New England Patriots Head Coach Bill Belichick held his annual pre-draft press conference on Friday morning and answered a number of key questions.
By far the biggest question he answered was given the typical Belichick response.
When asked if he will draft a QB in the upcoming NFL draft Belichick simply said: “We’ll do what’s best for the football team. We’ll look at our opportunities and do what’s best”.
The obvious follow-up to that is how much longer will QB Tom Brady play? A very reasonable question but since Brady is still playing at such a high-level Belichick deferred stating: “I’m happy to answer the draft questions. Iâm not going to get into everything else here.”
Asking if the Patriots will draft a QB is a reasonable question, but at this point with Brady and Brian Hoyer on the roster, it is almost a certainty that they will bring in another QB to training camp whether that be through the draft or via free agency.
One thing that is different this year than last year is the fact that the Patriots simply have more draft capital. This is something Belichick mentioned in his opening statement.
“This year is a little bit different than the last couple years. Going into those past two drafts, I would say we were able to eliminate a number of players just based on where we were selecting. This year is a little bit different than that, but we really need to know the draft from top to bottom and potentially I’d say there’s a handful of players that are probably out of reach but realistically, just about everybodyâs in play, other than a handful of guys. So, thatâs a little bit different than what itâs been. It doesnât change our process any; it just changes.”
Belichick always seems to enjoy the NFL draft and the journeying he does to various colleges talking with their coaching staffs and such: “Yeah, I enjoy all of it. It’s a good refresher”.
Clearly, the biggest storyline surrounding New England is Brady and the QB position, but Belichick wouldn’t give in no matter how hard reporters tried. When asked what he thinks of the QB draft class Bill Belichick sort of punted the question.
Well, I’d say all of the positions are about the same. There are interesting players in every position. There’s a wide range. Some guys have played more. Some guys have played less and different systems. In the end, again, you try to put the whole composite together for each individual player and put a value on him. Itâs the same thing for every position.
The 2018 NFL draft kicks off April 26th running until the 28th.
