Patriots in play on Day 1
Fates of Butler, Garoppolo may sway first round
Leave it to the New England Patriots to loom over the first round of the NFL draft without even having a pick.
The reasons are backup quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo and cornerback Malcolm Butler. Their future homes will loom as large over the first round as those of any of the top draft prospects.
Garoppolo is the most intriguing. The feeling from reports out of New England — though does anybody really know what Bill Belichick is thinking? — is the Patriots will not trade him. We all want to be Tom Brady, but he is 39 and, no matter how much organic food he eats, that increases the likelihood he could be injured.
The Cleveland Browns won’t offer the No. 1 pick for Garoppolo, but with the No. 12 pick and a slew of other selections to offer, they could make one last pitch they hope is too good to refuse.
And the Houston Texans, who will stare longingly into the CBS television booth at Tony Romo all season, surely will try to remind Belichick that it would be nice to help his old friend Bill O’Brien. The Texans have the No. 25 pick in Round 1, so they would have to throw in some live bodies to make Belichick even pick up the phone.
Look for Garoppolo to stay in New England. Why make the Texans a bigger force in the AFC? Belichick knows they might be only a good quarterback away from being a serious contender in the conference. And why take all those draft picks from the Browns when it is clear the Patriots are building for this season?
Butler, the hero of the Super Bowl win against the Seattle Seahawks in February 2015, is a bit more complicated. He is a restricted free agent, so any team that signs him must give the Patriots a first-round pick if New England chooses not to match it. The New Orleans Saints have shown interest, but would they really give up the 11th pick in the first round?
More likely, Butler will sign his offer sheet with the Patriots and they work out a trade with the Saints for New Orleans’ second pick in the first round (No. 32).
That’s the final pick of the first round. So nothing might change for the Patriots before the first round, but it certainly could before it ends. You won’t know until the final pick is made.