ‘No, that’s a loser’s mentality.’ And I was like, ‘OK, my bad,’ ” Pinkney told NESN this week. “They were like, ‘You need to be like this and that and that.’ And I was like, ‘Yes, sir. I’m better.’”
Another tight end, LSU product Stephen Sullivan, knew of the Pats’ methods ahead of time and still felt spooked. Like Finke, his initial contact with the team consisted of an informal meeting with a scout, whereas prospects who interview formally at the combine have a small audience. Director of player personnel Nick Caserio is often present, along with a few coaches or members of the scouting department.
The Patriots are known to keep their room small, unlike other franchises that seat upward of 20 staffers, including hired psychologists, during interviews. For Sullivan, being in the presence of a single Pats scout almost matched the pressure and scrutiny of speaking to a room of 20-plus evaluators.
“When this guy was talking to me, man, I was kind of scared,” Sullivan said. “Because the Patriots, they’re all about winning, and coach (Bill) Belichick ain’t no joke. (The scout) told me they work 10 times harder than everybody else.”
Some players, like Florida receiver Tyrie Cleveland, see no major differences between their interviews with the Patriots and other teams. With Cleveland, a projected late-round pick, the Pats inquired about his background and character. Standard stuff.
However, depending on the player, these questions could be traps laid by the team to see whether a prospect will volunteer information about a prior arrest or mistake that an area scout dug up over the past year-plus.
If he doesn’t, he’s not accountable. He’s not a Patriot.
In fairness, every NFL team inquires about character and football IQ , especially at the combine. The Pats might grill a prospect, like Finke or Alabama safety Xavier McKinney, who on Friday described his formal interview with the team as one of his toughest. New Patriots assistant Vinnie Sunseri, a former Crimson Tide safety and one of several first-year combine interviewers on staff, has been a strong resource when the Pats send defensive prospects to the white board to draw up their favorite concepts and coverages.
In other interviews, the Patriots might be laid back and open-arms friendly, which is how projected first-round wide receiver Tee Higgins said they were during his combine sit-down.
Higgins’ experience reflects how the Pats tweak their approach depending on the prospect. They’re a game-plan operation on and off the field, identifying what must be accomplished on each day, with each player and in each game to be successful. It demands daily doses of frankness and heavy film study, as all Patriots, past, present or potential, can attest.
Boise State offensive lineman John Molchon kicked off his draft journey with a straightforward interview at the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl. Pouring over his college film with a scout offered a small glimpse of what life might be like with the Patriots; ever critical and studious. Soon enough, Molchon may live that life, having passed his first test for the privilege of taking many, many more.
“The organization is just super professional. They’re really good people. They really pay attention to detail, and I really admire that,” Molchon said. “I don’t know if I got lucky or they picked good plays, but I had a really fun time analyzing (the film). It was cool because I had to look at information and figure out what we were running because I don’t have memories of every play of every game.
“Breaking it all down, from my footwork and body positioning to the play, it was all really cool.”