Price: Belichick passing on high-end defensive talent reveals his feelings about Patriots' D

FOXBOROUGH -- Bill Belichick wasn’t kidding.

On paper, the Patriots went into the first round of the 2018 draft looking like a team in desperate need of a defensive jolt. After all, the last time we saw that group, it was getting rolled in the Super Bowl by a backup quarterback. It only stood to reason New England would be in the market for linebacker depth, pass rush help or another body or two either on the back end or up front. Right?

But in hindsight, after hearing Belichick’s mantra from earlier this month — the Patriots don’t draft for need — no one should have been surprised to see New England go out and get two offensive players on Thursday. Instead of restocking the presumed area of need (defense), the Patriots took offensive lineman Isaiah Wynn at No. 23 overall and running back Sony Michel at No. 31, both out of Georgia, two players who could face an uphill battle for playing time in an offense that might be capable of scoring 25-plus points a game without them.

After the end of the first round, when he was asked about the decision, Patriots director of player personnel Nick Caserio offered a straightforward response, reminding the media of Belichick’s statement.

“To Bill’s point … drafting for need?” Caserio said late Thursday. “Look, you draft good players.

“We need good players. However we get them, wherever they come from. Whatever positions that they play. That’s our goal and our mentality and our process. If it’s on offense, it’s on offense. If it’s on defense, it’s on defense. However they get here, they get here,” he added.

“It’s never, ‘OK, well, we have to take this guy.’ Look, you look at the player. You look at the rest of the players that you have graded and evaluated. And you try to pick the players that make the most sense.”

Basically, while Belichick didn’t address the media on Thursday, his actions spoke volumes. Like it or not, the Patriots’ decision to pass on that high-end defensive talent on Thursday was an endorsement by Belichick of the players that were already on the roster.

No Rashaan Evans? No Leighton Vander Esch? As far as Belichick is concerned, no problem.

“These guys are good football players and have good football traits. We hope they fit our program,” Caserio said of Wynn and Michel, who became the first college teammates picked by the same team in first round since 2005 when Carlos Rogers and Jason Campbell went from Auburn to the Redskins. “The expectation is that these guys come in here, they work hard and they do what they’re asked to do – nothing more, nothing less. That’s the most important thing.”

To be honest, we have no idea what the defense is going to look like when things get started for real in September. As Caserio hinted Thursday night, they’re just lifting weights and getting to know each other at this point. But the Patriots' lack of additions on the defensive side of the ball Thursday tells me they feel comfortable with the guys who are already on the team who will be added (or re-introduced, in some cases) to the mix in 2018. That includes edge defender Derek Rivers, linebackers Dont’a Hightower and Harvey Langi and cornerbacks Jonathan Jones and Cyrus Jones, five guys who ended 2017 sidelines because of injury. (If you get Hightower back at 100 percent, a lot of the issues that plagued this defense last year are forgotten.) That's in addition to new faces like cornerback Jason McCourty, defensive tackle Danny Shelton and defensive end Adrian Clayborn.

Ultimately, the takeaway is simple: If you like the guys who are already in your building, why go out and spend first-round draft capital on high-end defenders?

Of course, it’s possible they intended to go all-in on defense but pulled a 180 when Evans went to the Titans at No. 22 and/or Vander Esch was selected by the Cowboys at No. 19. For what it’s worth, Caserio didn’t sound like there was a lot of agitation in the New England war room when old friend Mike Vrabel traded up to one spot above the Patriots to swipe Evans.

“We didn’t like throw our pens against the wall and say, ‘Oh my gosh, what happened?’” Caserio said with a small smile when asked about Evans going right before them. “We were just ready to move onto the next pick.”

(As for Vrabel, he was diplomatic as he could be when asked about selecting Evans. “I wouldn’t say we beat Bill in anything, and we didn’t beat the Patriots in anything in that we looked at each other and Jon [Robinson] did a great job going up and getting a player we wanted,” Vrabel said. “That’s the most important thing, that the Titans got the player that they wanted.”)

Look, New England could go out and get Harold Landry, Lorenzo Carter and Maurice Hurst on Friday, and all of this could go out the window. The Patriots have two second-round picks as well as a third, and there's still a lot of defensive talent on the board. But on Thursday, Belichick made a clear statement — by using his two first-round picks on offense, he revealed a surprising level of satisfaction with where his defense is at, at least at this stage of the offseason. Will that faith be rewarded come the regular season? Only time will tell.