Under Bill Belichick, the New England Patriots have adopted a ‘better too early than too late’ mentality. We’ve all seen and acknowledged that it’s something that they do when cutting, trading, or choosing not to re-sign aging stars, but it’s also a mentality that they’ve applied to the NFL Draft.
New England has selected players within the top 100 picks despite a real lack of need at the position, instead opting to find a talented player that they believe can be developed in their system before eventually breaking out. James White, Trey Flowers, and Damien Harris all come to mind as players whose careers yielded great results despite seeing limited action early on.