The first round of the 2022 NFL Draft had plenty of fireworks, as teams made trades to secure the most optimal position to grab their top targets. In New England, there was plenty of head-scratching after the first round. The Patriots traded down from 21 to get the 29th pick in the first round, then selected offensive lineman Cole Strange out of Tennessee-Chattanooga.
The vast majority of Boston media were taken by surprise at the choice. On WEEI, Lou Merloni and Christian Fauria broke down some of the more notable reactions.
“You won’t find anybody who was like, ‘Oh this was exactly what I thought they were gonna do,'” Fauria said.
Sound from NBC Sports Boston and even draft night programming on WEEI was played, and Merloni wanted to clear up the fact that nobody is trying to take shots at Strange. The reaction is more centered on the timing of the selection, coupled with the fact that the Patriots had traded their best offensive lineman in Shaq Mason prior to the draft then drafted an o-lineman.
“I’m not ripping the kid. I’m ripping the decision of when to take the kid, where to take the kid. He could be a great guard,” Merloni said. “But you created this hole, you moved down, you had your eye on this guy. He was the third guard in the draft.”
Fauria asked if he should believe Pats head coach Bill Belichick when he said that Strange would’ve come off the board before their next selection. Merloni explained that he should, and Fauria explained that Strange checked all the necessary boxes for the Pats to make the call at 29th overall.
“If you’re going to bitch about when they took him, then you can say, ‘Okay fine, so they actually believed that they couldn’t afford to trade out of that position again because that was the number one guy on their board,'” Fauria said.