Jimmy Garoppolo, Malcolm Butler are reasons Patriots could be a Round 1 force in NFL draft
In the days leading up to the 2017 NFL draft, USA TODAY Sports will take a closer look at the burning questions that will shape the event.
Our latest examines focuses on the the New England Patriots. They don’t pick until the third round. Will that change before the draft starts, and does it matter?
Leave it to the Patriots to loom over the first round even without having a pick.
Like it or not, they do.
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.
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Garoppolo is the most intriguing. The feeling from reports out of New England – though does anybody really know what Bill Belichick is thinking? – is they 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, but with the No. 12 pick and a slew of other selections to offer, they could make one last pitch that they hope is too good to refuse.
And the Houston Texans, who will stare longingly into the CBS television booth all season, will surely 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 the first – so they would have to throw in some live bodies to make Belichick even pick up the phone.
In the end … look for Garoppolo to stay in New England. Why make the Texans a bigger force in the AFC? Belichick knows they might only be a good QB away from being a serious contender in the AFC. And why take all those draft picks from the Browns when it is clear the Patriots build for this season?
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Butler, the hero of the Super Bowl win over Seattle three years ago, is a bit more complicated. But not really. 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 Saints have shown interest, but would they really give up the 11th pick in the first round?
More likely, Butler signs his offer sheet with the Patriots and then they work out a trade with the Saints for New Orleans’ second pick in the first round – at No. 32.
Yes, 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. And you won’t know until the final pick is made.
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