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The New England Patriots need to come away from the 2022 NFL Draft with some depth and talent at the cornerback position. Whether they will look to fill that spot with the No. 21 pick remains to be seen.
If Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer’s “dream scenario” for the Patriots were to come true, Bill Belichick and Co. would find themselves in a position to draft Washington stud, Trent McDuffie. The talented 5’11” defensive back has received rave reviews from a bevy of talent evaluators and Breer likened him to current Patriots captain Devin McCourty.
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The Dream Scenario for the Patriots
While Breer knows the Patriots have more needs than the one at cornerback, he still seems to think tending to the secondary–and specifically nabbing McDuffie–would be an ideal result for New England.
“Two things to keep an eye on here are the future of the offensive line and speed on defense,” Breer wrote in the latest edition of his Monday Morning Quarterback column. “In the case of the former, New England’s got a hole at guard, and left tackle Isaiah Wynn, who’s been pretty average at the position, is in a contract year. So taking a player like Zion Johnson or Penning would make sense. Catching slipping Utah LB Devin Lloyd might be an option, too (I’ve heard him connected to the Patriots in recent weeks), in that he adds a three-down presence à la Jamie Collins, so long as New England would be O.K. with the fact that he turns 24 in September.”
Those are all intriguing names but given the Patriots’ current roster setup, it is difficult to imagine them finding a better fit than McDuffie.
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“But the dream scenario, to me, would be McDuffie, an A-plus kid (one exec called his predraft interview “A-plus, plus, plus”) whose profile looks like Devin McCourty’s did coming out of Rutgers 10 years ago,” Breer concluded.
Trent McDuffie Has a Number of Talent Admirers
McDuffie appears to have everything a team would be looking for in a top-notch cornerback prospect. He ran a 4.44 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine, which only augmented his appeal after a strong junior season that saw him voted third-team All-American. NFL.com’s Lance Zierlein believes McDuffie has the ability to become an elite player at his position early in his career.
Zierlein thinks so highly of McDuffie he listed his pro comparison as Green Bay Packers star Jaire Alexander. If New England comes away from the draft with a player who pans out to be anything close to Alexander, it’ll make trading away Stephon Gilmore for a sixth-round pick and losing J.C. Jackson in free agency a little less painful for Patriots fans.
As of now, the Patriots would be forced to start returning veteran Malcolm Butler and Johnathon Jones at cornerback. While there may be worse tandems in the league, that is far from a group that will strike fear in the hearts of quarterbacks, wide receivers, and offensive coordinators.
New England is in need of a talent injection at corner and McDuffie is the kind of guy who could deliver. This year’s draft is pretty deep at corner–and wide receiver–so there is a chance New England could still find a major contributor if they don’t get McDuffie.
However, it’s hard not to like a player who is being compared to McCourty and Alexander, and who also plays a position of need.
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