FOXBOROUGH - Consider this an advance of my final positional draft preview. I wasn’t going to go there just yet, but when Eliot Wolf spoke with us on Monday afternoon, the last question of the press conference was about his current collection of edge players.
To preface, with K’Lavon Chaisson’s departure, the Pats no longer have that speedy, bendy type. Chaisson didn’t star in ‘The Matrix,’ but of last year’s group, he was best at contorting his body at the top of his rush. He could put himself in a physics-defying position to impact the quarterback.
Thus, the query highlighted that missing element and wondered if, “you need that smaller, faster guy that might be better on third down, or better to have the bigger body?”
“Oh, I never want a smaller guy,” Wolf joked. “No, faster guy. I said I never want a smaller guy. Yeah, we could complement our room with some speed. I think that's evident. Dre’Mont, Harold [Landry III], Elijah [Ponder], and some of the other guys we have, they all have their skill sets. We would like to get faster. Dre’Mont’s a guy that can play across the line, run games. I mean, he can sneaky beat you with speed, but that's probably not his bread and butter. So, that's an area that we're looking to try to improve the depth on the roster.”
So I, having spent too many hours watching tape and talking to the professionals who get paid to watch the tape, immediately started going through my mental rolodex (there’s that word again) of who could fit, especially where the Patriots are drafting (31, 63, and 95 in the first three rounds).
The first name that comes to mind is Malachi Lawrence, whom I mocked to the team last week, albeit in a no-trade first round. The UCF standout is not a stout run-defender, but that’s not what we’re talking about. What Wolf said was “speed,” and Lawrence has that in spades. He had the 3rd fastest 40-yard time at the combine, with his 4.52 trailing two guys likely going in the top 5 (Ohio State’s Arvell Reese and David Bailey of Texas Tech). Lawrence’s blazing 1.59-second 10-yard split was tied for 2nd in the class at Indianapolis, .01 behind Reese and Texas A&M’s Cashius Howell. But when I reached out to a coach who has studied him, he confirmed my prior concern: “He’s a little tight. A little stiff.” To him, that makes the top of the rush a greater concern. “Just not sure his body moves like that.”
You know who does? Howell. An All-American for the Aggies and SEC Defensive Player of the Year, Howell’s first step explosion is like Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant in their primes (Yeah, I’m crossing sports and don’t care). That 1.58 10-yard split is stupid good. As I wrote, it was tops in this class and would have been #2 last year (James Pearce was 1.56 and had 10.5 sacks as a rookie). Howell might not be Neo, but whoever the other guy was, he’s that (I just looked it up. Morpheus. That movie was made in 1999. I’m old).
However, Howell has tiny arms that make Will Campbell’s look long. They measure at 30 1/4 inches. That means - and it shows on tape - that when I longer armed tackle get his mitts into him, the 23-year-old’s twitchiness and speed can be negated. It’s more evident in the run game than passing downs, but you see it there as well. Howell vanished in A&M’s two biggest games (Texas and Miami). There have been no players in the last 25 years who have gotten 10 sacks with sub-31-inch arms. Would the Pats be willing to bet on the outlier, again?
I’ll give you one more (can’t use up all my words): R. Mason Thomas. The Oklahoma product didn’t get clocked as quickly as the previous two (1.63/4.67), but when you sit down and watch him, I can’t help but think he just didn’t test as well as he plays (and, for the record, those are solid numbers). Thomas is twitchy. Very twitchy. He’s also Gumby-esque with his bend. Thomas also has a solid pass-rush plan, with enough counters to make him a handful, despite not being the biggest guy (242 pounds at pro day, which means he’s probably sub-240 normally).
“I tell them the force equation, mass times acceleration equals force. I’m not a 280 [pound] guy, I’m a 250 guy, but all I need to do is generate more speed to generate more force,” Thomas said at the combine. “So a guy that is 280 can generate force taking one step in the ground, whereas I have to take maybe three steps. All it is for me is less weight, more speed.”
I didn’t major in physics (Major: English Lit; Minor: Classical Tradition. Current relevance? Less than zero), but I vaguely remember that formula in the 8th grade, so, sure, what he said. It is very likely that at least two of these players will be available when the Pats pick 31. However, it would be stunning if any were available the next time Vrabel and company are on the clock at 63, which certainly challenges how they attack the early stages of the draft.
“Whatever way we can possibly improve the team, we're open to,” Wolf added. “We have 11 picks. Most of those are kind of later in the draft, but we do have some flexibility with those 11 picks. I think it'll depend a little bit on how the board falls. If we view that there's a player that whether he's falling or there's somebody that we think we need to go get, we'll be open to those opportunities.”
(**I've got profiles on at least a dozen or so edge prospects to share with you. Stay tuned for that.**)