The Patriots had an eventful second night of the draft, picking twice and trading up once.
New England entered the night with the 46th and 96th picks. They traded 46 along with two later picks with the Bengals to move up to No. 38. At pick 38, New England selected Alabama defensive tackle Christian Barmore.
Barmore is a terrific defensive tackle. He is 6’5”, 310 pounds and can use both power and speed moves to defeat offensive linemen. He was effective against the run and stellar against the pass. He did some of his best work against top competition; he dominated the College Football Playoff matchup with Notre Dame and the National Championship Game against Ohio State. He finished the year with 37 tackles (9.5 for loss) and 8 sacks.
With the 96th pick, the Patriots selected Oklahoma defensive end Ronnie Perkins. Perkins played both defensive end and linebacker in 2018 before moving to defensive end full time in 2019. In 2019, he had six sacks and 38 tackles in 12 games. A suspension forced Perkins to play in only six games in 2020, but he still registered 5.5 sacks and 10.5 tackles for loss. Perkins is a great edge run defender and was able to terrorize opposing quarterbacks. He registered a Pro Football Focus grade of 90+ in both run and pass defending in 2020.
The Patriots came into the draft needing more help on the defensive line and did so in a big way on Friday night. Barmore has the potential to be the next great Patriots defensive lineman and Perkins is not far behind if he can put his 2020 suspension behind him.