The New England Patriots are known for their work on draft day and head coach Bill Belchick did it again on Thursday for the first round in the NFL draft, as the team traded out of the first round with the Minnesota Vikings and brought back four picks in the process, giving them two second rounders on Friday.
According to ESPN.com, the Patriots sent the 29th overall pick to the Vikings on Thursday night to select Cordarrelle Patterson, getting four picks back in return including the team's second-, third-, fourth-, and seventh-round draft picks and giving the Patriots more ammo. The team needed a wide receiver after losing Wes Welker and since they feel the draft is deep, they didn't mind giving up on Patterson or losing out on Tavon Austin and DeAndre Hopkins, who was drafted by the Texans.
The Patriots like to have a lot of picks in the draft and after entering with less than usual, the trade no gives the team a chance to restock and they have a number of late picks, including two in the second round, two in the third, one in the fourth and three in the seventh. The Friday coverage starts at 6:30 PM ET and now the Patriots are in a position to fill a number of needs and could target players like Tyrann Mathieu, Keenan Allen, Zach Ertz and Tank Carradine among many others.
Director of player personnel Nick Caserio said the moves will allow the team to be stronger and now Belichick has made 52 draft-day trades during his time as head coach and there is a chance he could do it again. The receiver pool is deep with Robert Woods, Oregon State's Markus Wheaton, California's Keenan Allen and Marshall's Aaron Dobson and the team could look that way as well as on defense with names like Tank Carradine and Tyrann Mathieu.
The team has a number of needs, including at wideout, linebacker, cornerback and on the offensive line and now they have the picks to fill all those holes and could even deal again later on.
Here is a full list of the rest of their picks:
Second round (52)
Second round (59)
Third round (83)
Third round (91)
Fourth round (102)
Seventh round (226)
Seventh round (229)
Seventh round (235)