Unlike a lot of other teams — and this is part of the reason why they're the Patriots and everyone else isn't — the Patriots do not hand their draft picks starting positions or main roles before they even set foot on a field or prove themselves. Often, that's a path to failure for many rookies. The Patriots, instead, put their rookies on the road to success by giving them smaller, defined roles to start with, which then, perhaps, can be expanded once they master the basics.
Michael Lombardi, who has longtime ties to Bill Belichick and was recently a personnel executive with the team, touched on this in his podcast, The GM Shuffle, a few months ago as he related the story about how 49ers draft pick (and future Hall of Famer) Charles Haley was taught only the defense for passing situations as a designated pass rusher as a rookie.
"Once you draft these guys, you have to have a plan for these guys because if you give them the Manhattan phone directory and say, 'Learn this,' he ain't learning it — you might as well put him off for next year. So you have to define the role for the player as soon as you draft a player. What New England will do is say (Chase) Winovich, he'll come in and here's his role. He's going to play, this, this, X, Y and Z. That's all. Once he gets that, then maybe we'll teach him a little bit more. We'll start to grow him, allow him to grow more. ... You have to develop the player. That allows him to have an impact on your team moving forward."
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We'll do both these players together since it's not like they have role players on the offensive line (except for the occasional extra tackle).
Player: Yodny Cajuste
Pick: Third round, 101st overall
Position: Offensive tackle
Patriots scheme position: Tackle
Ht/wgt: 6-5, 312
Speed: n/a
Player: Hjalte Froholdt
Pick: Fourth round, 118th overall.
Position: Guard/center
Patriots scheme position: Interior lineman.
Ht/wgt: 6-5, 306
Speed: 5.2
Positional depth chart
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Position thoughts: Probably the biggest factor at this position to keep in mind is there are a lot of contract decisions coming up. Joe Thuney, Ted Karras, Brian Schwenke and James Ferentz are all in contract years. Marcus Cannon could be cut or traded at any time and it would help the cap. David Andrews is in the same boat with a contract done after 2020. Even Shaq Mason was brought up by a knowledgeable league source as not definitely being on the team because of his high cost. And the source was right: Mason could be traded and it wouldn't kill the cap. ... Despite being the higher pick and with left tackle being wide open, Cajuste is clearly the longer-term prospect coming from that West Virginia offense, and just being on the raw side. ... Froholdt is a bit of an x-factor. The longer Thuney has to fill in at left tackle with Isaiah Wynn coming back from Achilles surgery, the more Froholdt will get a chance for the coaches to be comfortable with him at left guard or, even, center. Expect Karras, Schwenke, Ferentz and Froholdt to be constantly switching among the three interior positions. NFL scouts around the league expect Froholdt to be an immediate hit with the coaches. That could lead to some veterans being expendable.
Draft pick comparison: For Cajuste — Marcus Cannon, 2011 fifth round (138th overall).
I was tempted to go with Nick Kaczur in 2005, but he had played a lot more ball (50-plus starts) compared to Cajuste (30 starts), but I think Cannon — who, ironically, Cajuste was likely drafted to replace — is the more apt comparison. They are a similar size, athletic ability and had about the same college experience. Of course, Cannon dropped in the draft due to his non-Hodgkin lymphoma treatments. Cannon only appeared in seven games as a rookie and didn't become a starter until his sixth season. Part of that was they couldn't find the right spot for him.
For Froholdt — Joe Thuney, 2016 third round (78th overall)
Thuney was drafted a round earlier but they are of similar size (more than a Rich Ohrnberger or Ted Karras) and have some positional versatility. When Thuney was drafted, the Patriots had traded for Jonathan Cooper from the Cardinals in the Chandler Jones deal, and had Tre' Jackson returning but on his way out recovering from a knee injury. Neither of those players played again for the Patriots, opening the road up for Thuney to become an immediate starter. He's been a slow but steady work in progress and has developed in a very good if unspectacular guard.
Development plan: For Cajuste — Barring injury, this should largely be a redshirt season full of learning for the WVU product. He's going to need a lot of technical work on run blocking in a pro system, but his pass pro shouldn't be far off. Once he masters the basics at RT, they'll get him some looks at LT in the preseason to see if he can be the gameday swing tackle. Otherwise, they'll keep another interior player on the 46 and have Thuney be the backup LT.
For Froholdt — As soon as he masters the basics of the scheme, he'll be thrown in a very competitive mix to, first, displace the likes of Karras, Schwenke and Ferentz. If that goes well, he'll be given looks at guard and center. If things are really going well, it will make Bill Belichick think about trading one of his veterans. But first thing's first.
Best-case scenario: For Cajuste — He gobbles up everything Dante Scarnecchia throws at him and the Patriots think he's ready to start now, leading to a trade or release of Cannon. Can you imagine the talk radio outrage if the Patriots go Wynn and Cajuste as the bookend tackles with a 42-year-old QB? LOL.
For Froholdt — Basically the same path. I doubt the Patriots would trade Thuney (he's kind of the break glass option at left tackle) but they would definitely let him walk in free agency. Could also be an option at center. The Patriots did try to draft a center last year.
Worst-case scenario: For Cajuste — He's on the Cannon plan: Inactive just about every week and is just a multi-year project. This is probably the most likely outcome, and it's not terrible.
For Froholdt — Have a hard time seeing him not active on gamedays as the swing guard or interior guy. Think he gets a spot start or two as well.