The Patriots have picked DE Brandon Deadrick out of Alabama with the 247th overall pick (7th round) of the NFL Draft.  He is 6′4″, 296 pounds and he can play inside at DT if needed.  He is not much of a pass rusher but he plays hard and he is a good run defender.  Deadrick played in 14 games (10 starts) at Alabama last season and he finished up with 23 tackles, 4.5 tackles for a loss and he has 1 sack.  He played in 48 games (32 starts) in his four years at Alabama and he finished up with 83 tackles, 13 tackles for a loss and 7 sacks.  Deadrick was projected to go as high as the 3rd or 4th round in this draft so the Patriots might have gotten a steal here.

The Patriots have picked OT Thomas Welch out of Vanderbilt with the 208th overall pick (7th round) of the NFL Draft.  Welch is a big guy at 6′6″, 307 and he is a converted tight end so he is a solid athlete.  He is a much better pass blocker than he is a run blocker but that fits in with the Patriots’ style.  He played in 11 games as a senior at Vandy and he played in 41 games there in his four years.  Most didn’t expect Welch to be drafted at all so he will need to step up his game to make it with the Patriots.

The Patriots have selected center Ted Larsen out of North Carolina State with the 205th pick (6th round) of the NFL Draft.  Larsen is 6′2″, 302 pounds but he has only been playing center for two years.  He played defensive tackle his first two years at N.C. State in which he had 5.5 sacks in 23 games (5 starts).  He has started all 25 games the last two years for the Wolfpack at center.  He is still a little raw due to his lack of experience.  But, he is a good pass protector which is a good thing for the Patriots.  He will likely need to be coached up some on his run blocking however.  Still, this was a solid pick for the Patriots as he was projected to be picked in the 4th or 5th round.

The Patriots have selected punter Zoltan Mesko out of Michigan with the 150th overall pick (5th round) of the NFL Draft.  Mesko is a left football punter who really has no weaknesses.  He’s also used to punting in bad weather so that won’t be a issue for the Patriots.  He played in 50 games in his four years at Michigan and he punted the ball 252 times for 10,703 yards (42.5 avg).  He also placed the ball inside the opposing 20-yard line 78 times (31%) at Michigan.  He will be a starter from Day #1 for the Patriots.

The Patriots have selected TE Aaron Hernandez out of Florida with the 113th overall pick (4th round) of the NFL Draft.  Hernandez is a big guy at 6′2″, 250 pounds and he runs a 4.65 40 as he is a good athlete.  He played in 14 games (13 starts) for the Gators last season and he caught 68 passes for 850 yards (12.5 avg) with 5 TD grabs.  Hernandez played in 40 games (27 starts) in his three years at Florida in which he caught 111 passes for 1,382 yards (12.5 avg) with 12 TD grabs.  Despite having nice size Hernandez is not much help at run blocking.  But, he is a outstanding receiver who slipped a tad giving the Patriots great value in the 4th round.