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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Player: Byron Cowart
Pick: Fifth round (159th overall)
Position: DT
Patriots scheme position: Tackle
Ht/wgt: 6-3, 298
Speed: 5.16
Positional depth chart
[table id=294 /]
Position thoughts: Lawrence Guy is coming off a terrific season as the team's interior defensive tackle, and the hope is that Mike Pennel address the glaring hole at nose tackle left by the underachieving seasons by Malcom Brown and Danny Shelton from a year ago. ... Michael Bennett should be a terrific stopgap replacing Trey Flowers, and the team will look for Deatrich Wise to continue the improvement he's shown heading into his third season. ... Beyond sub rusher Adam Butler and Shelton — who did improve as last season went along and was viable by the playoffs — the depth is not good. Enter Byron Cowart, the immensely talented but underachieving draft pick. ... What's interesting is that he has the potential to play all three line spots. He's strong and long enough to play tackle. Lose some weight and he could be an end with his pass rush flashes. He could also put on about 25 pounds and be a good nose tackle. ... I expect the Patriots to try him in all three spots and go from there.
Draft pick comparison: Jarvis Green, 2002 fourth-round pick (126th).
If Cowart ends up having the same career as Green — eight solid seasons and doing whatever the team wanted, from playing inside to subbing for an injured Richard Seymour and picking up sacks (14 combined in 2006 and '07) — the Patriots would be thrilled. Green was a little lighter (285) but adjusting for changes in the game, they're very similar players. Can fill a variety of roles, but not really a master of anything (46 starts in 121 games).
Development plan: I expect the Patriots to point at Guy and say, "Whatever that guy does, you eat it up and repeat it." Right now, with Cowart's body, that's the ideal for Cowart. The Patriots will look to see if Cowart can handle the big boy's game on the NFL defensive interior, and then they'll go from there. I expect Cowart's rookie season to involve a lot of teaching, and they'll start at tackle, see if he can master that. If he shows he has some pass rush, Cowart could make a push to take Butler's role as sub rusher. Cowart does have some good rush — not nearly with the quickness of Butler — but he can hold up against sub running plays better than Butler can (it's been an issue), if things go right.
Best-case scenario: Cowart gets off to a great start and camp by showing he can be the backup to Guy. Once he does that, the Patriots will think about making him the sub rusher. If he wins that job, that means Butler could be on the trade block (final year of contract, will be an RFA) to a team that's more of a 4-3 team (always Butler's best fit). I could see Cowart starting a few games and getting 2-4 sacks if that's the case.
Worst-case scenario: Cowart's attitude and buy-in has been a big question mark since he was one of the top high school recruits, and then he flamed out at Auburn. There's always a possibility that he just doesn't mesh with the Patriots' culture (remote) and he doesn't make the team. The Patriots' former picks with similar size have been hit and miss. Vincent Valentine lasted one season. Le Kevin Smith, Jake Bequette and Myron Pryor never did anything. Brandon Deaderick was a success story. Kareem Brown didn't make the team. It's not an easy position to adapt to, with all the two-gapping required. But Cowart has the physical skills to do it (that's why he's here) and should stick around. At the least, he'll be active for some games and helping on special teams, along with the occasional goal-line worth.
