The Patriots entered the last day of the draft with just one pick. Of course, they left with more.
At No. 197 overall, New England selected Ohio State special teams ace Nate Ebner. Ebner walked on to the Buckeye football team in 2009 after not playing football in high school. Instead, Ebner played rugby as a teenager, starring on the 2007 and 2008 U.S. national rugby teams, according to the Columbus Dispatch.
"Nate [Ebner] is a guy that is a big, fast safety that has been very productive in the kicking game, relatively inexperienced player that we think has a lot of good football in front of him," Patriots coach Bill Belichick told reporters Saturday night.
The Patriots then snatched up Nebraska defensive back Alfonzo Dennard and Northwestern receiver Jeremy Ebert in the seventh round.
Dennard was expected to go in one the top three rounds before getting charged last week for assaulting an officer and resisting arrest.
“Alfonzo is a guy we’ve spent a lot of time on. Obviously, the incident affected his draft position,” Belichick said. “But, certainly, we’ve researched it as much as we could about it … as an organization, we’re comfortable with it.”
New England wrapped up the draft by taking Ebert, a two-time All-Big 10 honorable mention who caught 11 touchdowns last season.
"We feel that he is versatile and will be able to compete at that position for us as one of the younger players that we have at that position," Belichick said. "We have a lot of experienced guys there, and we felt that adding a good, young player to that group like him would be good."
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